Strike up the Band

'Strike Up the Band' is a 1927 musical by George Gershwin. The story satirizes America's taste for war: America declares war on Switzerland over a trivial trade issue. Gershwin's first fully integrated score for a book musical was influenced by the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan. The title song, 'Strike Up the Band', was given to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) by Gershwin in 1936 as 'Strike Up the Band for UCLA' and has become one of the school songs. Although the musical itself was not very successful, the title song and the overture - which is often performed as a stand-alone concert - work became very popular.