Judge — March 15, 1924 — page 12: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Lazy" by Irving Berlin - Scene 3 This page reproduces sheet music for Irving Berlin's song "Lazy," copyrighted 1924. The image shows the musical score with handwritten lyrics beneath the staff notation. The decorative border features illustrated scenes of leisure—people lounging, relaxing on beaches, and idling in tropical settings with palm trees. The satire appears to mock laziness as a cultural theme during the Jazz Age. Berlin's composition uses everyday language ("I don't want to be, he sigh...I'm long way to lay in the sun") to humorously celebrate indolence and avoidance of work. The tropical imagery reinforces the fantasy of carefree escape. This reflects 1920s social anxieties about changing work ethics and leisure culture during post-WWI America's more permissive era.