This show introduces the first songwriter (chronologically speaking) on our list of the most artists of the past 100 years.

Irving Berlin had a huge impact on the development of popular music, simply by providing so much of the material that our culture grew up on. Depending on the source, it is estimated that Berlin wrote as many as 3,000 songs in his lifetime.

We dedicate this program to a few of his most well-known compositions, along with a bit of biographical detail.

Here’s a list of songs that are featured;

Top Hat, White Tie and Tails – Louis Armstrong

Give My Regards to Broadway – Al Jolson (a G.M. Cohan tune)

Alexander’s Ragtime Band – Bessie Smith

Blue Skies – Al Jolson

Blue Skies – Willie Nelson

What’ll I Do – The McGarrigles and the Wainwrights

I Never Had a Chance – Greta Keller

Oh How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning – Irving Berlin’s ‘Yip Yip Yaphank’’

God Bless America – Kate Smith

White Christmas – Bing Crosby

Easter Parade – Bing Crosby

Let’s Face the Music and Dance – Fred Astaire

A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody – Jackie Gleason