Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning

By Irving Berlin
1918

Perhaps the song most associated with Berlin as a performer. He composed this strictly for his own amusement, after being drafted into the Army near the end of World War I. The song was so popular with the men, however, that his commanding officer used it for fundraising purposes, and before the end of the year, it appeared in the Zeigfeld Follies. Berlin himself performed it during the next World War, in the 1943 film This Is the Army.

Lyrics:

Oh! How I Hate To Get Up In The Morning,
Oh! How I'd love to remain in bed
For the hardest blow of all is to hear the bugler call:
'You've got to get up, you've got to get up,
You've got to get up this morning!'

Someday I'm going to murder the bugler
Someday they're going to find him dead
I'll amputate his reveille and stomp upon it heavily
And spend the rest of my life in bed!

A bugler in the army is the luckiest of men
He wakes the boys at five and then goes back to bed again
He doesn't have to blow again until the afternoon
If ev'rything goes well with me I'll be a bugler soon!

Oh! How I Hate To Get Up In The Morning,
Oh! How I'd love to remain in bed
For the hardest blow of all is to hear the bugler call:
'You've got to get up, you've got to get up,
You've got to get up this morning!'

Oh, boy! The minute the battle is over
Oh, boy! The minute the foe is dead
I'll put my uniform away and move to Philadelphia
And spend the rest of my life in bed!

Recorded By:

Arthur Fields
Alice Faye & Ethel Merman
Dick Robertson
Irving Berlin
Jessica Molaskey

After You've Gone

By Turner Layton & Henry Creamer
1918

A major hit of the World War I era, this tune would eventually become enormously popular with jazz musicians, due to the ease upon which it can be improvised. It was first recorded by Marion Harris, and would also be used as the theme song a BBC TV series of the same name. It remains one of the most familiar standards prior to the 1920s.

Lyrics:

Now won't you listen dearie while I say,
how could you tell me that you're goin' away?
Don't say that we must part, don't break my aching heart
You know I've loved you truly many years, loved you night and day
How can you leave me, can't you see my tears?
Listen while I say

After you've gone, and left me crying
After you've gone, there's no denying
You'll feel blue, you'll feel sad
You'll miss the dearest pal you've ever had.

There'll come a time, now don't forget it
There'll come a time, when you'll regret it
Some day, when you grow lonely
You heart will break like mine and you'll want me only
After you've gone, after you've gone away.

After I'm gone, after we break up
After I'm gone, you're gonna wake up
You will find, you were blind
To let somebody come and change your mind.

After the years, we've been together
Their joy and tears all kinds of weather
Someday, blue and downhearted
You'll long to be with me right back where you started
After I'm gone, after I'm gone away.

Recorded By:

Ella Fitzgerald
Frankie Laine
Bessie Smith
Fiona Apple
Nina Simone

God Bless America

By Irving Berlin
1918

A patriotic ballad taking the form of a prayer, this classic by Berlin is more popular with many than the more musically complex "Star-Spangled Banner". It was written at the end of World War I, and has become one of the nation's most beloved "modern anthems". Kate Smith's 1930s version will forever resonate with Americans.

Lyrics:

While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,
Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free.
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer.

God Bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Through the night with a light from above.

From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam--
God bless America, My home sweet home.

Recorded By:

Ray Charles
Leontyne Price
Connie Francis
Celine Dion
Ronan Tynan