“Blue Skies” by Irving Berlin (1926)

MUSIC VIDEO

LYRICS
I was blue, just as blue as I could be
Ev'ry day was a cloudy day for me
Then good luck came a-knocking at my door
Skies were gray but they're not gray anymore

Blue skies
Smiling at me
Nothing but blue skies
Do I see

Bluebirds
Singing a song
Nothing but bluebirds
All day long

Never saw the sun shining so bright
Never saw things going so right
Noticing the days hurrying by
When you're in love, my how they fly

Blue days
All of them gone
Nothing but blue skies
From now on

I should care if the wind blows east or west
I should fret if the worst looks like the best
I should mind if they say it can't be true
I should smile, that's exactly what I do

ANALYSIS
            Irving Berlin was one of the most successful Tin Pan Alley performers. Tin Pan Alley songs were usually aimed at white, upper-class Americans and made little to no social or political commentary. Instead, lyrics tended to focus on the ideals of privacy and romance (“‘I Got Rhythm’” 2007). “Blue Skies” describes the joys of falling in love: “Never saw the sun shining so bright / Never saw things going so right / Noticing the days hurrying by / When you're in love, my how they fly” (“Blue Skies” 2001). The lyrics also follow a simple rhyming scheme--AABB--that’s characteristic of Tin Pan Alley songs of the time. Unlike jazz, Tin Pan Alley songs like “Blue Skies” were part of a style of music that focused more on the traditional, white American experience and identity.

WORKS CITED
“Blue Skies.” Lyrics.com, 1 Feb. 2001, 
            www.lyrics.com/lyric/33887546/Irving+Berlin/Blue+Skies.
"'I Got Rhythm': The Golden Age of Tin Pan Alley Songs" Oxford University Press, 6. Jan 
            2007, global.oup.com/us/companion.websites/fdscontent/uscompanion/us/static/
            companion websites/america_outline/ch4.pdf

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