Irving Berlin sings Berlin

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Oh, How That German Could Love (m. Ted Snyder, w. Irving Berlin)

Recorded by Irving Berlin for Columbia in January 1910. According to the Complete Lyrics of Irving Berlin (ed. Kimball and Emmet, 2001) p. 18, the song was introduced by Sam Bernard (photo at right) during the post-Broadway tour of the musical show The Girl and the Wizard. The Broadway run at the Casino Theatre, (9/27/1909 – 12/18/1909) was followed by a brief run at the West End Theatre in New York (12/27/1909 – circa. 1/1910). Bernard and the show are promoted at the top of the sheet music cover (see copy above), which features an image of the star in costume. The above copy appears to have been autographed by Irving Berlin.

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Follow the Crowd

From The Complete Lyrics of Irving Berlin edited by Robert Kimball and Linda Emmet, 2001, p. 86:

Published. Copyrighted January 30, 1914. Introduced in Queen of the Movies (January 12, 1914; Globe Theatre, New York City) by Frank Moulan (Professor Josiah Clutterbuck, “a rich and famous inventor of artificial food, known as the Wizard of the Market Basket”) and ensemble. Recorded by Irving Berlin for Columbia in 1914... [read more]

Video provider Tim Gracyk says, “This was recorded in 1914 but was not issued until it appeared on 10” vinyl Columbia [matrix# 32229] in the 1960s.”

Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning

From The Complete Lyrics of Irving Berlin, p. 169:

Published. Copyrighted July 23, 1918. According to a notation by Berlin on the earliest surviving piano-vocal score of this song, it was “written and composed at Camp Upton, June 20, 1918.” Introduced in Yip, Yip, Yaphank by “Sergeant Irving Berlin.” Number-one-selling recording by Arthur Fields…Alternate title (program): “How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning.” “Dedicated,” according to a note by Berlin on the sheet music, “to my friend ‘Private Howard Friend” who occupies the cot next to mine and feels as I do about the ‘bugler.’ “

More than any other of his works, this song is linked with Berlin as a performer. Nearly a quarter of a century later Berlin sang it in This is the Army (1942), and his “original cast” recording is justly acknowledged as the definitive version of the song. He also sang it in the 1943 film of the show.

This is the Army (1943), the film

God Bless America — written in 1918; revised in 1938

Irving Berlin sings “God Bless America” on The Ed Sullivan Show on May 5, 1968. Available on the DVD “A Salute To The Red, White & Blue: Memorable Performances from The Ed Sullivan Show.”

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Songs sung in shows by Irving Berlin, but not recorded by him, include the following, with page numbers from The Complete Lyrics of Irving Berlin, Eds. Robert Kimball and Linda Emmet (2001):

1910 – “Sweet Italian Love” — p.22
1915 – “I’m Going Back to the Farm” — from p. 127:
- According to Variety, the song was first sung in public by Irving Berlin during an afternoon at the Strand Roof Garden on February 28, 1915; it was sung again by Berlin in Watch Your Step on March 6, 1915, the hundredth performance of the show. The number did not remain in the show and was not printed in the published piano-vocal score.

1919 – “Nobody Knows and Nobody Seems to Care” — p. 174

1921 — “An Interview” — p. 202 & p. 203 — In the Music Box Revue of 1921, the first of four annual editions, this number was performed by Irving Berlin and the Eight Little Notes (see photo below). According to Complete Lyrics, p. 202,
- “An Interview” concluded with Berlin singing “All By Myself.”
1921 – “All By Myself” — p. 222 — performed as part of the “An Interview” number in the 1921 Music Box Revue