1918 - Irving Berlin's musical Yip Yip Yaphank opened today in New York City at the Century Theatre. By any measure, Berlin remains one of the greatest composers of popular American music, with hundreds of enduring hits, such as White Christmas, Anything You Can Do, There’s No Business Like Show Business, Alexander’s Ragtime Band, I Love a Piano, Always, Blue Skies, Let’s Have Another Cup of Coffee, Cheek to Cheek, Marie, Play a Simple Melody, A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody, and Easter Parade, all of them classics, and there are loads more. He is also the man who wrote, God Bless America, but I wonder how many patriotic Americans know that the song was written as an anti-war song, by a man who did not believe in God. According to his biographer, Laurence Bergreen, “Patriotism was Irving Berlin’s true religion. God Bless America was originally written in 1918 for Yip, Yip, Yaphank, a WWI show about the US Army. As he was finishing the musical, Berlin added a patriotic melody that he imagined the soldier characters would sing, but he became insecure about its originality. He thought the song was too serious to ring true so Berlin cut it from the score and placed it in his trunk. “Just a little sticky” was the way he described the song. The song was forgotten for two decades, and during those years, Berlin’s attitude towards war changed. In 1938, while the United States was resisting joining the new European conflict, Kate Smith was looking for a “song of peace” for her Armistice Day broadcast. Berlin tried writing a couple of songs, but they were “too much like making a speech to music,” he said. It then occurred to him to dig up that discarded composition from 1918. So that's the story, dear reader, but this is the video, from another patriotic movie, this one from 1943, This Is The Army.
1964 - The first American tour by the Beatles began in San Francisco, California, today. The tour would cover 26 cities. If you go back a few days in *MUSICBACKTRACK* you can watch The Beatles' New York Shea Stadium from their final American tour, but this is from their first, at the Cow Palace, 1964. This footage was taken by a local news crew covering the story. There was no audio on the film's sound track so youtuber stobener substituted audio from the Hollywood Bowl concert from August 23. (The exception is Till There Was You, the audio which comes from the Sullivan show of February 9.) It's patchy and not quite fluid, but a patchwork memory.
1972 - This is the night American television network NBC showed The Midnight Special for the first time, with John Denver as the debut host. We tried and we tried but could not find this video, but we managed to locate this one, from the same year; England's Top of the Pops, Denver singing, perhaps his best-known song, Rocky Mountain High.
1973 - The love affair of its time, was between Rita Coolidge and Kris Kristofferson, who were married 38 years ago today. This first video is from a year before this magic couple married, 1972, and it's clear how much in love they really were. Following that, a clip from five years after they were married and looking even more in love. Does every picture tell a story?
1980 - It's 31 years ago tonight, that Alice Cooper phoned in sick, unable to perform his concert in Toronto, Canada, and 1,400 people didn't like that idea at all, so they began what became a fully-fledged riot. this here's some news footage, folks, riot in Toronto - never before seen, nor since. It looks pretty wild.
1997 - Would you believe it's already 14 years since Fleetwood Mac's reunion album, The Dance, was released. I'm not sure if that reunion is still going, or they've re-unioned again. Whatever the case, I think this song, The Chain, taken from the album, is one of their finest, and closest to their origin blues roots, back in the late sixties when they were a very different band.
2008 - Just three years ago, and Lady Gaga's album, The Fame, was released. i like what she has done, the way she has done it, and many of the people with whom she has worked. OK, so here is a little trailer for the album releases, and following that a 'live' Like her or not, Lady Gaga is the latest pop phenomenon, and following we have, first-up, a trailer for this album, The Fame. After that we have a 'live' performance of the girl in New York City to promote the album.
1964 - The first American tour by the Beatles began in San Francisco, California, today. The tour would cover 26 cities. If you go back a few days in *MUSICBACKTRACK* you can watch The Beatles' New York Shea Stadium from their final American tour, but this is from their first, at the Cow Palace, 1964. This footage was taken by a local news crew covering the story. There was no audio on the film's sound track so youtuber stobener substituted audio from the Hollywood Bowl concert from August 23. (The exception is Till There Was You, the audio which comes from the Sullivan show of February 9.) It's patchy and not quite fluid, but a patchwork memory.
1972 - This is the night American television network NBC showed The Midnight Special for the first time, with John Denver as the debut host. We tried and we tried but could not find this video, but we managed to locate this one, from the same year; England's Top of the Pops, Denver singing, perhaps his best-known song, Rocky Mountain High.
1973 - The love affair of its time, was between Rita Coolidge and Kris Kristofferson, who were married 38 years ago today. This first video is from a year before this magic couple married, 1972, and it's clear how much in love they really were. Following that, a clip from five years after they were married and looking even more in love. Does every picture tell a story?
1980 - It's 31 years ago tonight, that Alice Cooper phoned in sick, unable to perform his concert in Toronto, Canada, and 1,400 people didn't like that idea at all, so they began what became a fully-fledged riot. this here's some news footage, folks, riot in Toronto - never before seen, nor since. It looks pretty wild.
1997 - Would you believe it's already 14 years since Fleetwood Mac's reunion album, The Dance, was released. I'm not sure if that reunion is still going, or they've re-unioned again. Whatever the case, I think this song, The Chain, taken from the album, is one of their finest, and closest to their origin blues roots, back in the late sixties when they were a very different band.
2008 - Just three years ago, and Lady Gaga's album, The Fame, was released. i like what she has done, the way she has done it, and many of the people with whom she has worked. OK, so here is a little trailer for the album releases, and following that a 'live' Like her or not, Lady Gaga is the latest pop phenomenon, and following we have, first-up, a trailer for this album, The Fame. After that we have a 'live' performance of the girl in New York City to promote the album.
