This article is a list of songs written by Irving Berlin. It is arranged in alphabetical order, but can be rearranged in chronological order by clicking at the top of that column. You may also click twice at the top of the "click to play" column, to bring those items to the top of the list. Furthermore, you can click on the last column to bring to the top those songs that have Wikipedia articles about them.
Sources vary as to the number of songs actually written by Berlin, but a 2001 article in TIME put the figure at around 1,250. Of these, 25 tunes reached #1 on the pop charts.[1] This is not a complete list, given that he wrote hundreds more songs than the ones listed here.[2][3]
This list gives the year each song was written, or alternatively groups each song into a five-year period. The list is incomplete but gives a sense of Berlin's evolution as a songwriter over a period of decades.
According to the New York Public Library, whose Irving Berlin collection comprises 555 non-commercial recordings radio broadcasts, live performances, and private recordings,[4] he published his first song, "Marie from Sunny Italy", in 1907 and had his first major international hit, "Alexander's Ragtime Band" in 1911.
George Simon Kaufman was an American playwright, theater director and producer, humorist, and drama critic. In addition to comedies and political satire, he wrote several musicals for the Marx Brothers and others. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the musical Of Thee I Sing in 1932, and won again in 1937 for the play You Can't Take It with You. He also won the Tony Award for Best Director in 1951 for the musical Guys and Dolls.
Irving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Berlin received numerous honors including an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, and a Tony Award. He also received Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Gerald R. Ford in 1977. Journalist Walter Cronkite stated he "helped write the story of this country, capturing the best of who we are and the dreams that shape our lives".
Annie Get Your Gun is a musical with lyrics and music by Irving Berlin and a book by Dorothy Fields and her brother Herbert Fields. The story is a fictionalized version of the life of Annie Oakley (1860–1926), a sharpshooter who starred in Buffalo Bill's Wild West, and her romance with sharpshooter Frank E. Butler (1847–1926).
This Is the Army is a 1943 American wartime musical comedy film produced by Jack L. Warner and Hal B. Wallis and directed by Michael Curtiz, adapted from a wartime stage musical with the same name, designed to boost morale in the U.S. during World War II, directed by Ezra Stone. The screenplay by Casey Robinson and Claude Binyon was based on the 1942 Broadway musical written by James McColl and Irving Berlin, with music and lyrics by Berlin. Berlin composed the film's 19 songs, and sang one of them.
"They Say It's Wonderful" is a popular song written by Irving Berlin for the musical Annie Get Your Gun (1946), where it was introduced by Ethel Merman and Ray Middleton. A film version in 1950 again featured the song when it was performed by Howard Keel and Betty Hutton. More recently it was performed in an episode of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel by Darius de Haas.
"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.
Bourne Co. Music Publishers is an American publisher of sheet music, and one of the largest privately held international music publishers in the world, with over three thousand titles in their catalogue. Subsidiaries include Bourne Music Canada Limited, Bourne Music France, and Bourne Music Ltd. (UK).
As Thousands Cheer is a revue with a book by Moss Hart and music and lyrics by Irving Berlin, first performed in 1933. The revue contained satirical sketches and witty or poignant musical numbers, several of which became standards, including "Heat Wave", "Easter Parade" and "Harlem on my Mind". The sketches were loosely based on the news and the lives and affairs of the rich and famous, as well as other prominent personalities of the day, such as Joan Crawford, John D. Rockefeller Jr., Noël Coward, Josephine Baker, and Aimee Semple McPherson.
"Easter Parade" is a popular song, written by Irving Berlin and published in 1933. Berlin originally wrote the melody in 1917, under the title "Smile and Show Your Dimple", as a "cheer up" song for a girl whose man has gone off to fight in World War I. A recording of "Smile and Show Your Dimple" by Sam Ash enjoyed modest success in 1918.
"How Deep Is the Ocean?" is a popular song written by Irving Berlin in 1932. The song was developed from an earlier Berlin song "To My Mammy" which was sung by Al Jolson in his film Mammy (1930). In the earlier song, the lyrics include the questions "How deep is the ocean? / How high is the sky?" and this was the genesis of "How Deep Is the Ocean?".
"Supper Time" is a popular song written by Irving Berlin for the 1933 musical As Thousands Cheer, where it was introduced by Ethel Waters. The song is about racial violence inspired by a newspaper headline about a lynching.
"Say It Isn't So" is a popular torch song by Irving Berlin, published in 1932. The song was written when Berlin was suffering a loss of confidence following several setbacks, and he initially placed the song in a drawer, feeling that it would not be successful. However, one of Berlin's employees, Max Winslow, heard it, and on his own initiative, took it to Rudy Vallée, who was then a major star on radio. Vallee sang it on his radio show and it became an immediate hit.
I Want to Go Back to Michigan is a song by Irving Berlin composed in 1914. It was a moderate commercial success when it was first released with popular versions by Elida Morris and by Morton Harvey. Afterwards it became a staple in vaudeville. Its most famous performance was by Judy Garland in the film Easter Parade.
"That International Rag" is a song composed by Irving Berlin in 1913. Berlin wrote the song the night before its debut, when he needed a new opening number for his act while on tour in England.
"Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning" is a song written by Irving Berlin in 1918 that gives a comic perspective on military life. Berlin composed the song as an expression of protest against the indignities of Army routine shortly after being drafted into the United States Army in 1918. The song soon made the rounds of camp and became popular with other soldiers, partly because hatred of reveille was universal.
Laurence Bergreen is an American historian and author.
"I Love a Piano" is a popular song with words and music by Irving Berlin. It was copyrighted on December 9, 1920 and introduced in the Broadway musical revue Stop! Look! Listen! when it was performed by Harry Fox and the ensemble. The song was given a tremendous boost in the show as the set for it consisted of an enormous keyboard running completely across the stage. In front of this were six pianos with six pianists playing the tune. Irving Berlin always regarded the song as one of his best efforts.
"A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody" is a popular song written by Irving Berlin in 1919 which became the theme song of the Ziegfeld Follies. The first verse and refrain are considered part of the Great American Songbook and are often covered as a jazz standard.
"This Year's Kisses" is a popular song written in 1936 by Irving Berlin for the musical film On the Avenue (1937) and introduced by Alice Faye. Popular recordings in 1937 were by Benny Goodman, Hal Kemp, Shep Fields and by Teddy Wilson with Billie Holiday.
Irving Berlin's 100th Birthday Celebration was a concert special held in his honor at Carnegie Hall on May 11, 1988. It was aired on CBS television two weeks later, on May 27. At the 40th annual Emmy Awards later that summer, on August 28, it won two Emmys for outstanding variety, music or comedy program. Berlin himself did not attend, as he had retired from public life.
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