Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning

"Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning" is a song written by Irving Berlin

Irving Berlin

Irving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist of Jewish heritage, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history.His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", became world famous...

in 1918 that gives a comic perspective on military life. Berlin composed the song as an expression of protest against the indignities of Army routine shortly after being drafted into the United States Army in 1918. The song soon made the rounds of camp and became popular with other soldiers, partly because hatred of reveille

Reveille

"Reveille" is a bugle call, trumpet call or pipes call most often associated with the military or summer camp; it is chiefly used to wake military personnel at sunrise...

was universal.

The commanding officer of Camp Upton

Camp Upton

Camp Upton was an installation of the United States Army located in Yaphank on Long Island in Suffolk County, New York. It was located near Camp Mills.-History:...

in eastern Long Island

Long Island

Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...

took an interest in Berlin's talents and assigned him to write and produce a fundraising benefit to raise funds for a new visitors' center at the base; the show was entitled Yip, Yip, Yaphank after the Camp Upton locale in Yaphank, New York

Yaphank, New York

Yaphank is a census-designated place in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 5,025 at the 2000 census.Yaphank is a community in the south part of the Town of Brookhaven...

.

Although Berlin initially wrote "Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning" without commercial intent, it eventually appeared in three different Broadway shows, including Ziegfeld Follies of 1918, and the film This Is the Army
This Is the Army
This Is the Army is a 1943 American wartime motion picture produced by Hal B. Wallis and Jack L. Warner, and directed by Michael Curtiz, and a wartime musical designed to boost morale in the U.S. during World War II, directed by Sgt. Ezra Stone...

. More than any other Irving Berlin song, it became the one most associated with Berlin as a performer.

Background

Irving Berlin was born in the Russian Empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

in 1888, either in Tolochin or Tyumen

Tyumen

Tyumen is the largest city and the administrative center of Tyumen Oblast, Russia, located on the Tura River east of Moscow. Population: Tyumen is the oldest Russian settlement in Siberia. Founded in 16th century to support Russia's eastward expansion, the city has remained one of the most...

, and had moved with his family to New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

in 1893. He acquired United States citizenship in early 1918 with the expectation that his medical history would exempt him from his final year of draft eligibility. So it came as an unpleasant surprise that within months Berlin was drafted and serving as a private at Camp Upton at a salary of $30 a month, far below his usual earnings. Although as a civilian he employed a private valet, as an Army private he was compelled to perform unskilled labor in support of camp operations. "There were a lot of things about army life I didn't like", said Berlin, "and the thing I didn't like most of all was reveille

Reveille

"Reveille" is a bugle call, trumpet call or pipes call most often associated with the military or summer camp; it is chiefly used to wake military personnel at sunrise...

."

During World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, Berlin was drafted into the 152nd Depot Brigade, 20th Infantry Regiment

20th Infantry Regiment (United States)

The 20th Infantry Regiment is a United States Army infantry regiment.-History:It was organized on 6 June 1862 at Fort Independence , as the 2nd Battalion of the 11th Infantry, one of the nine "three-battalion" regiments of regulars, each battalion containing eight companies of infantry, in...

of the U.S. Army shortly after he became a naturalized United States citizen in 1918. By the time he entered the service the war was in its final months and prospects for victory were steadily improving. He was assigned to a camp on eastern Long Island

Long Island

that was mainly an interim station for infantry troops headed overseas.

According to the New York Times,

Composition

The incident that inspired Berlin to write "Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning" was an occasion when a colonel wanted a group of buglers

Bugle (instrument)

The bugle is one of the simplest brass instruments, having no valves or other pitch-altering devices. All pitch control is done by varying the player's embouchure, since the bugle has no other mechanism for controlling pitch. Consequently, the bugle is limited to notes within the harmonic series...

to play George M. Cohan

George M. Cohan

George Michael Cohan , known professionally as George M. Cohan, was a major American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer, and producer....

's "Over There

Over There

"Over There" is a 1917 song popular with United States soldiers in both world wars.It was written by George M. Cohan during World War I. Notable early recordings include versions by Nora Bayes, Enrico Caruso, Billy Murray, and Charles King....

". The buglers were unable to comply because it exceeded the range of their instruments, so the oblivious officer ordered them to practice Cohan's song. He wrote it as "a thin little segeant."

Berlin's civilian work schedule had been that of a hardworking night owl, generally writing material until two or three in the morning. His efforts to adjust to military life and become a good soldier included springing out of bed obediently each morning, which earned him the resentment of fellow soldiers because he concealed his hatred of reveille too well and appeared eager to wake up in the mornings.

So during an era when popular songs about war praised its heroism, Berlin instead gave voice to the subversive impulses shared by ordinary soldiers. The lyrics begin with a mundane recounting of a newly recruited soldier's camp life and progress to hyperbole as he describes a series of increasingly absurd plans to escape from morning reveille.

"Someday I'm going to murder the bugler,

Someday they're going to find him dead;

I'll amputate his reveille

and step upon it heavily,

and spend the rest of my life in bed."

Berlin would later describe the song as "a protest written from the heart out, absolutely without the slightest thought that it would ever earn a cent". He wrote the song before any plans for a larger production were underway and it soon gained popularity around the camp.

Production

The camp's commanding officer Major General J. Franklin Bell

J. Franklin Bell

James Franklin Bell was Chief of Staff of the United States Army from 1906 to 1910.Bell was a major-general in the Regular United States Army, commanding the Department of the East, with headquarters at Governors Island, New York at the time of his death in 1919...

called Berlin into his office and asked the showman to raise funds for a new community house to lodge families of service members who visited the camp. The projected expense of the project was $35,000. At first, Berlin called in favors from civilian colleagues to visit and put on local performances to boost morale, but news of a Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

fundraising show on Broadway called Boom Boom inspired Berlin to request permission to write and stage a full Broadway production of their own.

The songwriter not only obtained permission for the show, but also received General Bell's personal permission to return to Berlin's normal creative working schedule and a special exemption from reveille. Civilian musician Harry Ruby

Harry Ruby

Harry Ruby was a Jewish American songwriter and screenwriter.After failing in his early ambition to become a professional baseball player,...

joined Berlin in camp to transcribe and arrange the music and collaborate on the show.

Parodies

Berlin's song "inspired a dozen parodies." An uncredited parody was recounted in the New York Times:

Oh, how I hate to go into the mess hall!

Oh, how I long for the foods at home!

For it isn't hard to guess

Why they call the meals a mess-

You've got to eat beans, you've got to eat beans,

You've got to eat beans in the Army.

Performances

The song was performed in soldier revue

Revue

A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...

s including 1918's Yip Yip Yaphank, and Ziegfeld Follies of 1918, as well as in 113 Broadway performances of This Is the Army in 1942. It also was part of a performance of Alexander's Ragtime Band

Alexander's Ragtime Band

"Alexander's Ragtime Band" is the name of a song by Irving Berlin. It was his first major hit, in 1911. There is some evidence, although inconclusive, that Berlin borrowed the melody from a draft of "A Real Slow Drag" submitted by Scott Joplin that had been submitted to a...

in 1938 at the Roxy Theatre in New York City

New York City

with Alice Faye

Alice Faye

Alice Faye was an American actress and singer, called by The New York Times "one of the few movie stars to walk away from stardom at the peak of her career." She is remembered first for her stardom at 20th Century Fox and, later, as the radio comedy partner of her husband, bandleader and comedian...

and Ethel Merman

Ethel Merman

Ethel Merman was an American actress and singer. Known primarily for her powerful voice and roles in musical theatre, she has been called "the undisputed First Lady of the musical comedy stage." Among the many standards introduced by Merman in Broadway musicals are "I Got Rhythm", "Everything's...

singing (it is sung in the movie of the same name

Alexander's Ragtime Band (film)

Alexander's Ragtime Band is a film released by Twentieth Century Fox that takes its name from the 1911 Irving Berlin song "Alexander's Ragtime Band" to tell a story of a society boy who scandalizes his family by pursuing a career in Ragtime instead of in "serious" music...

as well), and was sung at a 1941 war rally against the America First Committee

America First Committee

The America First Committee was the foremost non-interventionist pressure group against the American entry into World War II. Peaking at 800,000 members, it was likely the largest anti-war organization in American history. Started in 1940, it became defunct after the attack on Pearl Harbor in...

by New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia in Philadelpha

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

Yip Yip Yaphank

The song appeared in two shows of 1918: Yip Yip Yaphank and Ziegfeld Follies of 1918. Yip Yip Yaphank opened on August 19 and Berlin made his entrance late in the show, being dragged from a pup tent by two other soldiers as he pretended to be asleep on his feet to sing "Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning". The song was a centerpiece of the show; both it and Berlin's performance received favorable reviews. According to reviewers, Berlin's voice was thin but his timing was perfect and he presented a hilarious stage persona. 24 years later, the New York Times declared Yip "an immediate hit."
The show was extended twice and exceeded its fundraising goal of $35,000. Estimates of the proceeds range from $83,000 to over $158,000, but the planned visitor center was never built because the war ended shortly afterward and Berlin was never informed what happened to the money. Berlin received no financial benefit beyond his ordinary sergeant's pay, but he was well compensated in publicity. He was recognized as a Broadway star wherever he went after he returned to civilian life. Along with the acclaim, however, he also "received a death threat and a kidnapping threat", which he took seriously enough to purchase a bulletproof limousine and hire a bodyguard/chauffeur.

This Is the Army

Berlin also performed "Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning" in the 1942 stage play This Is the Army, which ran for 113 performances on Broadway and was adapted as a Warner Brothers musical the following year. It was declared the "modern version of Yip, Yip, Yaphang," and contained "all-new music" except for two or three songs. Twenty-five years after the original show, he was still dark haired and wiry, but his face was strained. More importantly, his voice—which had never been strong—was weakened from months of recent stage touring. The number was filmed in late afternoon when he expected his voice to be at its best, but an internal studio memo still reported, "Irving Berlin is no singer." Berlin wrote about the filming in an April 10, 1943 letter:

Today they finished shooting my portion of the picture and I am certainly glad it's over with. All I do is sing "Hate to Get Up in the Morning" as I did in the show, but the camera is a severe judge and I am afraid even with the great amount of care and fuss they can't improve what the Fates decreed to be a homely face. As for my voice, I made a recording. When the record was first played on the set, one of the electricians, who didn't know whose voice it was, said, "If the guy who wrote that song could hear the record, he would turn over in his grave"--which gives you a fair idea. However I am hoping it won't be too bad.

In May 1988 The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. It is the longest currently running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running show on NBC, after Meet the Press and Today.The Tonight Show has been hosted by...

honored Irving Berlin's one hundredth birthday by playing "Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning" as part of a medley in tribute to the songwriter at the close of a show.

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