(2-CD set) This 40-track, 2-CD set of recordings from the roaring twenties period focuses on the frivolous, and in doing so it reveals much about the period. It began with a 1920 recording of "Ain't We Got Fun," which notes that "the rich get rich and the poor get poorer;" continuing through 1925's "Pardon Me (While I Laugh)," which slyly comments on the ways by which Prohibition, among other things, was being subverted; to 1928's baby-talk "I Faw Down and Go Boom," which seems to anticipate the market crash by a year, these are songs that remain timely.
Of course, there are outright gibberish tunes like "Yes! We Have No Bananas," comic romps like "Don't Bring Lulu," and examples of wordplay such as "My Cutie's Due at Two to Two Today."
By and large, though, these are simply uptempo dance tunes with lightly romantic (sometimes risqué) lyrics.