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The Complete Lyrics of Irving Berlin (Hardcover)

~ Robert Kimball (Editor)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With "God Bless America" sung at every public event and Irving Berlin's name on the lips of every network anchor (Berlin wrote the anthem in 1938) there's bound to be new interest in The Complete Works of Irving Berlin. Editors Robert Kimball and Linda Emmet focus on Berlin's lyrics, of course, but also provide brief biographical vignettes in this oversized compendium. That the master of American music wrote alternative, humorous verses to what's now his most famous song ("God bless America/ Land I enjoy/ No discussions with the Russians/ Till they stop sending arms to Hanoi") is just one of the small but fascinating revelations. Illus.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.



From Library Journal

Kimball, editor of the other volumes in the excellent "Complete Lyrics" series, and Emmet, Irving Berlin's second daughter, provide a valuable service by compiling all of Berlin's known lyrics to more than 1200 songs 400 of which have never before been printed. Especially welcome are the inclusion of this previously unpublished material, historical notes, and interspersed quotes from Berlin himself. One can trace Berlin's growth as a poet from his earliest teenage efforts through the glory years beginning with "Alexander's Ragtime Band" in 1911 to his last known writings shortly before his centenary. Musicals, revues, and movies featuring several songs get their own chapters within the chronological framework, while others are grouped within each year in copyright date order. The book also features attractive reproductions of sheet music covers and contemporary photographs as well as an index of titles and first lines (which would have been even more useful had the editors double-listed those beginning with a or the under the main first word). This title will provide hours of nostalgic browsing or reference help and is recommended for all collections. Barry Zaslow, Miami Univ. Libs., Oxford, OH
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 560 pages
  • Publisher: Knopf; 1 edition (October 9, 2001)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0679419438
  • ISBN-13: 978-0679419433
  • Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 11 x 1.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 5.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #683,983 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Irving Berlin
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A massive monument in Americal musical history, February 22, 2002
Jerome Kern was not one to compliment other composers. However, when he was asked to assess Irving Berlin's place in American music, Kern replied that Berlin WAS American music. Not too long ago, the A&E channel did two "Classroom" broadcasts about Berlin's life; and by a coincidence, several items concerning this prolific composer have recently come my way. I want to share one of them with you.

It is a wonderful book from publisher Alfred A. Knopf titled "The Complete Lyrics of Irving Berlin," edited by Robert Kimball and Linda Emmet (one of the composer's three daughters). Now, considering that this man wrote well over a thousand songs, that is quite a bit of material for a single volume. But this one measures roughly 11" by 12" and holds 530 pages, which hold three columns of text. In this way, we get the lyrics to 1,200 songs for which he wrote both words and the music (only a few early songs were set to words by others).

The organization is chronological and intelligently packaged. Unlike Rodgers, Kern and Gershwin, Berlin wrote for Tin Pan Alley as well as for the stage. Therefore the editors have grouped the lyrics by "Songs" that were not intended for a specific show or film and by songs that were. So for 1914, for example, you will get all the independent songs composed that year in one chapter and those written for "Watch Your Step" the same year in a separate chapter. Even more welcome are the lyrics to many songs that were never published! It makes fascinating reading to surmise why these had to wait until this book came along to see the light of day.

To make this book even more valuable, each song is given a little preface concerning copyright dates and other items of interest to the American musical historian. And you will love the full-page photographs that stand at the start of each chapter. There is also an introductory essay and a very useful chronology at the start of the book, while the index at the end can help you locate in the body of the book any song by title with no trouble. So while Berlin's lyrics might not be as clever as those of Cole Porter, Lorenz Hart or Ira Gershwin, many of them will bring back memories of how Americans felt almost from the start to the finish of the last century.

(Take note. Knopf also has available similar tomes for the lyrics of Porter, Hart, and I. Gershwin. Each one is a definite Grabbit.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Only one side of a great songwriter, February 20, 2007
By Gene DeSantis (Philadelphia, PA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Complete Lyrics of Irving Berlin (Paperback)
The problem with pop-tune anthologies is that song lyrics have to be heard, not read, and only with their music. Especially so with an Irving Berlin, who did nearly all his work for the theater and films, and for whom the presentation was as important as the song. (Picture "A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody" without Ziegfeld's beauties -- impossible.) And the fact is Berlin's lines could be flat-out flat-footedly corny. "A melody mellow/Played on a cello" can only provoke giggles in those unfamiliar with the songs, which I fear is the norm these days; at his worst he's downright clueless. (As in his proposed jingle for an unproduced NBC spectacular: "Everybody step,/Have a drink of Coca-Cola -- /It's the finest pepperola...." Pepsi-Cola?) But this is the problem with comprehensiveness. There are too many "rag" songs and "coon" songs and "step-step-step" songs, too many singing musical notes and dancing edibles, too much high-flown love treacle, too little of the poetry and wit that marked golden-age pop songwriting at its finest. Even the most interesting ones like "Sadie Salome (Go Home)", fresh with their impudent suggestiveness, can only hint at their marvels. And the chronological layout inevitably sets up the drab finish of the decades of verbal noodling, reclusion and despair. Yes he wrote catchy tunes in the early days, but Berlin didn't really come into his own until late, with his thirties revues, and the Fred-and-Ginger scores, and "Holiday Inn", and "This is the Army", and "Easter Parade", and his one true masterpiece, "Annie Get Your Gun." These are works to be savored, not anthologized. And it took a special talent to bring out Berlin's real measure: listen to Blue Eyes and TD and their larger-than-life rendition of "Be Careful, It's My Heart" to know it. Moreover Red Norvo's "Remember" and Les Brown's "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" and the sumptuous instrumental "New Amsterdam Roof" from "Easter Parade" (on the Rhino soundtrack album) make the strong case that Berlin is at his best without words.

That said, there can be no doubting the completeness, the care, the diligence that went into this collection (even if the phrase "No music is known to survive" gets a little tiresome), the obvious love and respect for this show-biz titan. Alas, perhaps the only way to appreciate his greatness is to go back in time to experience it, a further frustration of books like this.
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Revelation, May 18, 2002
By Joseph L Burke (Bradenton, FL USA) - See all my reviews
I was already a Berlin fan before I got this book. Some of his lyrics are known to almost everyone; he "is" American music. I love to read, hear, and sing his words. But the overwelming bonus of this book is to find out that he wrote so many bad lyrics along with his successes; and I mean downright lousey. I treasure knowing this because I am now aware that A) Writing fabulous lyrics is difficult for ANYONE! - and - B) Writing bad lyrics did not stop Irving Berlin; he just kept churning out material and some of it is immortal. This book is wonderful, particularly for those of us who write songs.
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