Irving Berlin
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When a popular publication selected the
100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time
... among those listed were Tom Hall, Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, Allen Toussaint, Bert Berns, Jerome Felder, Mort Shuman, and Willie Dixon. Worthy selections, to be sure, but why did they omit who Billboard magazine stated was arguably:
The Most Successful Songwriter of the 20th Century
That was Irving Berlin who from 1907 to 1987 penned what two scholars totaled as over 1200 songs.1 Many of his tunes rose - and continue to rise - to reach #1 on the charts.
Of course, successful songs don't necessarily mean they're the best songs, and Irving liked to say he measured his success by the money he made. If so, he was very successful. Before he got married in 1912 he was pulling in $100,000 a year in a day when there was no income tax and a lot of people got by on a yearly wage of $500. But like many of the haut monde, he lost his money in the stock market crash of 1929. After living on a much reduced income, he relocated to Hollywood, and he bounced back writing the songs for Fred Astaire and Ginger Roger's 1935 movie Top Hat.
The occasion of Billboard's accolade was the 1988 television special celebrating Irving's 100th Birthday - and, yes, Irving was still around in 1988. Among the featured singers were Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Joe Williams, Billy Eckstine, Diane Schuur, Marilyn Horne, and - get this - Willie Nelson.
Yes, in 1978 Willie recorded Irving's "Blue Skies". It rose to #1 on Billboard's Country Charts. It had also been #1 in 1927. So if Irving's songs aren't the best, they must be pretty good.
Although the wording of the phrase "100 Best Songwriters of All Time" seems to have no qualifications, it does seem that the 100 Best Songwriters of All Time was rather heavily weighted with Rock musicians. On the other hand there was the blues singer Robert Johnson and folk singers like Woody Guthrie and Joni Mitchell (Pete "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" Seeger was a notable omission). But there was nary a hint, gibber, nor squeak of Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein, Cole Porter, George M. Cohan, or as we said, Irving Berlin.
Also it seems like if the list was of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time, then time seems to have begun in the 20th century since all of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time were born after 1900. Otherwise there should have been Mozart, Hayden, Beethoven, Debussy, Stravinsky, Copeland, and Gershwin. Or perhaps a songwriter isn't the same as a composer or we should have also seen Leonard Bernstein.
Frank
Ray
Igor
Aaron
Lenny
But perhaps the #1 reason Irving was overlooked was that many of his songs are so ingrained into American culture that it's easy to forget that they were actually written by one person. Among his biggies are "Alexander's Ragtime Band", "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", "[We'll Have an] Old Fashioned Wedding", "Easter Parade", "Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)", "There's No Business Like Show Business", "White Christmas", and of course "God Bless America".
Naturally there's more. A partial selection of songs from Irving's pen and piano are (and to skip this rather lengthy list click here) "The P.X.", "When the Black Sheep Returns to the Fold", "I'm Going Back to the Farm", "The Lord Done Fixed up My Soul", "My Baby's Come Back to Me","Ooh, Maybe It's You", "The Legend of the Pearls", "The Syncopated Walk", "Skating Song", "Ginger", "This Time", "Opera Burlesque on the Sextette", "And Father Wanted Me to Learn a Trade", "What Am I Gonna Do?", "Take Me Back", "Take It in Your Stride", "I'm Going on a Long Vacation", "Swanee Shuffle", "Steppin' Out with My Baby", "Spanish Love", "Colored Rome", "How About a Cheer for the Navy", "Love Leads to Marriage", "Where Is the Song of Songs for Me?", "So Help Me", "Harlem On My Mind", "It's a Walk-in with Walker", "Behind the Fan", "I'm an Indian, Too", "A Sailor's Not a Sailor", "Settle Down in a One-Horse Town", "The Syncopated Vamp", "Harem Life", "Me and My Melinda", "I Used to Play by Ear", "Let's Take an Old Fashioned Walk", "My Sergeant and I Are Buddies", "How Can I Forget", "Latins Know How", "The Wedding of Words and Music", "Hiram's Band", "Sombrero Land", "Piano Man", "Yiddle on Your Fiddle Play Some Ragtime", "The Minstrel Parade", "I Used to Be Color Blind", "Lazy", "The Night Is Filled with Music", "King of Broadway", "Unlucky in Love", "I Poured My Heart into a Song", "Dream on, Little Soldier Boy", "Someone Just Like You, Dear", "I Left My Door Open and My Daddy Walked Out", "The New Moon", "How Much I Love You", "Sadie Salome (Go Home)", "Angels of Mercy", "Tickling the Ivories", "Take Off A Little Bit", "Moonlight Maneuvers", "Porcelain Maid", "This Is the Life", "Can't You Tell?", "When Love Was All", "I'm Down in Honolulu Looking Them Over", "Bring Back My Lena to Me", "I Can't Remember", "I'll Take You Back to Italy", "Colonel Buffalo Bill", "The Race Horse and the Flea", "Jungle Jingle", "Song of Freedom", "Wait Until Your Daddy Comes Home", "Let's All Be Americans Now", "Society Wedding", "But! She's Just a Little Bit Crazy", "Do It Again", "Reaching for the Moon", "Some Little Something About You", "How About Me?", "Russian Lullaby", "Take a Little Wife", "Sayonara", "Heat Wave", "Cohen Owes Me Ninety-Seven Dollars", "Christmas Time Seems Years and Years Away", "Relatives", "Adoption Dance", "Down in Chattanooga", "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun", "Run Home and Tell Your Mother", "I'm Gonna Get Him", "Love And The Weather", "I Got the Sun in the Mornin' (and the Moon at Night)", "Mandy", "You Got to Have It in Hollywood", "Butterfingers", "Lead Me to that Beautiful Band", "Tell Me with a Melody", "I'm Not Afraid", "Goody, Goody, Goody, Goody, Good", "I Say It's Spinach (And The Hell With It)", "How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning", "When the Curtain Falls", "Is He the Only Man in the World?", "When I Discovered You", "At the Court Around the Comer", "Hurry Back to My Bamboo Shack", "I Love to Dance", "I Have Just One Heart for Just One Boy", "Thank You, Kind Sir, Said She", "That Dying Rag", "When It's Night Time in Dixie Land", "Eighteenth Amendment Repealed", "You Forgot to Remember", "Ragtime Opera Melody", "Stop! Look! Listen!", "They Say It's Wonderful", "When My Dreams Come True", "On a Roof in Manhattan", "They're on Their Way to Mexico", "Cuddle Up", "I Wish You Was My Gal, Molly", "I Like It", "Mr. President", "My Little Feller", "Skate with Me", "Bandanna Ball", "The Sterling Silver Moon", "The Belle of the Barber's Ball", "Let's Go Around the Town", "When a One-Star General's Daughter Meets a Four-Star General's Son", "When It Rains, Sweetheart, When It Rains", "When You're Down in Louisville (Call on Me)", "Nora", "In My Harem", "Don't Send Me Back to Petrograd", "If I Had You", "Revolt in Cuba", "Any Love Today?", "Alice in Wonderland", "Furnishing a Home for Two", "You Must Be Born with It", "Together We Two", "Girl on the Police Gazette", "Heaven Watch the Philippines", "Better Times with Al", "It Takes an Irishman to Make Love", "Why Do You Want to Know Why?", "How's Chances?", "Mary Brown", "In the Morning", "When You Kiss an Italian Girl", "Yiddisha Nightingale", "Was There Ever a Pal Like You?", "It Isn't What He Said, But the Way He Said It", "Beautiful Faces Need Beautiful Clothes", "Rainbow of Girls", "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm", "Letter Boxes", "Only for Americans", "I'm Not Prepared", "With You", "Herman, Let's Dance That Beautiful Waltz", "My New York", "The Devil Has Brought Up All the Coal", "In Those Good Old Bowery Days", "Stay Down Here Where You Belong", "The Waltz of Long Ago", "Lock Me in Your Harem and Throw Away the Key", "Arms for the Love of America", "Call Again", "My Sweet Italian Man", "My Walking Stick", "Mrs. Sally Adams", "The Army's Made a Man of Me", "I'm a Happy Married Man", "Don't Be Afraid of Romance", "Down Where the Jack O'Lanterns Grow", "There's a Girl in Arizona", "Bring on the Pepper", "The Monkey Doodle Doo (from All Aboard)", "I'll Dance Rings around You", "My Ben Ali Haggin Girl", "My Tamborine Girl", "My Wife's Gone to the Country (Hurrah! Hurrah!)", "I'd Rather Lead A Band", "Paris Wakes up and Smiles", "I'll Share It All with You", "Dog Gone That Chilly Man", "I'm Playing with Fire", "Meat and Potatoes", "Happy Easter", "Innocent Bessie Brown", "My Castle", "I'm a Bad, Bad Man", "Plenty to Be Thankful For", "To My Mammy", "Knights of the Road", "The Best Things Happen While You're Dancing", "A Couple of Song and Dance Men", "When I Hear You Play That Piano, Bill", "To Be Or Not To Be", "City Hall", "I Can't Do Without You", "I've Got My Captain Working for Me Now", "They Were All Out of Step But Jim", "Follow Me Around", "I Didn't Go Home at All", "Sailor Song", "Follow the Crowd", "Rock-A-Bye Baby", "Oh, That Beautiful Rag", "I Want to Be a Ballet Dancer", "Is There Anything Else that I Can Do For You?", "It's Always the Same", "Telling Lies", "I'm Afraid, Pretty Maid, I'm Afraid", "The Hostess with the Mostes'", "Minstrel Days", "A Fella with an Umbrella", "I'll Capture Your Heart Singing", "Lichtenburg", "Pick, Pick, Pick on the Mandolin, Antonio", "Let's Go Back to the Waltz", "Swing Sister", "Snookey Ookums", "Will She Come from the East?", "The Ten Best Undressed Women in the World", "The Song of the Metronome", "Let's Go West Again", "I'm the Guy Who Guards the Harem", "Majestic Sails at Midnight", "On the Steps of Grant's Tomb", "Choreography", "Let Yourself Go", "God Gave You to Me", "Chatter, Chatter", "That Mysterious Rag", "Let's Have Another Cup of Coffee", "A Guy on Monday", "Say it Isn't so", "I Was Aviating Around", "The Little Girl Who Couldn't Care", "He Promised Me", "Sing a Song of Sing Sing", "I Get Along with the Aussies", "Why Should He Fly at So Much a Week?", "Jake! Jake! The Yiddisher Ball Player", "I've Got to Be Around", "We'll All Be in Heaven When the Dollar Goes to Hell", "Climbing the Scale", "Stop Press", "Ting-a-Ling, the Bells'll Ring", "Please Let Me Come Back to You", "Don't Leave Your Wife Alone", "I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket", "Sunshine", "Dance with Me (Tonight at the Mardi Gras)", "Tell Me a Bedtime Story", "Ike for Four More Years", "The Fifth Army's Where My Heart Is", "If I Thought You Wouldn't Tell", "I Keep Running Away from You", "Holiday Inn", "Try It On Your Piano", "I Paid My Income Tax Today", "Moon Over Napoli", "Antonio, You'd Better Come Home", "Two Cheers Instead of Three", "It's the Little Bit of Irish", "I Love a Piano", "Let's Start the New Year Right", "I'm a Vamp from East Broadway,", "Home Again Blues", "Help Me to Help My Neighbor", "Learn to Sing a Love Song", "Sex Marches On", "The Garden of Yesterday", "My Sweetie", "Smile and Show Your Dimple", "Welcome Home", "Lady of the Evening", "The Passion Flower", "England Every Time for Me", "They Love Me", "Come Along Sextette", "Keep Away From the Fellow Who Owns an Automobile", "I Wonder", "Teach Me How to Love", "Man Bites Dog", "Pretty Birdie", "We Have Much to Be Thankful For", "That's What the Well-Dressed Man in Harlem Will Wear", "If You Don't Want Me (Why Do You Hang Around)", "Pack up Your Sins and Go to the Devil", "Top Hat, White Tie and Tails", "The Song Is Ended (but the Melody Lingers On)", "In Acapulco", "Toast to Prohibition", "The Funnies", "I've Got to Have Some Lovin' Now", "Sisters", "Outside of Loving You, I Like You", "Dorando", "Our Day of Independence", "Down to the Folies Bergere", "The Little Red Lacquer Cage", "Because I Love You", "A One-Man Woman", "Poor Little Rich Girl's Dog", "It's a Lovely Day Tomorrow", "When My Baby Smiles", "Empty Pockets Filled with Love", "Angelo", "You're Easy to Dance With", "Abie Sings an Irish Song", "The Honorable Profession of the Fourth Estate", "That Mesmerizing Mendelssohn Tune", "After the Honeymoon", "A Serenade to an Old-Fashioned Girl", "Diamond Horse-Shoe", "With My Head in the Clouds", "I Beg Your Pardon, Dear Old Broadway", "That Kazzatsky Dance", "Dear Mayme, I Love You", "Follow the Fleet", "He's a Rag Picker", "Take 'im Away, He's Breaking My Heart", "One O'Clock in the Morning I Get Lonesome", "The Most", "Along Came Ruth", "Pullman Porters Parade", "It Only Happens When I Dance With You", "All of My Life", "Don't Put Out the Light", "When This Crazy World Is Sane Again", "Rum Tum Tiddle", "If I Had My Way, I'd Live among the Gypsies", "What Can You Do with a General?", "What Does It Matter?", "Ragtime Soldier Man", "Whistling Rag", "Little Butterfly", "Washington Square Dance", "All by Myself", "Sweet Baby", "Down in My Heart", "Shakin' the Blues Away", "We Should Care", "Anybody Can Write", "To Be Forgotten", "Extra! Extra!", "Nudist Colony", "Drum Crazy", "Why Don't They Give Us a Chance?", "Maid of Mesh", "Remember", "Happy Holiday", "Wild Cherries Rag", "The Apple Tree and the Bumble Bee", "Stop That Rag (Keep on Playing)", "I Threw a Kiss in the Ocean", "A Man Chases a Girl", "A Little Bungalow", "Everybody Knew But Me", "Goodbye, Girlie, And Remember Me", "You're Just in Love", "That's My Idea of Paradise", "Lead Me to Love", "Brand New", "Tell All the Folks in Kentucky (I'm Coming Home)", "At Peace with the World", "Polly, Pretty Polly", "When You Walked Out, Someone Else Walked Right In", "Getting Nowhere (Running Around In Circles)", "Fools Fall in Love", "Just Another Kill", "Oh! To Be Home Again", "Over the Sea, Boys", "Alexander's Bag-Pipe Band", "Florida By the Sea", "Learn to Do the Strut", "Kiss Your Sailor Boy Goodbye", "Whose Little Heart Are You Breaking Now?", "Ever Since I Put on a Uniform", "My British Buddy", "Everybody's Doin' It Now", "Business for a Good Girl Is Bad", "Tell Me, Little Gypsy", "Always Treat Her Like a Baby", "Just A Little While", "Lindy", "He Played It on his Fid, Fid, Fiddle-De-Dee", "The Secret Service", "Laugh It Up", "Let Me Sing and I'm Happy", "Get Thee Behind Me Satan", "My Little Book of Poetry", "Better Luck Next Time", "Wishing", "(Just One Way to Say) I Love You", "They've Got Me Doin' It Now", "You're a Sucker for a Dame", "The Yiddisha Professor", "The Grizzly Bear", "Israel", "I'll Know Better the Next Time", "The Piccolino", "The Haunted House", "Long As I Can Take You Home", "Sittin’ In The Sun (Countin’ My Money)", "Chinese Firecrackers", "The Girls of My Dreams", "Metropolitan Opening", "Alexander and His Clarinet", "My Heather Belle", "I'm Looking for a Daddy Long Legs", "When I'm Alone I'm Lonesome", "Chase All Your Cares and Go to Sleep, Baby", "Where is My Little Old New York?", "If You Believe", "Torch Song", "Ding Dong", "He's Getting Too Darn Big for a One-Horse Town", "We're on Our Way to France", "Jimmy", "Molly, Oh! Molly", "What Does He Look Like?", "Show Us How to Do the Fox Trot", "Can You Use Any Money Today?", "Drinking Song", "San Francisco Bound", "Broker's Ensemble", "Roses of Yesterday", "I'm a Dumbbell", "Once Every Four Years", "Dance and Grow Thin", "In a Cozy Kitchenette Apartment", "Puttin' on the Ritz", "Dreams, Just Dreams", "Pigtails and Freckles", "Oh, How That German Could Love", "I Love to Stay at Home", "My Rhinestone Girl", "Before I Go and Marry I Will Have a Talk with You", "Crinoline Days", "I Can Always Find a Little Sunshine in the Y.M.C.A.", "Doin' What Comes Natur'lly", "The Hand That Rocked My Cradle Rules My Heart", "I'm Gonna Pin My Medal on the Girl I Left Behind", "Sixteen, Sweet Sixteen", "There's a Girl in Havana", "Nobody Knows (And Nobody Seems to Care)", "Waiting At The End Of The Road", "In Florida Among the Palms", "Take a Little Tip from Father", "Me An' My Bundle", "I'm Going Back to Dixie", "Lunching at the Automat", "Too Many Sweethearts", "I've Got a Sweet Tooth Bothering Me", "You Can't Lose the Blues with Colors", "Come Along to Toy Town", "There's a Corner Up in Heaven", "Ladies of the Chorus", "Si's Been Drinking Cider", "An Orange Grove in California", "Silver Platter", "Coquette", "The Million Dollar Ball", "Let's Say It with Firecrackers", "You're So Beautiful", "Something to Dance About", "Business Is Business, Rosey Cohen", "Ephraham Played Upon the Piano", "Soft Lights and Sweet Music", "A Man Is Only a Man", "Slumming on Park Avenue", "If All the Girls I Knew Were Like You", "Begging for Love", "Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor (Emma Lazarus)", "Yiddisha Eyes", "Jap-German Sextette", "Polka", "The Leg of Nations", "Always April", "In Our Hide-Away", "They Always Follow Me Around", "Song for Elizabeth Esther Barrett", "Just a Blue Serge Suit", "Watch Your Step", "Dat Draggy Rag", "Once Upon a Time Today", "After You Get What You Want, You Don't Want It", "Anna Liza's Wedding Day", "I'll Miss You in the Evening", "Wild about You", "When You're in Town (In My Home Town)", "Kitchen Police", "Falling Out of Love Can Be Fun", "I Hate You", "We Saw the Sea", "Just a Little Longer", "Sweet Marie, Make a Rag-a-Time-a-Dance with Me", "Across the Breakfast Table", "If the Managers Only Thought the Same As Mother", "We'll Wait, Wait, Wait, Wait", "It's Yours", "Daddy, Come Home", "Syncopated Cocktail", "Listening", "My Melody Dream", "Marching Along with Time", "I Lost My Heart In Dixieland", "Spring and Fall", "I Love to Quarrel with You", "I'm Beginning to Miss You", "When It's Peach Blossom Time in Lichtenburg", "One Girl", "The Friars Parade", "Meet Me Tonight", "This Year’s Kisses", "That Opera Rag", "What Is Love?", "Following the Girl Behind the Smile", "It Gets Lonely in the White House", "Mr. Jazz Himself", "Sweeter Than Sugar (is My Sweetie)", "At the Picture Show", "Poor Joe", "If You Don't Want My Peaches (You'd Better Stop Shaking My Tree)", "Everything in America Is Ragtime", "From Here to Shanghai", "Wasn't It Yesterday?", "I Love to Have the Boys Around Me", "A Play without a Bedroom", "Move Over", "I Got Lost in His Arms", "Happy Little Country Girl", "The Call of the South", "Venetian Isles", "The Road that Leads to Love", "Our Wedding Day", "The Schoolhouse Blues", "The Girl on the Magazine Cover", "Do You Believe Your Eyes, or Do You Believe Your Baby?", "Araby", "The Eyes of Youth See the Truth", "What's There about Me?", "Who", "For the Very First Time", "The Funny Little Melody", "Virginia Lou", "I Left My Heart at the Stage Door Canteen", "The Police of New York", "What Do I Have to Do to Get My Picture in the Paper?", "That's My Idea of Paradise", "Blue Skies", "Smiling Geisha", "No One Could Do It Like My Father", "Goodbye, France", "Homework", "All Alone", "Gee, I Wish I Was Back in the Army", "I Love My Neighbor", "When I Leave the World Behind", "Snow", "Moonshine Lullaby", "You're a Sentimental Guy", "Show Me the Way", "Free", "He Ain't Got Rhythm", "Don't Take Your Beau to the Seashore", "I Want You for Myself", "Who Needs the Birds and the Bees?", "I Still Like Ike", "I've Got to Go Back to Texas", "The Old Man", "In the Shade of a Sheltering Tree", "The President's Birthday Ball", "Lonely Heart", "I'm the Head Man", "Back to Back", "Homeward Bound", "I'm on My Way Home", "The Happy New Year Blues", "That Goody Melody", "When That Man Is Dead and Gone", "He's So Good to Me", "What'll I Do?", "Say It With Music", "You'd Be Surprised", "What Chance Have I With Love?", "Play a Simple Melody" ("Simple Melody/Musical Demon")", "That's How I Love You", "How Many Times?", "The Old Maid's Ball", "Yankee Love", "I'm Gonna Do It If I Like It", "Love, You Didn't Do Right by Me", "You Better Come Home", "That's a Good Girl", "Send a Lot of Jazz Bands Over There", "Kiss Me, My Honey, Kiss Me", "What Makes Me Love You?", "Tell Her in the Springtime", "Cheek to Cheek", "Lonely Moon", "Metropolitan Nights", "At the Devil's Ball", "There's Something Nice about the South", "Look Out for That Bolsheviki Man", "They're Blaming the Charleston", "The Blue Devils of France", "Mr. Monotony", "Homesick", "That Society Bear", "When Winter Comes", "Debts", "Why I Love My Baby", "Any Bonds Today?", "You Can Have Him", "Father's Beard", "That Russian Winter", "When We're Running a Little Hotel of Our Own", "It'll Come to You", "Oh! Where Is My Wife Tonight?", "I Love You More Each Day", "Do Your Duty, Doctor", "When the Folks High-Up Do the Mean Low Down", "The Girl That I Marry", "Me", "My Bird of Paradise", "When I Lost You", "Out of the This World, Into My Arms", "I Want to Be in Dixie", "It All Belongs to Me", "You Need a Hobby", "The Kick in the Pants", "I'd Rather See a Minstrel Show", "The Washington Twist", "Wait Until You're Married", "Drowsy Head", "That International Rag", "The Circus Is Coming to Town", "Real Girl", "Woodman, Woodman, Spare That Tree", "I'll see you in C-U-B-A", "Bevo", "How Deep is the Ocean?", "Glad to be Home", "Little Fish in a Big Pond", "There are Two Eyes in Dixie", "Stop! Stop! Stop! Come Over and Love Me Some More", "The Sun Dollars", "A Little Bit of Everything", "They Call It Dancing", "The Bellhops", "An Old Fashioned Tune Is Always New", "What Are We Gonna Do with All the Jeeps?", "Not for All the Rice in China", "Come to the Land of the Argentine", "Maybe It's Because I Love You", "You've Got Me Hypnotized", "Marie (The Dawn Is Breaking)", "Next To Your Mother Who Do You Love?", "You Keep Coming Back Like a Song", "Kate", "Tango Melody", "Someone Else May Be There", "The Most Expensive Statue in the World", "Everyone in the World Is Doing the Charleston", "The Best of Friends Must Part", "You've Built a Fire Down in My Heart", "Let's Face the Music and Dance", "I'm a Dancing Teacher Now", "Call Me Up Some Rainy Afternoon", "I Like Ike", "A Little Old Church in England", "We'll All Go Voting for Al", "Just Like the Rose", "Dance Your Troubles Away", "Dat's A My Gal", "Montmartre", "Chanson Printaniere", "I Can't Tell a Lie", "Sam, Sam, the Man What Am", "I Don't Want to Be Married", "Don't Wait too Long", "Some Sunny Day", "What Chance Have I With Love?", "I'd Like My Picture Took", "Ribbons and Bows", "A Streak of Blues", "Everything Is Rosy Now for Rosie", "The Ki-I-Youdling Dog", "Keep on Walking", "Until I Fell in Love with You", "For Your Country and My Country", "When I Get Back to the U.S.A.", "The Best Thing for You (Would Be Me)", "Klondike Kate", "Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep)", "What a Lucky Break for Me", "There Are No Wings on a Foxhole", "It's a Lovely Day Today", "I Never Want to See You Again", "Bring Back My Lovin' Man", "We'll Never Know", "I'm Sorry for Myself", "Morning Exercises", "I Want to Go Back to Michigan", "This Is the Army, Mister Jones", "Now It Can Be Told", "I Never Would Do in Society", "Follow the Leader Jig", "Be Careful, It's My Heart", "Someone's Waiting for Me", "The Ragtime Jockey Man", "American Eagles", "He's a Devil in His Own Home Town", "Pickaninny — Mose", "My Defenses Are Down", "Yascha Michaeloffsky's Melody", "How Do You Do It, Mabel, On Twenty Dollars a Week?", "Cinderella Lost Her Slipper", "Rainy Day Sue", "Manhattan Madness", "The Freedom Train", "The Ragtime Violin", "With a Family Reputation", "But Where Are You?", "Blow Your Horn", "The Little Things In Life", "Becky's Got a Job in a Musical Show", "You Cannot Make Your Shimmy Shake on Tea", "Ragtime Razor Brigade", "When the Midnight Choo Choo Leaves for Alabam", "Who Do You Love, I Hope?", "The Voice of Belgium", "They Like Ike", "Opening the Mizner Story", "Maybe I Love You Too Much", "You Picked a Bad Day to Say Goodbye", "Memory That's Soon Forgotten", "The Train", "Look at Them Doing It", "I Just Came Back to Say Goodbye", "If That's Your Idea of a Wonderful Time (Take Me Home)", "Always", "The First Lady", "I'd Love to Be Shot from a Cannon with You", "How Dry I am", "Abraham", "The Law Must Be Obeyed", "The Chicken Walk", "The Yam", "I Wouldn't Give That for the Man Who Couldn't Dance", "Bells", "Supper Time", "Marrying for Love", "Ve Don't Like It", "How Can I Change My Luck?", "When I'm Thinking of You, I'm Thinking of a Wonderful Love", "The Ocarina", "Louisiana Purchase", "Aesop, that Able Fable Man", "That Monkey Tune", "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody", "This Is a Great Country", "A True Born Soldier Man", "Ragtime Mocking Bird", "Somebody's Coming to My House", "Office Hours", "A Couple of Swells", "A Man to Cook For", "When Johnson's Quartet Harmonize", "Funny Feet", "De Tant Amour-De Tant D'Ivresse", "I'm Getting Tired So I Can Sleep", "It Takes More than Love to Keep a Lady Warm", "Change Partners", "No Strings (I'm Fancy Free)", "Whisper It", "Angels", "Isn't This a Lovely Day?", "Sweet Italian Love", "I Never Had A Chance", "Outside of That I Love You", "You've Got Your Mother's Big Blue Eyes", "Five O'Clock Tea", "Ragtime Finale", "Marie from Sunny Italy", "You're Laughing at Me", "It's Up to the Band", "Song for Belly Dancer", "When I'm Out with You", "Elevator Man, Going Up! Going Up! Going Up!", "You're Lonely and I'm Lonely", "Is That Nice", "I Never Knew", "She Was a Dear Little Girl", "Come Back to Me, My Melody", "While the Band Played an American Rag", "Everybody Step", "That Hula Hula", "You Can't Brush Me Off", "Tra-La, La, La!", "Queenie", "Miss Liberty", "The Policemen's Ball", "Tokio Blues", "He Doesn't Know What It's All About", "Bring Me a Ring in the Spring", and "Lucky Boy". (To return to the top of the list click here.)
Tony and the Lady
Dr. Zimmerman
As we said, Irving's songs are still being sung and are making the charts post Millennium. In 2014, Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga released an album whose title song was Irving's "[Dancing] Cheek to Cheek". The album started off at #1 on Billboard's Top 200 Chart. Yes, it started off at #1.
And then there was Irving's song, "How Deep is the Ocean". It was included on the 2017 album Triplicate recorded by Robert Zimmerman, Ph. D. (hon). Dr. Zimmerman, as all know, was the recipient of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature.
So it seems like they could have slipped Irving in somewhere.
References and Further Reading
"Irving Berlin: America's Songwriter", Jennifer Gillis, Heinemann Library, 2006.
The Improbable Life of Irving Berlin", Newsweek, November 21, 2018.
"Irving Berlin: Full Score and One Key", W. J. Weatherby, The Guardian, September 25, 1989.
The Complete Lyrics of Irving Berlin, Robert Kimball (editor) and Linda Emmet (editor), Knopf, 2001.
"In 1988, Top Artists Celebrated Irving Berlin’s 100th Birthday With an Emmy-Winning Special", Paul Grein, Billboard, August 27, 2019.
"The Complete Lyrics of Irving Berlin (Review), Time Magazine, December 3, 2001, Volume 158, No. 24. 2001.