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“Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” from Americana (1932) Music by Jay Gorney Lyrics by E. Y. “Yip” Harburg Sung by James Bierney, baritone “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” is one of the most powerful and enduring songs of the Great Depression. Written in 1931 by the composer Jay Gorney and lyricist E. Y. “Yip” Harburg, the song appeared in the Broadway Revue “Americana” at a time when unemployment, poverty, and economic insecurity had reached devastating levels in the United States. “Americana” opened in October 1932, but the show itself was not a major success. The song, however, quickly escaped the theatre. Bing Crosby and Rudy Vallée recorded it, helping turn it into one of the most popular songs of the period. Its success is surprising because it confronted subjects that popular entertainment often avoided. At a time when audiences were surrounded by unemployment and poverty, many popular songs offered escapism and optimism. “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” did the opposite: it gave those experiences a voice. What makes “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” even more remarkable is that its narrator is not presented as a helpless beggar. He is a builder, a farmer, a worker, and a veteran. He has done exactly what society told him to do: work hard, serve his country, and help build America's future. The repeated contrast between “once” and “now” is central to the song. He remembers what he accomplished, while the present has reduced him to asking for charity. The railroad and the tower become symbols of the enormous physical achievements of working people — and of how quickly those achievements can cease to provide security. The reference to soldiers and “half a million boots” (a nod to the poem "Boots" written in 1903 by Rudyard Kipling) also connects economic hardship with military service. The man who was once celebrated for serving his country now finds that his country has forgotten him. This gives the song an additional dimension of betrayal and disillusionment. Gorney's melody is as important as Harburg's words. Its minor-key character immediately creates a sense of melancholy, whilst the broad, almost hymn-like shape of the melody gives the song a dignity that prevents the narrator from sounding merely defeated. There is also a fascinating tension between the music and the subject. This is a song about an American worker, yet its melody carries the memory of an immigrant childhood and a Russian-Jewish lullaby. In that sense, the music itself embodies the mixture of cultures and experiences that made up American life. The song's structure gradually moves from personal memories to a direct confrontation with the listener. By the time the narrator asks whether anyone remembers him, the listener is no longer simply hearing about “the unemployed” — we are being asked to recognize an individual human being. More than ninety years after it was written, the song continues to resonate because its central question is larger than the Great Depression. It asks what happens when people who have worked, served, and contributed to society discover that the promises made to them have not been kept. They used to tell me I was building a dream, And so I followed the mob, When there was earth to plough, Or guns to bear, I was always there, Right on the job. They used to tell me I was building a dream, with peace and glory ahead. Why should I be standing in line, just waiting for bread? Once I built a railroad, made it run, made it race against time. Once I built a railroad; Now it's done. Brother, can you spare a dime? Once I built a tower up to the sun, brick and rivet and lime. Once I built a tower, now it's done. Brother, can you spare a dime? Once in khaki suits, gee we looked swell, Full of that yankee doodley dum. Half a million boots went sloggin' through Hell, And I was the kid with the drum! Say don't you remember? They called me Al. It was Al all the time. Say don't you remember? I'm your pal. Say buddy, can you spare a dime?

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