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Irving Berlin

Photo of Irving Berlin
1941

Basic Information

Born: Israel Isidore Baline (or Beilin), May 11, 1888, near Mohilev, Russia

Died: September 22, 1989 (age 101), New York City

Primary songwriting roles: composer and lyricist; also music publisher

Co-writers: almost entirely himself; Click here for a database of the few Irving Berlin co-writers.

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Basic Songwiter Information
Overview and Commentary
Music-Video Cabinet
Songs by This Songwriter
in the Cafe Songbook Catalog
of The Great American Songbook
Web Research Resources
Print Research Resources
Visitor Comments
Master List of Songwriters
Credits

Overview and Commentary
Irving Berlin
(This section is currently in preparation)

Overview in progress

Book cover: Alec Wilder, "America's Popular Song"
Alec Wilder, American Popular Song: The Great Innovators, 1900-1950, New York: Oxford University Press, 1972.

Alec Wilder, perhaps the premier critic of American popular song of the period of The Songbook, concludes his chapter on Irving Berlin thus:

Let it be said that he is the best all-around, over-all songwriter America has ever had. In this area or that, I will say, and have said, that I believe so-and-so to be the master. But I can speak of only one composer as the master of the entire range of popular song -- Irving Berlin (p. 120, hardcover Ed.).

Berlin's Anthems

Many have noted that Irving Berlin songs have become anthems for some of the most treasured American institutions: Christmas ("White Christmas"); Easter ("Easter Parade"); show busines ("There's No Business Like Show Business") and America itself ("God Bless America").

No doubt these songs played a role in causing Jerome Kern to answer, in the way he famously did, the question, "What is Irving Berlin's place in American music?" Kern replied, "There is no place for Irving Berlin in American music -- Irving Berlin is American music."

book cover: Max Wilk, "They're Playing Our Song"
Max Wilk, They're Playing Our Song: Conversations with America's Classic Songwriters (originally published 1973 as They're Playing Our Song: From Jerome Kern to Stephen Sondheim — The Stories behind the Words and Music of Two Generations), New York and Stratford, CT: Easton Studio Press, 2008.

In his interview with Irving Berlin, Max Wilk relates that the name of an important songwriter came up, and Wilk told Berlin that this here unnamed figure told him that when he writes, "the song must please him first -- and then if his own taste is lucky enough to coincide with the public's, he has a popular song."

According to Wilk, that upon hearing the above, "Berlin burst into laughter. 'He told you that, did he?' [Berlin] chortled. 'All right, I'll tell you what I think about that. I write a song to please the public -- and if the public doesn't like it in New Haven [where Broadway shows typically held their previews], I change it!'" (Wilk, p. 340, hardcover Ed.).

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Cafe Songbook
Music-Video Cabinet:
Irving Berlin



A look into the life and career of Irving Berlin with James Rocco, artistic director of The Ordway Center


album cover: Ella Fizgerald Sings the Irving Berlin Songbook"
Ella Fitzgerald
Sings the Irving Berlin Songbook (1958)

Amazon iTunesalbum cover: "Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Irving Berlin Songbook"



Irving Sings Berlin
(Irving Berlin sings his own songs--a rare CD)

Amazon

 

album cover: Irving Berlin in Hollywood
Irving Berlin in Hollywood
(25 original movie soundtrack Berlin songs)

Amazon


album cover: "Irving Berlin 'Always'"
Irving Berlin Always
sixteen tracks by Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong, Sarah Vaughan, Fred Astaire,
Billy Ekstine and Billie Holiday

Amazon iTunesalbum cover: "Irving Berlin Always"


1982 Academy Awards salute to Irving Berlin
with Bernadette Peters and Peter Allen performing "What'll I Do?" "Easter Parade," "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody," and "There's No Business Like Show Business."



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Irving Berlin Songs currently included in the
Cafe Songbook Catalog of
The Great American Songbook

  1. Alexander’s Ragtime Band
  2. All Alone
  3. All by Myself
  4. Always
  5. Anything You Can Do
  6. Be Careful, It's My Heart
  7. The Best Thing for You (would be me)
  8. Blue Skies
  9. Change Partners
  10. Cheek to Cheek
  11. Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep
  12. A Couple of Swells
  13. Doin' What Comes Natur'lly
  14. Easter Parade
  15. Fools Fall in Love
  16. Girl That I Marry (The)
  17. Heat Wave
  18. How Deep Is the Ocean (How High Is the Sky)
  19. How Many Times?
  20. I Got Lost in His Arms
  21. I Got the Sun in the Morning
  22. I Love a Piano
  23. I Used To Be Color Blind
  24. I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket
  25. Isn't This a Lovely Day (to be caught in the rain)?
  26. It Only Happens When I Dance with You
  27. It's a Lovely Day Today
  28. I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm
  29. Lazy
  30. Let Yourself Go
  31. Let's Face The Music And Dance
  32. Let's Take an Old-Fashioned Walk
  33. Marie (the dawn is breaking)
  34. No Strings (I'm fancy free)
  35. Oh, How I Hate To Get Up in the Morning
  36. Play a Simple Melody
  37. A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody
  38. Puttin' On The Ritz
  39. Remember
  40. Russian Lullaby
  41. Say It Isn't So
  42. Soft Lights and Sweet Musi
  43. Some Sunny Day
  44. The Song Is Ended (but the melody lingers on)
  45. Steppin' Out with My Baby
  46. Supper Time
  47. There's No Business like Show Business
  48. They Say It's Wonderful
  49. Top Hat, White Tie And Tail
  50. What'll I Do?
  51. When I Lost You
  52. White Christmas
  53. You Keep Coming Back like a Song
  54. You're Just in Love
Click here for a database of songs written or co-written by Irving Berlin.
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Research Resources:
Irving Berlin

Irving Berlin research resources on the web (listed alphabetically by web source):
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Irving Berlin research resources in print (listed chronologically):
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Credits

(this page)

 

Credits for Videomakers of videos used on this page:

  • A Look into the Life of Irving Berlin: St. Paul Star
  • 1982 Academy Awards salute to Irving Berlin : kjanson

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For further information on Cafe Songbook policies with regard to the above matters, see our "About Cafe Songbook" page (link at top and bottom of every page).

Cafe Songbook
Master List
of Great American Songbook Songwriters

Names of songwriters who have written at least one song included in the Cafe Songbook Catalog of The Great American Songbook are listed below.

 

Names of songwriters with two or more song credits in the catalog (with rare exceptions) are linked to their own Cafe Songbook pages, e.g. Fields, Dorothy.

 

Names of songwriters with only one song credit in the catalog are linked to the Cafe Songbook page for that song, on which may be found information about the songwriter or a link to an information source for him or her.

 

Please note: Cafe Songbook pages for songwriters are currently in various stages of development.

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Adair, Tom

Adams, Lee

Adams, Stanley

Adamson, Harold

Ager, Milton

Ahbez, Eden

Ahlert, Fred

Akst, Harry

Alexander, Van

Allen, Lewis

Allen, Steve

Alter, Louis

Altman, Arthur

Anderson, Maxwell

Andre, Fabian

Arlen, Harold
Arnheim, Gus

Arodin, Sid

Atwood, Hub

Astaire, Fred

Austin, Gene

Ayer, Nat D.

Barbour, Dave

Barnes, Billy

Barris, Harry

Bassman, George

Belle, Barbara

Bennett, Dave

Bergman, Alan and Marilyn

Berlin, Irving

Bernie, Ben

Bernstein, Leonard

Best, William "Pat"

Blackburn, John

Blackwell, Otis (a.k.a. John Davenport)

Blake, Eubie

Blane, Ralph

Blitzstein, Marc

Bloom, Rube

Bock, Jerry

Block, Martin

Boland, Clay

Borne, Hal

Borodin, Alexander

Bowman, Brooks

Boyd, Elisse

Brent, Earl K.

Bricusse, Leslie

Brooks, Harry

Brooks, Shelton

Brown, Les

Brown, Lew

Brown, Nacio Herb

Brown, Seymour

Burke, Joe

Burke, Johnny

Burke, Sonny

Burnett, Ernie

Burns, Ralph

Burwell, Cliff

Bushkin, Joe

 

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Caesar, Irving

Cahn, Sammy

Caldwell, Anne

Campbell, Jimmy

Carey, Bill (William D.)

Carmichael, Hoagy

Carroll, Harry

Carter, Benny

Casey, Kenneth

Casucci, Leonello

Chaplin, Charlie

Chaplin, Saul

Charlap, Moose

Clare, Sidney

Chase, Newell

Churchill, Frank

Clarke, Grant

Clifford, Gordon

Clinton, Larry

Coates, Carroll

Coleman, Cy

Comden, Betty and Adolph Green

Conley, Larry

Connelly, Reginald

Conrad, Con

Cooley, Eddie

Coots, J. Fred

Cory, George

Coslow, Sam

Creamer, Henry

Crosby, Bing

Cross, Douglas

Daniels, Charles N.
Davenport, John (See Otis Blackwell.)

David, Mack

Davis, Benny

Davis, Jimmy

Dee, Sylvia

De Lange, Eddie

Denniker, Paul

Dennis, Matt

De Paul, Gene

De Rose, Peter

De Sylva, B.G. (Buddy)

DeVries, John

Dietz, Howard

Distel, Sacha

Dixon, Mort

Donaldson, Walter

Dorsey, Jimmy

Dougherty, Doc

Drake, Ervin
Drake, Milton

Dreyer, Dave

Dubin, Al

Duke, Vernon

Edens, Roger

Edwards, Michael

Egan, Raymond B.

Eliscu, Edward

Ellington, Duke

Elman, Ziggy

Engvick, William

Evans, Ray

Evans, Redd

Eyton, Frank

 

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Fain, Sammy

Fetter, Ted

Fields, Dorothy

Fischer, Carl

Fisher, Dan

Fisher, Fred

Fisher, Mark

Fisher, Marvin

Forrest, George

Freed, Arthur

Freed, Ralph

L. E. Freeman

Gaines, Lee

Gallop, Sammy

Gannon, Kim

Garner, Errol

Gaskill, Clarence

Gensler, Lewis E.

George, Don

Gershwin, George

Gershwin, Ira

Gillespie, Haven

Golden, John

Goodman, Benny

Goodwin, Joe

Gordon, Irving

Gordon, Mack

Gorney, Jay

Gorrell, Stuart

Goulding, Edmund

Grainger, Porter

Grand, Murray

Grant, Ian

Gray, Chauncey

Gray, Timothy

Grever, Maria

Grey, Clifford
Green, Adolph and Betty Comden

Green, Bud

Green, Freddie

Green, Johnny

Gross, Walter

Haggart, Bob

Hamilton, Arthur

Hamilton, Nancy

Hamm, Fred

Hammerstein, Arthur

Hammerstein II, Oscar

Hampton, Lionel

Handy, W. C.
Hanighen, Bernie

Hanley, James F.

Harbach, Otto

Harburg, E. Y. (Yip)

Harling, W. Franke

Harline, Leigh

Hart, Lorenz

Henderson, Jimmy

Henderson, Ray

Herbert, Victor

Herman, Woody

Herron, Joel S.

Herzog Jr., Arthur

Heyman, Edward

Heyward, Dubose

Higginbotham, Irene

Higgins, Billy

Hilliard, Bob

Hirsch, Walter

Hodges, Johnny

Holiday, Billie

Holiner, Mann

Hollander, Frederick

Holofcener, Larry

Homer, Ben

Hopper, Hal

Howard, Bart

Hubbell, Raymond

Hupfeld, Herman

 

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I-J

Jacobs, Jacob

Jaffe, Moe

James, Freddy (Pseud. for Teddy Powell)

James, Harry

James, Paul

Jenkins, Gordon

Johnson, James P.

Johnston, Arthur

Johnston, Patricia

Jolson, Al

Jones, Isham

Kahal, Irving

Kahn, Gus

Kahn, Roger Wolfe

Kalmar, Bert

Keith, Marilyn
Kent, Walter

Kern, Jerome

Kisco, Charles

Kitchings, Irene

Koehler, Ted

Kosma, Joseph

Kramer, Alex

Kramer, Joan Whitney

Kurtz, Manny

Laine, Frankie

Lamare, Jules (a.k.a Charles N.

Daniels and Neil Moret)

Lane, Burt
Landesman, Fran

Latouche, John

Lawrence, Eddie

Lawrence, Jack

Layton, Turner

Lee, Peggy

Leigh, Carolyn

Leonard, Anita

Lerner, Alan Jay
Leslie, Edgar

Levant, Oscar

Lewis, Morgan

Lewis, Sam M.

Link, Harry

Lippman, Sidney

Livingston, Fud

Livingston, Jay

Livingston, Jerry

Loeb, John Jacob

Loesser, Frank

Loewe, Frederick

Lombardo, Carmen

Lowe, Ruth

Lown, Bert
Lyman, Abe

 

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M

MacDonald, Ballard

Magidson, Herb
Malneck, Matty

Mancini, Henry

Mandel, Frank

Mandel, Johnny

Mann, David

Marks, Gerald

Martin, Hugh

Maschwitz, Eric

Mayer, Henry
McCarey, Leo

McCarthy, Joseph

McCarthy, Jr., Joseph

McHugh, Jimmy

McCoy, Joe

Mellin, Robert

Mercer, Johnny

Merrill, Bob

Mertz, Paul Madeira

Meyer, Joseph

Miles, Dick

Miller, Glenn

Miller, Nathan Ned

Mills, Irving
Mitchell, Sidney D.

Moll, Billy

Monaco, Jimmy

Moret, Neil (aka Charles N. Daniels)

Morey, Larry

Moross, Jerome

Mundy, Jimmy

Muse, Clarence

Myrow, Josef

Nemo, Henry

Newley, Anthony

Nichols, Alberta

Noble, Ray

Norman, Pierre
Norton, George A.

Oakland, Ben

Overstreet, Benton W.

Palmer, Jack

Palmer, Bee

Parish, Mitchell

Parker, Dorothy

Parker, Sol

Parsons, Geoffrey

Perkins, Frank S.

Phillipe-Gérard M(ichel)

Pinkard, Maceo

Porter, Cole

Prima, Louis

Prince, Graham

Prince, Hughie

 

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Rainger, Ralph

Raksin, David

Ram, Buck

Ramirez, Roger (Ram)

Rand Lionel

Raye, Don

Razaf, Andy

Reardon, Jack

Redmond, John

Rene, Leon T.

Rene, Otis

Revel, Harry

Reynolds, Ellis

Reynolds, Herbert

Rhodes, Stan

Robin, Leo

Robin, Sid

Robison, Willard

Rodgers, Richard

Romberg, Sigmund

Rome, Harold

Ronell, Ann
Rose, Billy

Rose, Fred

Rose, Vincent

Ruby, Harry

Ruby, Herman

Ruskin, Harry

Russell, Bob

Sampson, Edgar

Sanicola, Henry

Santly, Lester

Savitt, Jay

Secunda, Sholom

Segal Jack
Schertzinger, Victor
Schwandt, Wilbur

Schwartz, Arthur

Scott, Bertha

Shapiro, Ted

Shavers, Charlie

Shay, Larry

Shearing, George

Sherman, Jimmy

Sherwin, Manning

Sigman, Carl

Signorelli, Frank

Silvers, Phil

Simons, Seymour

Sinatra, Frank

Sissle, Noble

Skylar, Sunny

Snyder, Ted

Sondheim, Stephen

Sour, Robert
Spence, Lew

Springer, Philip

Stept, Sam H.

Stock, Larry

Stordahl, Axel

Strachey, Jack

Strayhorn, Billy

Strouse, Charles

Styne, Jule

Suessdorf, Karl

Suesse, Dana

Sullivan, Henry

Swan, Einar Aaron

Swift, Kay

Symes, Marty

 

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T-U

Tauber, Doris

Teagarten, Jack

Thompson, Kay
Tobias, Charles

Tobias, Harry

Tormé, Mel

Tracey, William G.
Trent, Jo

Troop, Bobby

Turk, Roy

Turner, John

Van Heusen, Jimmy (James)

Vimmerstedt, Sadie

Waller, Fats

Warfield, Charles

Warren, Harry

Washington, Ned
Watson, Johnny

Webb, Chick

Webster, Paul Francis

Weill, Kurt

Weiss, George David

Wells, Robert

Weston, Paul

Whiting, Richard A.

Whiting, George A.

Wilder, Alec

Wiley, Lee

Wilkinson, Dudley


Williams, Clarence

Williams, Spencer

Wodehouse, P. G.

Wolf, Donald E.

Wolf, Jack

Wolf, Tommy

Wood, Guy B

Woods, Harry M.

Wright, Lawrence

Wright, Robert

Wrubel, Allie

Yellen, Jack

Youmans, Vincent

Young, Joe

Young, Trummy

Young, Victor

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