"power to soften the hearts of the man who so shortly after goes back to shoot down his brother man . . . [yet keeps] our boys from turning into the beasts they are asked to be . . . [because his voice] strikes to the bottom of the hearts of men. I have watched it happen, often, not just in the rare case but in many many thousands of men - sitting silent, retrospective, thoughts flying back to home and loved ones . . . [as his voice tapped into the] power of music, put into humble, throbbing words, as these fellows want it, need it, bow to it."Gioia goes on to write:
"Gary Giddens . . . calls this aspect of his singing 'a zone of emotional safety' You could even claim that Bing Crosby invented emotional restraint in popular music. As leader of the first generation of singers to take advantages of the improved microphones of the late 1920s and early 1930s, Crosby grasped better than anyone the potential of conversational delivery."It was during the war years that Crosby's recording of White Christmas became the best-selling record of all time (and remains so) and won an Oscar for his first serious film role, as a priest in Going My Way. He also devoted enormous time to traveling and entertaining troops in the U.S. and abroad. In a public opinion poll, conducted at end of the war, to pick the most admired man alive, Bing easily won, beating President Truman, and Generals Eisenhower and MacArthur.
From 1944, Out Of This World, composed by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer:
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