This music starts with pre-war training on the one hand and anti-involvement on the other. Many stirring pieces emanated from the war, including humorous songs by our best-known writers, such as Irving Berlin's "Oh How I Hate To Get Up In the Morning". In fact, Berlin wrote an entire revue "Yip, Yip Yaphank" for the soldiers still stranded on this side of the Atlantic. One song written for that show, but omitted in the final version, was "God Bless America".

A song that was number one right from its inception was George M. Cohan's "Over There". Cohan donated all profits of the song (sales ran well into the millions) to the U.S.O.

Good British and French songs, as well as American, are included in this group. "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" and "Madelon" have become part of our tradition.