Sheet music:Beer Barrel Polka (Roll Out the Barrel)

Since the middle of the 19th century, Americans purchased pianos in increasing numbers. Families and friends gathered around the piano for evenings of musical fun. Piano players needed sheet music to learn the latest songs and publishers quickly printed everyone's favorite pieces, first in black and white and later with detailed chromolithographed color covers. The advent of radio and even television simply increased public awareness of hit songs, and the production of sheet music still grew. Eventually, use of sheet music lessened along with the popularity of home pianos in the middle and later 20th century. Radio, phonographs, and personal listening devices began to replace the piano in the parlor. "The Beer Barrel Polka" because extremely popular across the world during World War II. Originally an instrumental song written by Czech composer Jaromir Vejvoda in 1927, lyrics were added in 1934. The worldwide popularity of this song is attributed to the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, which led to thousands of men and women emigrating to countries around the world, bringing the song with them. The song has been translated into 18 languages.