I read somewhere that “all songs are poems” which is why I am including Irving Berlin here
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| Seargent Berlin WW1 |
The family went to America when Irving was five years old. The Berlins were one of hundreds of thousands of Jewish families who emigrated to the United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s, escaping discrimination, poverty and brutal pogroms. Other such families included those of George and Ira Gershwin, Al Jolson, Sophie Tucker, L. Wolfe Gilbert, Jack Yellen, Louis B. Mayer (of MGM), and the Warner brothers.
On 1st April 1917, after President Woodrow Wilson declared that America would enter The First World War, Berlin felt that Tin Pan Alley should do its duty and support the war with inspirational songs. Berlin wrote the song, "For Your Country and My Country", stating that "we must speak with the sword not the pen to show our appreciation to America for opening up her heart and welcoming every immigrant group." He also co-wrote a song aimed at ending ethnic conflict, "Let's All Be Americans Now".
In 1917, Berlin was drafted into the United States Army, and his induction became headline news, with one paper headline reading, "Army Takes Berlin!" But the Army wanted Berlin, now aged 30, to do what came naturally to him - i.e. write songs. While stationed with the 152nd Depot Brigade at Camp Upton, Long Island, he composed an all-soldier musical revue titled "Yip Yip Yaphank", written to be a patriotic tribute to the United States Army. The following summer, the show was taken to Broadway where it also included a number of hits, including "Mandy" and "Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning", which he performed himself.
The shows earned $150,000 for a camp service center. One song he wrote for the show but decided not to use, was "God Bless America".
List of songs written by Irving Berlin:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_songs_written_by_Irving_Berlin
“For Your Country And My Country” (1917)
We know you love your land of liberty
We know you love your U.S.A.
But if you want the world to know it
Now's the time to show it
Your Uncle Sammy needs you one and all
Answer to his call
For your country and my country
With millions of real fighting men
It's your duty and my duty
To speak with the sword, not a pen
If Washington were living today
With sword in hand he'd stand up and say
For your country and my country
I'll do it all over again
America has opened up her heart
To ev'ry nationality
And now she asks of ev'ry nation
Their appreciation
It makes no diff'rence now from where you came
We are all the same
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTQQGfOdbu4
