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| Graphics courtesy of: |
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| Song Lyrics and History courtesy of: www.instantknowledgenews.com |
| Lyrics by Kathy Lee Bates Music: Originally sung to 'Auld Lang Syne, & any other popular or folk tune that fit the lyrics. Commonly song now with music "Materna," composed by Samuel A. Ward in 1882, 10 years before lyrics/poem were written Katharine Lee Bates (1859-1929) was an instructor at Wellesley College, Massachusetts. She penned the words to this poem after an inspiring trip to the top of Pikes Peak, Colorado, in 1893. Her poem, America the Beautiful first appeared in print in The Congregationalist, a weekly journal, on July 4, 1895. However, she revised the lyrics in 1904 and again in 1913. |
| AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed His grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea! O beautiful for pilgrim feet Whose stern impassion'd stress A thoroughfare for freedom beat Across the wilderness. America! America! God mend thine ev'ry flaw, Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law. O beautiful for heroes prov'd In liberating strife, Who more than self their country loved, And mercy more than life. America! America! May God thy gold refine Till all success be nobleness, And ev'ry gain divine. O beautiful for patriot dream That sees beyond the years Thine alabster cities gleam Undimmed by human tears. America! America! God shed his grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea. |
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