Answer: During the Great Depression songs provided a way for people to complain of lost jobs and impoverished circumstances. Perhaps the most famous of these is "Brother Can You Spare a Dime?" by E. Y. Harberg, published in 1931. Songs could also be used to raise people's spirits and give them hope for better times. "Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries," with lyrics by Lew Brown and music by Ray Henderson, also published in 1931, told listeners "Don't take it serious, it's too mysterious." The song from the film Gold Diggers of 1933, "We're in the Money," with lyrics by Al Dubin and music by Harry Warren (1933), asserted that the depression had passed: "Old Man Depression you are through, you done us wrong." But the effects of the Depression were far from over.
