"How Deep is the Ocean" composed by Irving Berlin

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"How Deep is the Ocean" was composed by Irving Berlin in the early 1930s. After he composed the song he did think it would be very successful and discard the song idea before producing along with another jazz standard "Say It Isn't So," According to songbook1.wordpress.com.  After some time he produced the song. It debuted on the radio with the vocals song by Paul Whiteman and is a jazz standard today.
Listening to the song it is no wonder it is a jazz staple as the lyrics are charming and the tune is memorable.  The message of the song is that of love and devotion. This message is evident with lyrics such as " how many times in a day do I think of you" and "if I ever lost you how much would I cry?" The version of the song we were given to listen to is of Bing Crosby whose smooth and crooning voice complements the message of love and devotion in the song as his voice makes it more intimate and feels more sincere.
As mentioned before the song was first introduced through radio I found this interesting as Irving Berlin did not like the radio he said that the radio "mechanized" the songs. " Today, Paul Whiteman plays a song hit once or twice or a Hollywood hero sings them once in the films and radio runs them ragged for a couple of weeks- then they're dead." "How Deep is the Ocean" played on the radio and was extremely popular but it did not run ragged instead it became a classic and jazz staple for generations to come. A standing testament of a brilliant composer who at one point did not even think it was good enough to produce.

Comments

  1. zachnorthcutt53September 13, 2019 at 6:01 PM

    I agree that the message of this song is love and devotion. There is nothing deeper than the ocean on this planet so it makes sense with the metaphor he uses. Great post. I really enjoyed reading the facts about Irving Berlin and how he did not like the radio. Very interesting.

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  2. Becca HazeletSeptember 16, 2019 at 8:53 AM

    I love Irving Berlin and most of his songs. I had never heard this song before, and I really enjoyed it. I like Bing Crosby's voice, especially while listening to this song. But I didn't know that Paul Whiteman sang it first.

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