One of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s characters in This Side of Paradise, “…the seminal novel of the early 1920s” (Moore, p. 239), says “Here was a new generation…grownup to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faith in man shaken.” This describes the mindset of “The Lost Generation”, a term used to refer to the generation that came of age during World War I.
A similar expression is quoted in Frederick Lewis Allen’s famous book on the Twenties: “The older generation had certainly pretty well ruined this world before passing it on to us. …They give us this thing, knocked to pieces, leaky, red-hot, threatening to blow up; and then they are surprised that we don’t accept it with the same attitude of pretty, decorous enthusiasm with which they received it…” (Allen, V, 1)
The phrase ”Lost Generation” first appeared in Ernest Hemingway’s novel, The Sun Also Rises, which documents the doings of the American expatriate community in Europe after World War I. Hemingway attributed the term to his mentor and patron, Gertrude Stein, “doyenne of American letters” and patron of the arts. Because of The Great War, young people during this time felt like they had no real purpose in life. They often wandered through life aimlessly with no real goals or ambitions other than to travel, drink heavily, and engage themselves with fabulous companions. Many of them became expatriates and sought refuge in Gertrude Stein’s salon in Paris, France. The Left Bank of Paris was a notorious bohemian hot-spot where some of the world’s greatest artists and intellectuals found a haven in which to freely express themselves. Those expatriates included F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Dos Passos, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, e. e. cummings, Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, and Edna St. Vincent Millay. “They were the central figures in the intellectual’s revolt against the United States.” (Cantor, p.117)
Walter Lippmann, a popular commentator about the American scene of the 1920s (and later), said this about the times: “What most distinguishes the generation who have approached maturity since the debacle of idealism at the end of the War is not their rebellion against the religion and the moral code of their parents, but their disillusionment with their own rebellion. It is common for young men and women to rebel, but that they should rebel sadly and without faith in their rebellion, that they should distrust the new freedom no less that the old certainties – that is something off a novelty.” (TFC, p. 26)
“When Paris Was a Woman (According to Alice [B. Toklas]- 1928)”, written and sung by Melissa Manchester, Alice B. Toklas was Gertrude Stein’s companion in their Paris expatriate days. The song depicts the somewhat hedonistic lives of those who made Gertrude Stein’s apartment “the place to be”. https://youtu.be/EanQ-qheqAo
Afternoons on the Rue de Flores
In the flat that I shared with Gertrude
We served tea and got drunk on conversations
With the lost generation she found.
Hemingway, Picasso and Matisse
Janet Flanders and Sylvia Beach.
We were searching for unknown destinations
We were desperate to reach.
We [said au revoir?],
We carved our dreams,
To invent the world, it seems,
As life unraveled at the seams,
But oh ….
When Paris was a woman,
When Paris was a woman,
When Paris was a woman,
She loved so well.
All the smoke and opinions would fly!
Life was art, art was life, or else die .
So we cared for each word and every color
Like a bug on the web [to explain]
As the days blended into the nights,
How we savored our city of lights –
And we knew it wouldn’t last forever,
But my god what a ride!
When Paris was a woman,
When Paris was a woman,
When Paris was a woman,
She loved so well.
She loved so well.
My Gertrude –
She was my shepherdess,
My Pyrenees.
With eagle eyes, a mountain range was she.
She sure loved me.
We sure loved.
When Paris was a woman …
The escapades,
The rigolos.
The geniuses,
The gigolos.
The legacy we left …
Who knows?
But oh …
When Paris was a woman,
When Paris was a woman,
When Paris was a woman,
She loved so well.
She loved so well.
We loved
When Paris was a woman,
When Paris was a woman,
When Paris was a woman,
She loved so well.
“Me and Gertrude Stein”, written and sung by Chuck Coleman (2003), the song references the Paris intellectual and social scene of the 1920s, Gertrude Stein’s Saturday afternoon soirees that were all the rage, and Gertrude’s lover Alice B. Toklas, https://youtu.be/LsA8lzkpr5I
Every Friday afternoon at 4:00, she’s not a second early, and she’s not a second late, I watch her as she stumbles through the door, She motions to the waitress and they seat us right away
We chat about the color of the Seine and whether America is passé, She raves about … and bitches about Matisse; I just nod and say Alice I assume is doing well, She says is there any reason why you think she wouldn’t be
I’m everything she wanted in a husband, plus I am the social center of the artists of Paris…She always has something clever to say, she put out with Picasso ………. She’ll go on for hours never asking how I am, but still I can’t complain, Cause it’s me and Gertrude Stein, sitting by the window watching cars go by
Superfluous and new, and there’s no way I could say what Gertrude Stein sees in me, But I just sip my wine and try my best to impress Gertrude Stein
Every Saturday she throws a party and no one who is anyone would miss it for their lives, It’s Gertrude in the parlor with the artists, and Dallas in the kitchen entertaining all their wives, The feminists of Paris were appalled, they did not like the gender roles at all, but Gertie got a crew cut and they took her for a man and now the problem’s solved
It’s me and Gertrude Stein, sitting at the piano, She looks on as I play a (indiscernible) and there’s no way that I could say why she’s listening to me. But, I just take my time and play for Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein,
Let’s (indiscernible) Alice saw me that same day, she said Gertrude is my world now, we prefer a man that sounds (indiscernible)
And you know Gertrude Stein called me up this morning to inquire if I would join her on the coast, and there’s no way I could say why she invited me But you know that’s just fine because it’s me and Gertrude Stein
“A Rose Is A Rose” , sung by Poe; the title is a reference to the famous Gertrude Stein saying; the song mentions many of the Lost Generation expatriates who went to Paris and describes a scene at one of her notorious soirees. https://youtu.be/R6lTTsMWGWs
Jezebel
From Israel
Who never read a book
Charmed the literati
And a smile was all it tookI was laughing with Picasso
When she first entered the room
But Gershwin, Tristan Tzara
And Man Ray saw her, tooThere was never any doubt
All would try to take her home
But she refused their every move
Preferred to be aloneAnd a rose
A rose is a roseZelda had a breakdown
Fitzgerald hit the bar
His hand was broken
Words were spoken
Didn’t get too far
Hemmingway was smoother
More debonair and fun
But he would say her repartee
Was meaner than a gunAnd a rose
A rose is a rose
Is a rose
Is a rose
Is a rose
Said my good friend Gertrude Stein
She knows that I go to the ol’ Deux Magots
And I drink Pernod through the nightJezebel
From Israel
Who never read a book
She charmed the literati
And a smile was all it tookBefore her, Joyce will babble
And Pound has gone insane
Eliot is paralyzed by
Thoughts of April rain
When she refused Lenin
He vowed to start a war
Stravinsky beat The Rite of Spring
Right there on the floorAnd a rose
A rose is a roseA rose is a rose
Is a rose
Is a rose
Said my good friend Gertrude Stein
She knows that I go to the ol’ Deux Magots
And I drink Pernod through the nightAnd then one night, she’s missing
A riot soon began
No one could stand the thought of Jezzie
With another man
I raced down winding streets
I broke into her house
You’d never guess who Jezebel
Was kissing on the couchA rose
A rose is a rose
Is a rose
A rose“Hi Jezzie
Hi there, Gertrude
Am I interrupting something?”A rose is a rose
Is a rose
Is a rose
Is a roseA rose is a rose
Is a rose
Is a rose
Is a roseA rose is a rose
Is a rose
Is a rose
T. S. (Thomas Stearns) Eliot, a self-declared British essayist, publisher, playwright, literary and social critic, and “one of the twentieth century’s major poets”, was one of the Lost Generation expatriates who were part of the Paris scene in the 1920s. He moved from his native United States to England in 1914 at the age of 25, settling, working, and marrying there. He eventually became a British subject in 1927 at the age of 39, renouncing his American passport.
Eliot was one of the founding fathers of literary modernism. In keeping with the spirit of the times, Eliot’s verse is described as “…poetry that cast aside old notions and rules of rhythm and meter and adopted as its principal subject decay- the gradual disintegration of traditional faith and the loss of order and direction in the modern world.” (Streissguth, p. 147) Eliot’s The Waste Land, which describes the post war civilization as a spiritual desert, is said to be one of the best expressions of the mood of the Lost Generation. (RD, p. 418) Other notable Eliot works include The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrok and The Song of the Jellicles, which was the basis of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s famous Broadway show “Cats”.
Besides This Side of Paradise, F. Scott Fitzgerald also wrote The Beautiful and The Damned, and The Great Gatsby. He has been called “the philosopher of the flapper” (Id. at 162, quoting Edwin Clark). His lifestyle, along with his wife, Zelda, was that of the quintessential 1920’s “Sheik”– flamboyant, drinking, bad manners, sophomoric antics, constant attention seeking as personified by Jay Gatsby, the title character of his The Great Gatsby: (Id. at 148)
Zelda Fitzgerald was a writer, dancer, and Jazz Age celebrity who struggled on and off with mental illness. Her husband called her the first American flapper, and she became a 1920s icon due to her vivacious nature and bon vivant lifestyle. Zelda’s marriage to F. Scott Fitzgerald was reportedly a toxic one, complete with alcoholism, mutual infidelity, and jealousy. Although they never divorced, the couple was estranged when F. Scott died in 1940.
“Bigger Than Love”, written and sung by Ben Gibbard, The song’s lyrics are based on love letters between F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda. Gibbard’s source was a book, Dear Scott, Dear Zelda, which contains all the correspondence between the pair throughout their lives, https://youtu.be/LGivmFgR3_w
It’s bigger than love
Brighter than all the stars combined
It’s dwarfing the sun
Burning within my heart and mindI live with my memories, the bustling fervor of New York
Where on 59th street we quarreled and broke the bathroom door
‘Cause you were just drinking ’til you could hardly see
Oh how much I loved you but I couldn’t bring myself to leaveIt’s bigger than love
Brighter than all the stars combined
It’s dwarfing the sun
Burning within my heart and mindOur summers in Paris, the Seine overflowing with champagne
And I knew you stepped out but you knew that I had done the same
And we had a child there but we couldn’t raise her on our own
So our house got crowded and I’d never felt so all aloneIt’s bigger than love
Brighter than all the stars combined
It’s dwarfing the sun
Burning within my heart and mindIt’s bigger than love
Brighter than all the stars combined
It’s dwarfing the sun
Burning within my heart and mindStranded in Asheville failing to fix a broken head
You’re in California doing the work of lesser men
Oh what of our daughter, oh what of the love that we once shared?
It’s living inside us battered but not beyond repairOur fate decreed
A singularity
A solemn tune
I play at night and dance around the roomIt’s bigger than love
Brighter than all the stars combined
It’s dwarfing the sun
Burning within my heart and mindIt’s bigger than love
Brighter than all the stars combined
It’s dwarfing the sun
Burning within my heart and mind
“Witchy Woman”, performed by The Eagles, written by Don Henley/Bernie Leadon (1972): After reading a biography about Zelda, Don Henley wrote “Witchy Woman” about her. It was “an important song for me,” Henley said, “because it marked the beginning of my professional songwriting career.” Describing her as a restless spirit in the song, Henley also referred to her use of absinthe (a narcotic favored by the Twenties celebrities) – “she drove herself to madness with a silver spoon”). https://youtu.be/DkxOuzbJy98
Raven hair and ruby lips
Sparks fly from her finger tips
Echoed voices in the night
She’s a restless spirit on an endless flight
Woo hoo witchy woman see how high she flies, Woo hoo witchy woman she got the moon in her eye
She held me spellbound in the night
Dancing shadows and firelight
Crazy laughter in another room and she drove herself to madness with a silver spoon
Woo hoo witchy woman see how high she flies, Woo hoo witchy woman she got the moon in her eye
Well I know you want a lover,
Let me tell your brother, she’s been sleeping In the Devil’s bed
And there’s some rumors going round
Someone’s underground
She can rock you in the nighttime ’til your skin turns red
Woo hoo witchy woman see how high she flies, Woo hoo witchy woman she got the moon in her eye
In keeping with the Lost Generation theme, Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises describes “a … group of disillusioned Americana expatriates at their worst, uselessly drinking and fornicating from city to city while nursing scorn for their homeland.” (Id. at 150)
“The Sun Also Rises” (Ernest Hemingway / ELA Song), Vocal: Molly Melloan, Jerry Appell, Written by Jerry Appell and Holiday Eames, 2017 , A “Rock In The Classroom” song that reflects on major themes found in Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises. Some of these themes include loss of idealism, shifting gender roles, and post-war trauma experienced by the “Lost Generation” of the 1920’s. http://www.teachertube.com/video/rock-in-the-classroom-the-sun-also-rises-ernest-hemingway-ela-song-451219; https://youtu.be/bK0Ih3GvzHc
Wounded in war, lovers no more
city of lights calls them over
flowers of youth, buried by truth
Flanders fields they lay under
the rest of them somehow lost their way
frozen man talking in cafes
red wine, stars shine
evening disguises, the sun also risesTraveling by train a holiday in Spain
men of a lost generation
a woman on her own who can not be alone
a love that died for her nation
two men wading in the stream
squandering love to a dream
fishing for peace, wandering the street
always more compromises, the sun also risesDancing in the street, animals in heat
aimlessly seeking destruction
the man who walks alone, cuts you to the bone
surrendering to seduction
round and round in reverie
no escape from memory
exhausted they run, but sleep will never come
daylight brings no surprises, the sun also rises
“Mrs. Hemingway”, written and sung by Mary Chapin Carpenter; Carpenter explained the inspiration for the song to Express Night Out (a publication of the Washington Post): “This song is about Hadley Richardson Hemingway, who was married to American author Ernest Hemingway between 1921 and 1927. She was the first of his four wives. This song was something I’ve been wanting to write, or investigate, since I was in college. That’s when I first read [the Ernest Hemingway memoir] A Moveable Feast…….what got my attention was that his first wife, Hadley, was sort of a shadowy figure in literary history and his life. I was always fascinated by her. People are aware of the story that he fell in love with her best friend and left [her]. This is a song about her life in Paris with him, before all of that happened. In A Moveable Feast he looks back to his life in Paris with Hadley, before the fame, the money, and the corruption if you will, and he always seemed to indicate that that’s when he did his best work. ” With regard to Hadley, he says in those memoirs, “I wish I had died before I ever loved anyone but her.” Hemingway dedicated his first novel The Sun Also Rises to Hadley and to their son, John Hadley Nicanor Hemingway. It was, he said, the least he could do. All royalties from this book also went to Hadley. Hemingway was, it was said, devastated that he was losing a woman he had loved and still loved.” https://youtu.be/I5WqpNlrz7o
We packed up our books and our dishes
Our dreams and your worsted wool suits
We sailed on the eighth of December
Farewell old Hudson River
Here comes the sea
And love was as new and as bright and as true
When I loved you and you loved meTwo steamer trunks in the carriage
Safe arrival we cabled back home
It was just a few days before Christmas
We filled our stockings with wishes
And walked for hours
Arm and arm through the rain, to the glassed-in cafe
That held us like hot house flowersLiving in Paris, in attics and garrets
Where the coal merchants climb every stair
The dance hall next door is filled with sailors and whores
And the music floats up through the air
There’s Sancerre and oysters, cathedrals and cloisters
And time with its unerring aim
For now we can say we were lucky most days
And throw a rose into the SeineLove is the greatest deceiver
It hollows you out like a drum
And suddenly nothing is certain
As if all the clouds closed the curtains
And blocked the sun
And friends now are strangers in this city of dangers
As cold and as cruel as they comeSometimes I look at old pictures
And smile at how happy we were
How easy it was to be hungry
It wasn’t for fame or for money
It was for love
Now my copper hair’s grey as the stone on the quay
In the city where magic wasLiving in Paris, in attics and garrets
Where the coal merchants climb every stair
The dance hall next door is filled with sailors and whores
And the music floats up through the air
There’s Sancerre and oysters, and Notre Dame’s cloisters
And time with its unerring aim
And now we can say we were lucky most days
And throw a rose into the Seine
And now I can say I was lucky most days
And throw a rose into the Seine
Another musical resource relating to F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Lost Generation is “Winter Dreams: The Life and Passions of F. Scott Fitzgerald”, a biographical album consisting of twelve songs about Fitzgerald’s life all written by Nancy Harrow and performed by various artists. The expansive nature of the album makes it difficult to set out each song with its lyrics. The entire album can be found at https://youtu.be/1PQbXD6iud0 From the Album Notes: “Harrow investigates the hopes, dreams, excitement, excesses and sadness of the great writer and the era in which he lived. The resulting work is wonderful. This completely original musical adventure is a hip and adventurous journey investigating the nooks and crannies of Fitzgerald’s tumultuous life.” (Michael Dominici, Whereyat) … The album’s 12 tracks … are less a musical biography than a gallery of hand-tinted X-rays that lay bare the hopes, dreams, fears and self-loathing of Fitzgerald’s checkered life. … These dozen snapshots capture a bracingly broad spectrum of emotions, extending from the youthful idealism of ‘This Side of Paradise’ (I’m young /I’m smart/I’m making cash from art”) and naked ambition of “You’ll Never Get to East Egg” to the money-hungry tap dance of “Dear Max” and the haunting desolation of the title track.” (Christopher Loudon, JazzTimes)