Strike Up the Band satirizes America's taste for war. In the musical, America declares war on Switzerland over a trivial trade issue. The Gershwin score includes the songs "Fletcher's American Chocolate Choral Society," "I Mean to Say," "Soon," "Three Cheers for the Union," "He Knows Milk," "Strike Up the Band," "Mademoiselle from New Rochelle," "I've Got a Crush on You," "(How About a Boy) Like Me?".