| List of Illustrations | p. ix |
| Acknowledgments | p. xiii |
| Introduction | p. xvii |
| "Listen, Listen to the Voice of Love"; or, British Concert and Stage Music in Early America | p. 1 |
| "The Wounded Hussar"; or, The First Songs Written in America | p. 26 |
| "Erin, the Tear and the Smile in Thine Eyes"; or, Thomas Moore's Irish Melodies in America | p. 42 |
| "Hear Me, Norma"; or, Bel Canto Comes to America--Italian Opera as Popular Song | p. 62 |
| "The Minstrel's Return'd from the War"; or, The First American Songwriters | p. 89 |
| "Jim Crow"; or, The Music of the Early American Minstrel Show | p. 109 |
| "If I Were a Voice"; or, The Hutchinson Family and Popular Song As Political and Social Protest | p. 141 |
| "Come Back to Erin"; or, More Gems from the British Isles | p. 162 |
| "When the Swallows Homeward Fly"; or, German Song in Nineteenth-Century America | p. 187 |
| "Old Folks at Home"; or, The Songs of Stephen Foster | p. 201 |
| "All Quiet Along the Potomac"; or, Songs of the Civil War | p. 228 |
| "The Old Home Ain't What It Used to Be"; or, American Song in the Postwar Years | p. 253 |
| "After the Ball"; or, The Birth of Tin Pan Alley | p. 284 |
| "It's Only a Paper Moon"; or, the Golden Years of Tin Pan Alley | p. 326 |
| "Rock Around the Clock"; or, the Rise of Rock 'n' Roll | p. 391 |
| "Sympathy for the Devil"; or, The Age of Rock | p. 425 |
| Epilogue: The Seventies and Beyond | p. 465 |
| The Most Popular Songs in America Printed before 1800 | p. 479 |
| The Most Popular Songs in America, 1801-1825 | p. 481 |
| Stephen Foster's List of Royalties Received for Various of His Songs, to 1857 | p. 483 |
| The Top-Selling Foreign Songs in America in 1870 | p. 485 |
| Top Forty: The Most Often Recorded Songs in America, 1900-1950 | p. 487 |
| Variety Magazine's Golden 100 Tin Pan Alley Songs, 1918-1935 | p. 489 |
| The Top Songs on "Your Hit Parade," 1935-1958 | p. 493 |
| Bibliography | p. 495 |
| Copyright Acknowledgments | p. 504 |
| Index | p. 507 |
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