[R. S. Gwynn]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbET...NM88ZwO3EeG1j0

[Maryann Corbett]

Thanks, Sam. I'd heard the song before--in grade school, sung by a choir of kids, as arranged by one of the sisters who taught us. I'm glad I now know who should have been credited with the melody (and maybe he was credited, though my fifth-grade mind didn't pay enough attention).

[Claudia Gary]

Thanks for posting, Sam.

Maryann, I also remember singing this in choir in (junior or senior?) high school. I liked it then. Now it sounds a little sentimental for my taste.

As for the composer’s voice—well, I think I prefer Bob Dylan’s...sorry...

[Jim Moonan]

x
Thanks for this Sam. It's as if Jesus himself wrote the lyrics. Beatitudes, the song.

I think I see what you're getting at / why you posted... And think I see all the layers of it that makes it so compelling a lyric today in contrast to what we are seeing, given our turn towards being a less kind, less gentle nation (roll over George H. Bush).
When you stop -- really stop -- and think about it, our bedrock as a nation has been built on this dreamy, altruistic, idealistic notion that people are resilient and, given the right circumstances, can revive themselves and give back more than they took.
...Or maybe it was more a "beggars can't be choosers" mentality... We were a pretty motley crew ourselves and so we'll make good with whatever we can get.
...Or was it the first salvo thrown in our quest to conquer the world with capitalism. (Give me your human resources...) The second salvo was slavery.

To listen to Berlin's fledgling voice sing this is heart-breaking. Now there is a new lyric being written. It is being sung by a hellish choir that fears the tired, the hungry, the sick, those yearning to be free. That's how we all fall down.
x
x

[Julie Steiner]

Not Irving Berlin's best composition, but I'm thrilled to have an excuse to rave about his special genius.

He had very little formal education. Immigrated to the US at age five (his earliest memory was of watching his house burn down in a pogrom in Russia). His father died when he was eight years old, at which point young Israel started selling newspapers to help support his large family. He would sing the songs he heard through the open doors of the saloons, hoping for a few extra pennies to supplement what he made from newspaper sales. He would change the words of popular songs to naughty lyrics, because the bar clientele loved that.

He had no musical training whatsoever. Never learned to read music beyond picking out a melody with one finger. Taught himself to play piano by ear, after the bars he was singing in closed for the night. For a long time, he played everything in the key of F sharp, so he could stay on the black keys. (Even later, he had three special pianos made for him, so that he could shift a lever and have the whole keyboard move to different strings, while he stayed on the black keys. Seriously. One of those pianos is in the Smithsonian Museum now.) Other musicians would transcribe and orchestrate his compositions for him.

Read his Wikipedia entry. Especially the bit about his attitude toward taxes:

According to his daughter, "He was consumed by patriotism." He often said, "I owe all my success to my adopted country" and once rejected his lawyers' advice to invest in tax shelters, insisting, "I want to pay taxes. I love this country."

[John Isbell]

Hi Julie,

Sorry to miss you in San Diego.
It's good to learn a little about Irving Berlin. The story goes that Keith Richards also has various guitars tuned for him to simplify the chords he has to play on them in concert.

Cheers,
John

[Julie Steiner]

[Irving Berlin] would change the words of popular songs to naughty lyrics, because the bar clientele loved that.

So we're sorta still on topic.

[Roger Slater]

Originally Posted by Claudia Gary

Thanks for posting, Sam.

As for the composer’s voice—well, I think I prefer Bob Dylan’s...sorry...

An unfair comparison, since Dylan was not just a pretty good singer but a truly great singer who packed stadiums with people who loved to hear him sing, while Berlin never fancied himself a singer/performer.

If you have any doubts about Dylan's genius as a singer/performer, watch the new Scorsese film on the Rolling Thunder Revue. Feel free to fast-forward through the non-performance parts (which is a fake documentary) and just watch/listen to the performances.

[R. S. Gwynn]

Eric, there's no shame in a guitarist's using a capo.

As long as we let people like Mr. Berlin immigrate we'll be ok. And Rep. Omar, as well.

[Mark McDonnell]

If you have any doubts about Dylan's genius as a singer/performer, watch the new Scorsese film on the Rolling Thunder Revue.

I've been watching it Roger, I'm about halfway through. It is incredible. Stripped of his guitar, Dylan really theatrically performs those songs. I love that mid 70s period.

Tenuous Bob Dylan link to Irving Berlin: apparently Woody Guthrie wrote 'This Land is Your Land' in 1940 as a sort of socialist response to the jingoism with which 'God Bless America' had become associated.

I always loved the way GBA is used at the end of The Deer Hunter, sung by the emotionally exhausted characters after the wake: both quietly ironic and sincere at the same time.

The recording of the Emma Lazarus poem is amazing, Sam, thanks for posting it. There's something very haunting about that thin reed of a voice lost in the hiss and crackle...