Music
Irving Berlin burst onto the musical scene in 1911 with the hit song "Alexander's Ragtime Band." Tapping into a musical style that had been wildly popular during the 1890s, Berlin's syncopated marc...
Setting
Irving Berlin wrote an early version of the song in 1918 as American forces prepared to join what would come to be known as World War I. But the song wasn't widely performed until it was revised in...