Hunter Quinn

10-3-22

Professor T. Oliver Reid

MTR-215-01; MT Performance: Song As Text

The National Treasure of Irving Berlin

A national, originally Russian, American influence that took songs to the stage

and to the hearts of many citizens. The only name that can come to mind when you

think of music spread across the board of Ragtime, to jazz, and to the Golden Age, is

Irving Berlin.

To put it simply by the words of Jerome Kern, “Irving Berlin has no place in

American Music–he is American Music.” In a lifespan of just over a measly century,

Berlin was able to produce a collection of over 1000 songs that have shifted society,

and left a long lasting impact. Not only did the legend construct a plethora of gut-

wrenching ballads and upbeat tunes, Berlin was also the creator of the nationwide

melody of “God Bless America”, which has now become an American classic. In

addition to his patriotic services to his beloved country, he also dabbled in the Broadway

world as well as Hollywood for a more mainstream sort of accomplishment. In his

Broadway career, Berlin was responsible for the scores of many mainstream musicals

such as Louisiana Purchase, Call Me Madam, and probably most popular, Annie Get

Your Gun. As for his Hollywood movie musical status, Berlin completed the scores for

the following: Top Hat, Holiday Inn, and There’s No Business Like Show Business.

The most notable fact about Berlin, and probably the hardest to ignore, was the

detail that he was undoubtedly, and unconditionally a patriot for the country of America.
Berlin is a donor of millions of dollars to the Army Emergency Relief, Boy and Girl

Scouts, and several other organizations. In 1945, he was recognized by President

Truman for his generosity, and was granted the Army’s Medal of Merit. He also received

a Congressional Gold Medal for the composition of God Bless America, as well as the

Freedom Medal from President Ford in 1977. Although he has unfortunately passed at

the commendable age of 101 in 1989, Berlin’s patriotism and wondrous colors of music

will forever live on in the metaphorical roots of what American pop music has come

today.