Tin Pan Alley

We were listening to Stevie Ray Vaughn’s Tin Pan Alley (plugging the Audio Note M9 directly into the wall is significantly better than through our [usually only somewhat problematic $60, sounds better than most $2K+ … OK, $5K+ …power conditioners], power-strip) and wondered just where Tin Pan Alley was.

I thought it was next to Hells Kitchen in Manhattan. Neli thought it was a euphemism for skid row.

But we was wrong.

From Wikipedia Tin Pan Alley:

“Tin Pan Alley is the name given to the collection of New York City-centered music publishers and songwriters who dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century. The term is also used to describe any area within a major city with a high concentration of music publishers or musical instrument stores – a good example being Denmark Street[1][2] in London’s West End. In the 1920s the street became known as “Britain’s Tin Pan Alley” because of the large number of music shops, a title it still holds: the Tin Pan Alley Festival is held there each July.”

So now we have to listen to the lyrics all over again… and try and figure out what they REALLY mean. 🙂 Oh man. The pain. The PAIN.