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"Be My Love" is a popular song with lyrics by Sammy Cahn and music by Nicholas Brodszky. Published in 1950, it was written for Mario Lanza, who sang it with Kathryn Grayson in the 1950 movie The Toast of New Orleans. The song was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1950 but lost to "Mona Lisa". He recorded it on June 27, 1950, with Ray Sinatra's orchestra. @KansasPublicRadio Lanza's 1950 recording of the song (released by RCA Victor Red Seal Records as catalog number 10-1561) was his first million-seller, eventually selling over two million copies. It was on the Billboard charts for 34 weeks, going to number one. It was the theme song for Lanza's radio program, The Mario Lanza Show (1951–52). It eventually became so firmly linked to him that he wearied of it and resorted to spoofing it in private. @KansasPublicRadio

"Over the Rainbow", also known as "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", is a ballad by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Yip Harburg. It was written for the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, in which it was sung by actress Judy Garland in her starring role as Dorothy Gale. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and became Garland's signature song. About five minutes into the film, Dorothy sings the song after failing to get Aunt Em, Uncle Henry, and the farmhands to listen to her story of an unpleasant incident involving her dog, Toto, and the town spinster, Miss Gulch (Margaret Hamilton). Aunt Em tells her to "find yourself a place where you won't get into any trouble". This prompts her to walk off by herself, musing to Toto, "Someplace where there isn't any trouble. Do you suppose there is such a place, Toto? There must be. It's not a place you can get to by a boat, or a train. It's far, far away. Behind the moon, beyond the rain", at which point she begins singing.

"Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair" is a parlor song by Stephen Foster (1826–1864), published by Firth, Pond & Co. of New York in 1854. Foster wrote the song with his estranged wife Jane McDowell in mind. The lyrics allude to a permanent separation. "Jeanie" was a notorious beneficiary of the ASCAP boycott of 1941, a dispute caused by ASCAP increasing its licensing fees. During this period, radio broadcasters played only public-domain music or songs licensed by ASCAP rival BMI. According to a 1941 article in Time magazine, "So often had BMI's Jeannie [sic] With the Light Brown Hair been played that she was widely reported to have turned grey."

"By Strauss" is a 1936 song composed by George Gershwin, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin. It pays homage to the music of Johann Strauss, Sr. and Johann Strauss, Jr. The singer sings how he doesn't like Broadway, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter and - in a case of self-mockery - George Gershwin. Instead he wants to dance to waltzes by father and son Strauss. The lyrics reference three of Strauss's best known compositions, namely An der schönen blauen Donau ("Let the Danube flow along"), Die Fledermaus ("and the Fledermaus") and Wein, Weib und Gesang ("Keep the wine and give me song").

The Brindisi (“Libiamo ne’lieti calici”) in Act I Scene 1 of Verdi’s La traviata is a very popular tune from the opera. The Italian term brindisi translates to the English word “toast”. In the story, Violetta hosts a party, despite being very ill with consumption or tuberculosis. Violetta says, “I give myself to pleasure, since pleasure is the best medicine for my ills.” She is essentially treating her illness with a good time. This song serves as a toast, for the guests of the party give a toast to Violetta’s supposed improving health. The song features the main soprano role, Violetta, and the main male role, Alfredo, a tenor.

Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man.

Biblical Songs was written between 5 and 26 March 1894, while Dvořák was living in New York City. It has been suggested that he was prompted to write them by news of a death (of his father Frantisek, or of the composers Tchaikovsky or Gounod, or of the conductor Hans von Bülow); but there is no good evidence for that, and the most likely explanation is that he felt out of place in the bustle of a big city, and that after two years in America he was homesick for Bohemia.[1] He returned to Europe in April 1895. @KansasPublicRadio