“Play A Simple Melody”

About this song

“Play a Simple Melody” is a song from the 1914 musical, Watch Your Step, words and music by Irving Berlin. The show was the first stage musical that Berlin wrote. The one song from it that is well-remembered today is “Play a Simple Melody,” one of the few true examples of counterpoint in American popular music — a melody running against a second melody, both with independent lyrics.

“Play a Simple Melody” was then featured in the 1954 movie There’s No Business Like Show Business, a movie starring Ethel Merman, Dan Dailey, Donald O’Connor, Johnnie Ray, Mitzi Gaynor, and Marilyn Monroe showcasing Irving Berlin songs from the whole of his career.