"It's a Lovely Day Tomorrow" is a song written in 1938 by composer Irving Berlin.
The song came out of a conversation with British / Hungarian film producer Alexander Korda in a New York taxi cab in 1938. The Munich agreement had just depressed both men. Korda asked Berlin if he had written a war song yet, and a few blocks later Berlin came up with the tune and lyrics. [1] [2]
It was first performed in London at the start of the war in 1939 before its American release, which caused a sensation at the time. Berlin used it in his 1940 musical Louisiana Purchase , in which it describes feelings of despair and hope during the American Great Depression, of the 1930s. [3] Irene Bordoni performed the song on the opening night. [4] In the film version of Louisiana Purchase in 1941, the song was performed by a black chorus. [5]
The song contains the following chorus by which it is popularly known.
"God Bless America" is an American patriotic song written by Irving Berlin of Belarusian origin during World War I in 1918 and revised by him in the run up to World War II in 1938. The later version was notably recorded by Kate Smith, becoming her signature song.
"Sing, You Sinners" is a popular song with music by W. Franke Harling and lyrics by Sam Coslow. In 1930 it was used in the film Honey starring Lillian Roth. The Bing Crosby 1938 Paramount musical Sing You Sinners also included the song in the title credits.
"I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts" is a novelty song composed in 1944 by Fred Heatherton, a songwriting pseudonym for a collaboration of English songwriters Harold Elton Box and Desmond Cox, with Lewis Ilda. The song was published by Box and Cox Publications (ASCAP).
"Pretty Baby" is a song written by Tony Jackson during the Ragtime era. The song was remembered as being prominent in Jackson's repertory before he left New Orleans in 1912, but was not published until 1916.
"All Alone" is a popular waltz ballad composed by Irving Berlin in 1924. It was interpolated into the Broadway show The Music Box Revue of 1924 where it was sung by Grace Moore and Oscar Shaw. Moore sat at one end of the stage under a tightly focused spotlight, singing it into a telephone, while Oscar Shaw sat at the other, doing the same.
"If You Were the Only Girl (In the World)" is a popular song, written by Nat D. Ayer with lyrics by Clifford Grey. It was written for the musical revue The Bing Boys Are Here, which premièred on 19 April 1916 at the Alhambra Theatre in Leicester Square, London. The song was originally performed as a duet between Lucius Bing, played by George Robey, and his love interest Emma, originated by Violet Loraine.
"If You Are But a Dream" is a popular song published in 1942 with words and music by Moe Jaffe, Jack Fulton and Nat Bonx. The melody is based on Anton Rubinstein's "Romance in E flat, Op. 44, No. 1," popularly known as "Rubinstein's Romance".
"I've Got The World on a String" is a 1932 popular jazz song composed by Harold Arlen, with lyrics written by Ted Koehler. It was written for the twenty-first edition of the Cotton Club series which opened on October 23, 1932, the first of the Cotton Club Parades.
"South of the Border Down Mexico Way" is a popular song describing a trip to Mexico, written by Jimmy Kennedy and Michael Carr and published in 1939 for the film of the same name starring country star Gene Autry.
"You'd Be Surprised" is a song written by Irving Berlin in 1919 which Eddie Cantor interpolated it into Ziegfeld's Follies of 1919. Cantor soon recorded it and it became a major hit. Other popular versions in 1920 were by the All-Star Trio and by Irving Kaufman.
"April Showers" is a 1921 popular song composed by Louis Silvers with lyrics by B. G. De Sylva.
"Nobody's Sweetheart", also known as "Nobody's Sweetheart Now" and "You're Nobody's Sweetheart Now", is a popular song, written in 1924, with music by Billy Meyers and Elmer Schoebel, and lyrics by Gus Kahn and Ernie Erdman. The song is a jazz and pop standard.
"Isn't This a Lovely Day?" is a popular song written by Irving Berlin for the 1935 film Top Hat, where it was introduced by Fred Astaire in the scene where his and Ginger Rogers' characters are caught in a gazebo during a rainstorm. The lyric is an example of a song which turns a bad situation into a love song, a common style for Irving Berlin, as in I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm and Let's Have Another Cup of Coffee.
"Now It Can Be Told" is a popular song written by Irving Berlin for the 1938 film Alexander's Ragtime Band, where it was introduced by Alice Faye and Don Ameche. It was nominated for an Academy Award in 1938 but lost out to "Thanks for the Memory".
"Waves of the Danube" is a waltz composed by Iosif Ivanovici in 1880, and is one of the most famous Romanian tunes in the world. The song has many variations throughout the piece, reminiscent of the music of Johann Strauss. Through the Viennese style variations, there is still a distinct Slavic style. In the United States, it is frequently referred to as "The Anniversary Song", a title given by Al Jolson when he and Saul Chaplin released an adaptation of the song in 1946.
"Way Down Yonder in New Orleans" is a popular song with music by John Turner Layton Jr. and lyrics by Henry Creamer. First published in 1922, it was advertised by Creamer and Layton as "A Southern Song, without A Mammy, A Mule, Or A Moon", a dig at some of the Tin Pan Alley clichés of the era.
"In the Good Old Summer Time" is an American Tin Pan Alley song first published in 1902 with music by George Evans and lyrics by Ren Shields. The song is in the public domain.
"Yours Is My Heart Alone" or "You Are My Heart's Delight" is an aria from the 1929 operetta The Land of Smiles with music by Franz Lehár and the libretto by Fritz Löhner-Beda and Ludwig Herzer. It was for many years associated with the tenor Richard Tauber, for whom it was written. The aria is sung by the character of Prince Sou-Chong in act 2. An American version of the show opened on Broadway in 1946 starring Tauber but it soon closed as Tauber had throat trouble.
"Allá en el Rancho Grande" is a Mexican song. It was written in the 1920s for a musical theatrical work, but now is most commonly associated with the eponymous 1936 Mexican motion picture Allá en el Rancho Grande, in which it was sung by renowned actor and singer Tito Guízar and with mariachis.
"I Never Had A Chance" is a popular song written by Irving Berlin, published in 1934. Popular versions that year were by Eddy Duchin and by Glen Gray & The Casa Loma Orchestra.