Thatcher, Thomas, Joe Miller, Roy Bargy, Richard A Whiting, Rick Adkins, Benson Orchestra Of Chicago, Matthew Amaturo, et al. Ain't we got fun. 1921. Audio. https://www.loc.gov/item/jukebox-40562/.
Times have changed in the last hundred years, and so it can be difficult for young readers to understand the extent of Gatsby’s wealth in a contemporary context when they read The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald weaves very specific images of wealth that would have seemed staggering to an audience in the 1920s, but these particular trappings of wealth and privilege are now much more accessible to people of all income levels (cars, citrus fruit, a colorful wardrobe). Picking apart this recording and its orchestration can help bring the meaning of the images at Gatsby’s party in chapter 3 into better context and help establish the mood of joyful opulence in chapter 3. Though this song is not mentioned specifically until chapter 5, it is reasonable to assume this song would have been in the repertoire of the orchestra hired to play the party since it was such a popular tune, and Gatsby clearly likes it and knows it.
A Jazz/dance band from 1921 plays a three-minute, twelve-second instrumental version of the song “Ain’t We Got Fun.”
This is a recording from 1921 of a tune that was popular in the United States at the time that F. Scott Fitzgerald was writing The Great Gatsby. The song has words that are quoted in the text, though this recording is an instrumental version recorded to vinyl. Vinyl records like this one were accessible to those who could afford a device on which to play them, or they could hear the recordings played on the radio. Live music at the time was, to a large degree, in orchestral form, such as we hear on this recording. Therefore, to have live music at a private party, as Gatsby does in the novel, constituted a more significant expense than the average modern reader might suppose.
- What is the overall mood of this tune? List adjectives.
- What features of the music give it that mood?
- How many different instruments do you hear? List them.
Alaska ELA standards Grades 9-12
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
7. Analyze various accounts of a subject told in different media (e.g., a person’s life story in both print and multimedia), determining which details are emphasized in each account.
- Gatsby’s story is told to some extent through this song—and we can glean some character information from it.
9. Analyze seminal US and world documents of historical and literary significance (e.g., Washington’s Farewell Address, the Gettysburg Address, Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms speech, King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”), including how they address related themes and concepts.
- Media literacy includes music. This recording of this song captures a moment in time as well as a mood that aids in our understanding of The Great Gatsby.
- Once students have identified the elements necessary to give the music its upbeat and dance-like swing, including all of the instrumentation (there are eleven musicians), students should consider their experiences with live music. What live music have they heard? How many musicians were on stage at once?
- In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby at the party in chapter 3, there would have to have been at least eleven musicians to play the party music described in the text. How much space would Gatsby need to host this eleven-person orchestra and leave space for an audience? This orchestra and the piece they play at the height of the party is described as a “sensation.” Hiring musicians of this caliber and in this number was no cheap frill in this time, even though these orchestras were so much smaller than symphonic ones used for classical music. What would be the musical equivalent of Gatsby’s orchestra in the modern day? (Pearl Jam? Taylor Swift?) And how much would hiring an individual artist of this level of renown actually cost in modern dollars? Considering the modern equivalent helps give a scale for how wealthy Gatsby is and how much money he’s putting on show in order to get Daisy Buchanan’s attention.
- The lyrics of “Ain’t We Got Fun” are very ironic, as is the inclusion of this song at Gatsby’s party, since it’s written from the point of view of a person who’s poor. Its main idea is to detail how much “fun” poor people have because they can’t afford anything else. The lyrics describe the realities of the massive income inequality of the 1920s, which might strike very close to home in modern times. Some are uncomfortable discussing the realities of poverty and income inequality or such statements as “There’s nothing surer/ The rich get rich and the poor get children.
Links to resources for approaching those topics
- The disparity between wages of various groups is a matter of historical fact. This website lays out such realities very accessibly and includes a breakdown of wages by race: 1920-1929 Prices and Wages by Decade.
- Aaron Copeland was a composer in the 1920s and this primary source looks at his piano in Paris. This would allow students to see how items have changed over time.
- A flapper girl is a photograph that may or may not look like students would imagine. It would be a good point of contrast to have this as an alternative source.
- The lyrics for “Ain’t We Got Fun” and the passage from The Great Gatsby in which Gatsby demands that his guest play this song on the piano: Ain't We Got Fun Lyrics.
- A photo of the Benson Orchestra of Chicago. It is of note that all members of this orchestra are white. Although about half of the popular tunes of 1921 were written or recorded by African American artists, it was white bands such as this one who would have been hired to play white clubs or parties for white guests: Hear their Victor Records: The Benson Orchestra of Chicago, Roy Bargy, Director.