Irving Berlin (born Israel Isidore Beilin, May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-born Jewish-American composer and lyricist. Widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history, his music forms a great part of the Great American Songbook. He published his first song, "Marie from Sunny Italy", in 1907, receiving 37 cents for the publishing rights, and had his first major international hit, "Alexander's Ragtime Band" in 1911. Composer George Gershwin called him "the greatest songwriter that has ever lived," and composer Jerome Kern concluded that "Irving Berlin has no place in American music- he is American music." (Click here for full Wikipedia article)
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After you get what you want you don't want it.
Everybody ought to have a lower East Side in their life.
I got lost but look what I found.
Life is 10 percent what you make it, and 90 percent how you take it.
Music is so important. It changes thinking, it influences everybody, whether they know it or not. Music knows no boundary lines.
Never hate a song that's sold a half million copies.
Our attitudes control our lives. Attitudes are a secret power working twenty-four hours a day, for good or bad. It is of paramount importance that we know how to harness and control this great force.
Talent is only a starting point.
The mob is always right.
The reason American composers have done nothing highly significant is because they won't write American music.
The toughest thing about success is that you've got to keep on being a success.
The world would not be in such a snarl,
Had Marx been Groucho instead
of Karl.
There is an element of truth in every idea that lasts long enough to be called corny.
There's no business like show business.
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(May 11 is also the birthday of Salvador Dali.)
Categories: Irving Berlin, Music, Quotes of the day, YouTube
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