How to Use Tin Pan Alley in a Sentence

Tin Pan Alley

noun
  • An old man with Alzheimer’s might hear a Tin Pan Alley tune and suddenly recall his daughter’s name.
    — Burkhard Bilger, The New Yorker, 27 Mar. 2023
  • Livingston’s musical style draws on ragtime, country-blues, swing, vaudeville and Tin Pan Alley.
    — Christina Mayo, Miami Herald, 18 Sep. 2025
  • Catt sings in a jingly Tin Pan Alley curtain-raiser, eager to make men comfortable with the idea of extending the franchise.
    — Helen Shaw, The New Yorker, 2 May 2024
  • The folk hero makes a few elliptical appearances, along with the bluesmen, scholars, and Tin Pan Alley tunesmiths who shaped his legend.
    — Julian Lucas, New Yorker, 22 June 2026
  • Bacharach’s music cut across age lines, appealing to teens as well as an older generation who could appreciate the Tin Pan Alley feel of some of David’s lyrics.
    — Duane Byrge, Billboard, 9 Feb. 2023
  • Much of the music was religious or classical, but sheet music for secular, popular songs grew increasingly available over time, thanks in part to the emergence of publishing district Tin Pan Alley.
    — Harmeet Kaur, CNN, 20 June 2024
  • The generations of theatergoers who grew up on book musicals, replete with original songs that were written in a distinctive Broadway style, with roots in operetta and Tin Pan Alley, are in their dotage now.
    — Peter Marks, Washington Post, 27 Nov. 2022
  • His music pulls together Tin Pan Alley and 1960s Wall of Sound pop, ticky-tacky drum machines and synths; his storytelling brings a bohemian world into focus through arch aphorisms, dirty jokes and rhymes that scan impeccably.
    — New York Times, 28 Apr. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'Tin Pan Alley.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: