George Cohen



George M. Cohen
Composer

I like the :this day in history" stuff and catching a snippet of it this morning on my way to physical therapy this morning was a bit about the song "Over There" written by George Cohen shortly after the US entered the first world war.  Caruso, the great tenor, sang it for a crowd of 20,000 along the Jersey shore and got a standing ovation. It helped earn Jimmy Cagney an academy award in Yankee Doodle Dandy.


Point is, if there is one, is stuff like this just flies out the radio and disappears into the ether. In a time of such overload we lose the little stuff here and there.  CNN published a calendar(s) a while ago of trivia called "factoids".  This item from the past would have appeared without doubt.

 Chorus

Over there, over there,

Send the word, send the word over there

That the Yanks are coming, the Yanks are coming

The drums rum-tumming everywhere.

So prepare, say a prayer,

Send the word, send the word to beware -

We'll be over, we're coming over,

And we won't come back till it's over, over there.