Cyanotropic Berlin
14” W x 15” H x 6” D
vintage paint brush display box, turn of the century German postcards, the words to Blue Skies by Irving Berlin
I was struck by a postcard I found of the Lustgarten in Berlin from just after WWI. This was a place where people went to enjoy life. Family and friends gathered there. I was struck by the year Blue Skies was written by Irving Berlin, 1926. Also between the wars. He’s the Jew from Tin Pan Alley who wrote America’s favorite Christmas song. I was struck by what happened… to the Lustgarten, to the two Berlins and to the meaning of this song for me.
The skies were cut from antique German postcards from that era. The box once held paint brushes (Nel blu dipinto di blu, Felice di stare lassù) but now holds the lyrics written below:
I was blue, just as blue as I could be
And every day was a cloudy day for me
Then good luck came a-knocking at my door
Skies were gray but they're not gray anymore
Blue skies
Smiling at me
Nothing but blue skies
Do I see
Bluebirds
Singing a song
Nothing but bluebirds
All day long
Never saw the sun shining so bright
Never saw things going so right
Noticing the days hurrying by
When you're in love, my how they fly
Blue days
All of them gone
Nothing but blue skies
From now on
I should care if the wind blows east or west
I should fret if the worst looks like the best
I should mind if they say it can't be true
I should smile, that's exactly what I do
Irving Berlin