HOW MUSIC CHANGED, PART 12a – IRVING BERLIN

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Today’s show introduces the first songwriter (chronologically speaking) on our list of the most artists of the past 100 years. Irving Berlin had a huge impact on the development of popular music, simply by providing so much of the material that our culture grew up on. Depending on the source, it is estimated that Berlin wrote as many as 3,000 songs in his lifetime. We dedicate this program to0 a few of his most well-known compositions, along with a bit of biographical detail.

            Here’s a list of songs that are featured;

1)    Top Hat, White Tie and Tails – Louis Armstrong

2)    Give My Regards to Broadway – Al Jolson (a G.M. Cohan tune)

3)    Alexander’s Ragtime Band – Bessie Smith

4)    Blue Skies – Al Jolson

5)    Blue Skies – Willie Nelson

6)    What’ll I Do – The McGarrigles and the Wainwrights

7)    I Never Had a Chance – Greta Keller

8)    Oh How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning – Irving Berlin’s ‘Yip Yip Yaphank’’

9)    God Bless America – Kate Smith

10)  White Christmas – Bing Crosby

11)  Easter Parade – Bing Crosby

12)  Let’s Face the Music and Dance – Fred Astaire

13)  A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody – Jackie Gleason