Who is the original composer of God Bless America?
…Mr. Irving Berlin during the summer of 1918 at Camp Upton, located in Yaphank, Long Island, for his Ziegfeld-style revue, Yip, Yip, Yaphank. Berlin was an immigrant from Siberia, having arrived in this country when he was 5 years old. Berlin decided it didn’t really fit into the show, a comedy, and put it aside. It was then revised by him in 1938 as war was again threatening Europe, and Berlin decided to write a “peace” song. It was introduced on an Armistice Day broadcast in 1938, sung by Kate Smith, and it was such a hit that there was a movement to make it the National Anthem, without success, of course. What’s really interesting is that Irving Berlin himself did not read and write music! He had an assistant who transcribed for him. All of the original documents from the song are preserved at the Library of Congress, a collection that includes Berlin’s personal papers as well as the records of the Irving Berlin Music Corp. His children own the copyright to the song.
