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Three songs capture USA in time of trial

Denver Post 
By Glenn Giffin 
Denver Post Arts Critic 
Sunday, September 30, 2001 - Never mind the demographics, never mind the genre. Since Sept. 11 the nation has pulled three songs to its heart - "The Star-Spangled Banner," "America, the Beautiful" and "God Bless America." Patriotic songs have always been a part of America's battle fervor. Practically every war has had its own song, beginning with "Yankee Doodle" for the Revolutionary War. 

While the national anthem had its inspiration during the War of 1812, it was by no means the only song of the era - "Columbia, Gem of the Ocean" was equally popular. During the Civil War, "Dixie" became the anthem of the South, while the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" defined the North. "The Star-Spangled Banner" re-emerged as a highly popular song during the Spanish-American War, in no small part because Adm. George Dewey preferred it to "Columbia." 

However, it was not until more than 40 years later that the 71st Congress passed an act to make "The Star-Spangled Banner" the nation's anthem. President Herbert Hoover signed the act into law on March 3, 1931. "Over There" was George M. Cohan's tribute to World War I, and it won the composer-lyricist a Medal of Honor. The original "God Bless America" was part of Irving Berlin's show, "Yip, Yip, Yaphank" but was dropped before opening in 1917. 

During World War II the hit songs included Arthur Loesser's "Ballad of Rodger Young" and William Maguire's "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition." No memorable songs came out of the Korean War, but "The Ballad of the Green Berets" by Barry Sadler was the best-known patriotic song of the Vietnam War. Here is a brief history of the three songs that are enjoying such a renewal of popularity now: 

The Star-Spangled Banner 
Francis Scott Key's poem was composed after he watched the British naval bombardment of Fort McHenry near Baltimore in the late stages of the War of 1812. The words were fitted to the song composed for the Anacreontic Society of London, a group devoted to artistic pursuits. The tune, attributed to John Stafford Smith, was widely distributed and often adapted with words other than the original "To Anacreon in Heav'n." 
"What I find interesting about "The Star-Spangled Banner' is it was sung at the Crown and Anchor Tavern on the Strand (in London), so it was a drinking song," said Thomas L. Riis, head of the American Music Research Center at the University of Colorado-Boulder. "But it was also attached to patriotic texts, even before Key got ahold of it in 1814." He noted that many people find it hard to sing. "It is. . . . It demands high notes, so if you start too high you sing yourself into pain. And we've all heard bad versions at ball games." 

America, the Beautiful 
Katharine Lee Bates wrote her poem during a summer trip to Colorado Springs in 1893 where she was inspired by the view from Pikes Peak. The lyrics were matched with the tune of the hymn "Materna." "The structure is simplicity itself," Riis said. "In that sense it's easier to sing (than the national anthem). It doesn't take lots of repetitions at all to learn. People don't struggle. You don't hear people making mistakes so much. It was written in Colorado, so it has particular resonance for Coloradans." Whatever the song may lack in martial fervor, it makes up in poetic description. " "Purple mountain majesty' - when I first heard that as a kid, I didn't live in the West, and I thought how strange it was in regard to my native New Hampshire," Riis said. "Just to have images of that kind is a saving grace of that song." 

God Bless America 
The hit of that 1917 show for which Irving Berlin composed "God Bless America" turned out to be the soldier's anthem, "Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning." As for "God Bless America," it ended up on the shelf for more than 20 years until, in 1938, Kate Smith asked for a suitable song for a radio broadcast for Armistice Day (now called Veterans Day). Berlin revised his song to reflect his own feelings of gratitude toward his adopted country. "There are only four phrases, but he manages to work in God, loyalty as a value, geography and the word "home,' which, of course, immediately brings to mind "Home, Sweet Home' and "Old Folks at Home,' " Riis said. "I think "God Bless America' is smoother and easier to sing than the "The Star-Spangled Banner' and has some of the smoothness that "My Country 'Tis of Thee' has with accents on the most important notes." The song, Riis said, was one that helped define Berlin's reputation. "I think it was Charles Hamm who said that Berlin is not the most important figure in American music; he is American music." 

THE LYRICS 

STAR SPANGELD BANNER 
O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light, 
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming? 
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight, 
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming? 
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, 
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there. 
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? 

On the shore dimly seen thro' the mists of the deep, 
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes, 
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep, 
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses? 
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam, 
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream: 
'Tis the star-spangled banner: O, long may it wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave! 

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore 
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion, 
A home and a country should leave us no more? 
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footsteps' pollution. 
No refuge could save the hireling and slave 
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave: 
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. 

O thus be it ever when free-men shall stand 
Between their lov'd home and the war's desolation; 
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land 
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd us a nation! 
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, 
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust!" 
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave! 

--- 

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 impassioned stress 
A thoroughfare for freedom beat 
Across the wilderness! 

America! America! 
God mend thine every flaw, 
Confirm thy soul in self-control, 
Thy liberty in law! 

O beautiful for heroes proved 
In liberating strife. 
Who more than self the country loved 
And mercy more than life! 

America! America! 
May God thy gold refine 
Till all success be nobleness 
And every gain divine! 

O beautiful for patriot dream 
That sees beyond the years 
Thine alabaster 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! 

O beautiful for halcyon skies, 
For amber waves of grain, 
For purple mountain majesties 
Above the enameled plain! 

America! America! 
God shed his grace on thee 
Till souls wax fair as earth and air 
And music-hearted sea! 

O beautiful for pilgrims feet, 
Whose stem impassioned stress 
A thoroughfare for freedom beat 
Across the wilderness! 

America! America! 
God shed his grace on thee 
Till paths be wrought through 
wilds of thought 
By pilgrim foot and knee! 

O beautiful for glory-tale 
Of liberating strife 
When once and twice, 
for man's avail 
Men lavished precious life! 

America! America! 
God shed his grace on thee 
Till selfish gain no longer stain 
The banner of the free! 

O beautiful for patriot dream 
That sees beyond the years 
Thine alabaster cities gleam 
Undimmed by human tears! 

America! America! 
God shed his grace on thee 
Till nobler men keep once again 
Thy whiter jubilee! 

--- 

GOD BLESS AMERICA 
Preamble: While the storm clouds gather far across the sea, 
Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free, 
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair, 
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer: 

God bless America, 
Land that I love. 
Stand beside her, 
And guide her, 
Thru the night with a light from above. 

From the mountains, 
To the prairies, 
To the oceans white with foam. 

God bless America, 
My home, sweet, home, 
God bless America, 
My home, sweet, home

Patriotic American Visitors Since 9/11/01
This site was created on September 11, 2001 at 9:30 AM

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