"I'll See You in C-U-B-A" is a 1919 popular foxtrot Tin Pan Alley song written by Irving Berlin, for the musical revue The Greenwich Village Follies. The Follies first opened on July 15, 1919.
The music features a simple rhythm and melody without direct Cuban musical influences. Its lyrics are notable for expressing "comical disdain for prohibition's benefits to society" in response to the passing of the Eighteenth Amendment on January 16, 1919, and advertising Cuba as a tourist destination.
In the song, the singer persuades the audience to travel to Cuba "where wine is flowing", as a response to the 1920 prohibition of alcohol in the United States. It also epitomizes the friendly relations between Cuba and the United States, prior to the 1952 Cuban Revolution era. As a travel advertisement, the song reflects the early-20th-century status of Cuba as "America's playground", which is a label that many Cubans "would come to resent" in the decades afterward.
The University of Illinois has likened its content to other Tin Pan Alley songs including Jean Schwartz's "Sahara (We'll Soon Be Dry like You)" and Albert von Tilzer's "I've got the Alcoholic Blues", while America's Songs compared it to "You Don't Need the Wine to Have a Wonderful Time" written by Harry Akst and Howard E. Rogers for comedy singer Eddie Cantor.
Prior to writing the song, Irving Berlin composed "There's a Girl in Havana" in 1911, with lyrics written by E. Ray Goetz. A year later, E. Ray Goetz's sister, Dorothy Goetz, married Irving Berlin, and they vacationed in Havana for their honeymoon. Although Dorothy caught typhoid fever while in Cuba and died five months afterward in New York, the trip was among Berlin's only memories of Dorothy. Music historian Timothy Storhoff has claimed that their Cuban honeymoon served as direct inspiration for "I'll See You in C-U-B-A".
In January 1920, the song was recorded by pop vocalist Billy Murray under the Victor label. Bing Crosby and Trudy Erwin performed a duet of the song in October 1946, and Nat King Cole recorded the song on November 2, 1956. A performance of the song by the Austin Lounge Lizards also appears on the soundtrack of Michael Moore's documentary Sicko.
Both the music and lyrics were composed by Berlin .
The sheet music was published in 1920 by Irving Berlin Inc., 1587 Broadway. <blockquote></blockquote>