Ira Gershwin wrote song words. He worked with his brother George. They made many famous songs. His songs were in big shows. People still love his music today. Do you like to sing songs?
Ira Gershwin wrote the words for many songs.
He worked with his brother, George. Together, they made many famous hits. Their songs were in big stage shows. They even wrote songs for movies.
Ira loved to listen to the world. He heard things like a ringing phone. He also heard a baby cry. He used these sounds to help him write.
Ira won a big prize for his work. He also became a famous songwriter. People still sing his songs today. It is fun to hear his music!
Ira Gershwin was a famous lyricist. A lyricist is someone who writes the words for songs. He worked with his younger brother, George. George was a composer. A composer is someone who writes the music. Together, they made many hits for Broadway shows and movies.
Ira had a very sharp ear. He loved to listen to the sounds of life. He wrote down sounds like a ringing phone or a baby's moan. These small details helped him write great songs. Some of their most famous songs include "I Got Rhythm" and "Embraceable You."
Ira and George wrote thirteen musicals together. Their work changed American music forever. Ira also wrote for other great composers. He worked with Kurt Weill and Harold Arlen. Even after George died in 1937, Ira kept writing. He wrote songs for the movie "A Star Is Born."
Ira won a Pulitzer Prize for his work. This is a very big honor. He was also put in the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Today, people still love his words. His songs are part of history.
Ira Gershwin was a famous American lyricist. A lyricist is a person who writes the words for songs. He worked closely with his younger brother, George Gershwin. George was a composer who wrote the music. Together, they created some of the most memorable songs in the English language. Their teamwork helped shape the sound of American musical theatre.
Ira had a very special way of looking at the world. He was a keen listener who noticed tiny details in everyday life. He kept a diary of sounds he heard each day. He wrote about the purr of an elevator and the ring of a telephone. He even noted the sound of a match scratching on sandpaper. These small, real details helped him write beautiful and clever lyrics.
Ira grew up in a busy part of Manhattan. His family moved from Russia to the United States in 1891. He lived in the Yiddish Theatre District in the East Village. As a young man, he was quite shy and loved reading. He attended Townsend Harris High School and later went to City College of New York. While George began making music early, Ira worked as a cashier for his father.
Ira and George wrote thirteen musicals together for Broadway. Their first big hit was a show called Lady, Be Good in 1924. They also wrote the famous musical Girl Crazy in 1930. This show helped start the careers of actors like Ethel Merman. In 1937, George died from a brain tumor. This was a very sad time that ended their partnership. After a short break, Ira continued to write songs for many other composers.
Ira's songs reached many people through movies and books. He wrote hits for films like Shall We Dance and A Star Is Born. In 1959, he published a book called Lyrics on Several Occasions. This book is still used to study how to write great songs. He won a Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1932. Today, the Library of Congress even has a prize named after the Gershwin brothers.
Ira Gershwin was a highly influential American lyricist of the 20th century. A lyricist is a writer who crafts the words for songs. He is best known for his creative partnership with his younger brother, George Gershwin. While George was a composer who created the melodies, Ira provided the poetic text. Together, they produced many of the most enduring songs in the English language. Their collaborative work helped define the native idiom of the American musical theatre.
Ira’s ability to write clever lyrics came from his unique way of observing the world. He was a keen listener who focused on the small details of daily life. In his diary, he recorded specific sounds like the purr of an elevator or the ring of a telephone. He also noted the scratch of a match on sandpaper and the boom of a subway. These tiny observations provided him with a rich vocabulary of human experience. This attention to detail allowed him to turn common moments into art.
Ira was born in 1896 in Manhattan's Chinatown. His parents, Morris and Rose Gershovitz, were Russian Jews who immigrated to the United States in 1891. The family lived in the heart of the Yiddish Theatre District in the East Village. As a youth, Ira was quite shy and preferred reading at home. He attended Townsend Harris High School, a school for intellectually gifted students. Before his music career took off, he worked as a cashier in his father's Turkish baths.
His professional journey began with small successes and some experimentation. In 1917, he published a parody in the New York Sun. To keep his identity separate from his brother's rising fame, he sometimes used the pseudonym Arthur Francis. The brothers' first song used in a show was "The Real American Folk Song (is a Rag)" in 1918. By 1920, they wrote "Waiting for the Sun to Come Out," which earned them significant money. This early success paved the way for their legendary Broadway era.
The Gershwin brothers wrote thirteen musicals together during their most productive years. Their first major Broadway hit arrived in 1924 with the show Lady, Be Good. This was followed by the 1930 musical Girl Crazy, which featured hits like "Embraceable You." They also contributed to the opera Porgy and Bess, where Ira wrote lyrics to supplement the libretto. In 1937, George died unexpectedly from a brain tumor. This loss ended their famous partnership and forced Ira into a three-year retirement from writing.
After his hiatus, Ira resumed his career by collaborating with many different composers. He worked with Kurt Weill on the musical Lady in the Dark in 1941. He also wrote for films, such as the 1954 movie A Star Is Born with composer Harold Arlen. One of his most successful songs was "Long Ago (and Far Away)" from the film Cover Girl. This single song earned him more royalties than any other piece he ever wrote. He continued to be a respected figure in the industry until his death in 1983.
Ira Gershwin's impact on American culture is preserved through many honors and institutions. He received the 1932 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the work Of Thee I Sing. His book, Lyrics on Several Occasions, remains a vital text for studying the art of songwriting. In 2007, the United States Library of Congress named its Prize for Popular Song after the Gershwin brothers. Additionally, his widow established the Ira Gershwin Literacy Center in New York City. This center helps provide English-language programs to local communities.
Where will your curiosity go next?
More to explore
✨ What else?
Related topics you might enjoy
🔬 Go deeper
More advanced topics to explore
🪜 Step back
Simpler topics to build understanding
What is Nepedia?
A free, ad-free encyclopedia for children. Every article is written at five reading levels, so the same page works for a five-year-old and a fifteen-year-old — use the level switcher above to see this one change. No account needed to read.