WW1 Photograph, W/Irving Berlin Unit 1918 God Bless America Written
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:12543830 |
WW1 Photograph, Irving Berlin's Unit 1918 Year He Wrote God Bless America 1918. During World War I, while serving as a private in the U.S. Army at Long Island’s Camp Upton, Berlin bolstered military morale by writing the music for a 1918 show titled Yip Yip Yaphank, featuring ‘Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning.’ This song spoke to the hatred Berlin, a lifelong insomniac, and thousands of other draftees felt toward Army hours and reveille. ‘God Bless America’ was origina...lly composed for Yip Yip Yaphank. When it didn’t fit with the other songs, however, he set it aside. Some 20 years later, while preparing to write a peace song for Kate Smith in 1938, he remembered it and dusted off the piece. He wrote new lyrics, and the revamped song made that Armistice Day particularly memorable. Shipped with USPS, Fully insured.
