Charting the Music of the Forties

What is the number 17 popular single of 1940-44? "I'll Get By" by Harry James & Dick Haymes, outranking the Ink Spots' version. The #17 pop single of 1945-49? "Peg O'My Heart" by the Harmonicats -- a Grammy Hall of Fame recording. How about the #17 country single of the 1940s? "Guitar Polka" by Al Dexter -- perhaps the most successful instrumental country hit ever. The #17 R&B single of the 1940s? "Who Threw the Whiskey in the Well?" by Lucky Millinder & Wynonie Harris, from 1945. Three years later, Harris would record the first rock & roll song. The #17 album? "Lombardoland" (Guy Lombardo). The singles and albums at the higher & lower positions, for these genres and for Children's, Christmas, Classical, and World music, are featured in the book. There are also short biographies on notable artists and composers, covering the decade of the 1940s. The book is a chronicle of our musical past.