God Bless America an example of Berlin's "habit of interpolating bits of half-remembered songs into his own numbers." Berlin, born Israel Baline, had himself written several Jewish-themed novelty tunes. In 1938, with the rise of Adolf Hitler, Irving Berlin, who was Jewish and had arrived in America from Russia at the age of five, felt it was time to revive it as a "peace song," and it was introduced on an Armistice Day broadcast in 1938, sung by Kate Smith on her radio show. Berlin had made some minor changes; by this time, "to the right" might have been considered a call to
Bless This House (song) Bless This House (song) "Bless This House" is a song published in 1927. The words were written by Englishwoman Helen Taylor, under the original title "Bless the House". The music was composed by Australian May Brahe, a friend of Taylor's. One of the first artists to record the song was tenor John McCormack who recorded it on September 16, 1932 in London with Edwin Schneider on piano. In the United States, this song is strongly associated with Thanksgiving and is often sung around this time. It is frequently found in spiritual/inspirational collections, such as the Doris Day album "You'll Never