God Bless America
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| "God Bless America" | ||
|---|---|---|
| Song | ||
| Published | 1918, 1938 (revised) | |
| Genre | Patriotic | |
| Writer(s) | Irving Berlin | |
"God Bless America" is an American patriotic song originally written by Irving Berlin in 1918 and revised by him in 1938. It is sometimes considered an unofficial national anthem of the United States. It also served as the inspiration for another anthem, Woodie Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land", which was written in response to it.
"God Bless America" is similar in format and lyrics to many other contemporary national anthems, and is popular as a "modern" national anthem because of its memorable words and tune, as opposed to the rather complex music and abstract (and war-oriented) lyrics of The Star-Spangled Banner. It seems evident from the chorus, and is clear from the full lyrics, that Berlin's song is in the form of a prayer for God's blessing and peace for the nation—"stand beside her and guide her through the night"—not an appeal to nationalistic sentiment nor a suggestion that the United States is particularly favored by God. At the same time, the song's evocation of religion is one of the reasons it is found unsuitable as a national anthem by many Americans.
[edit] History
Berlin originally wrote the song in 1918 while serving in the U.S. Army at Camp Upton in Yaphank, New York, but decided that it did not fit in a revue called Yip Yip Yaphank, so he set it aside. The lyrics at that time included the line, "Make her victorious on land and foam, God bless America..."
Music critic Jody Rosen comments that a 1906 Jewish dialect novelty song, "When Mose With His Nose Leads the Band," contains a six-note fragment that is "instantly recognizable as the opening strains of 'God Bless America.'" He interprets this as an example of Berlin's "habit of interpolating bits of half-remembered songs into his own numbers." [1] Berlin, born Israel Baline, had himself written several Jewish-themed novelty tunes.
In 1938, with the rise of Hitler, Berlin, who was a Jewish immigrant from Siberia, felt it was time to revive it as a "peace song" and it was introduced on an Armistice Day broadcast in 1938 sung by Kate Smith. The song was a hit; there was even a movement to make "God Bless America" the national anthem of the United States. In 1943, Smith's rendition was featured in the patriotic musical This Is the Army along with other Berlin songs. Manuscripts in the Library of Congress reveal the evolution of the song from victory to peace. Berlin gave the royalties of the song to the God Bless America Fund for redistribution to the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of the USA.
Woody Guthrie disliked the song, and wrote "This Land Is Your Land", originally titled "God Blessed America For Me", as a response to "God Bless America". "This Land Is Your Land" has also often been proposed as an American national anthem.
Later, from 1969 through the early 1970s, Smith's recording of the song before many Philadelphia Flyers contests brought it renewed popularity (as well as an apparent "good luck charm" to the Flyers), long before it became a nationwide sporting event staple. The Flyers even brought Smith in to sing "live" before the final game of Stanley Cup Playoffs in the spring of 1974, and the Flyers won the cup that day.
The song was sung by the main characters, to a chilling ironic effect, in Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter. Regarding the song in the film, Roger Ebert says in his 1978 review: "It [the film] ends on a curious note: The singing of 'God Bless America'. I won't tell you how it arrives at that particular moment... but I do want to observe that the lyrics of 'God Bless America' have never before seemed to me to contain such an infinity of possible meanings, some tragic, some unspeakeably sad, some few still defiantly hopeful." It is also prominently featured in the film Once Upon a Time in America, as it is played during a murder in the beginning of the picture.
"God Bless America" is often sung at sporting events, recitals, and other public events where national anthems are sung, sometimes in place of "The Star-Spangled Banner".
At Wrigley Field, during the Vietnam War, the song was often played by the organist as part of his post-game playlist, while fans filed out of the stadium.
The song was by far the most common choice for memorials for the September 11, 2001 attacks. On the evening of September 11, 2001, members of the United States Congress gathered at the steps of the Capitol for a news conference started singing "God Bless America."
Shortly afterwards on October 16, Sony Music released a benefit album called "God Bless America," which featured Canadian pop star Céline Dion (who had previously performed it on the television special America: A Tribute To Heroes) singing the song. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and became the first charity album to reach the top since USA For Africa's "We Are The World" in 1985. Dion's version also received enough radio airplay to reach #14 on Billboard's Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart. The music video was made and aired in September 2001. Dion performed the song also few times during 2002, including the Super Bowl. She sang it on July 4, 2004 in her A New Day... show as well.
The song was also recorded by New York City's "singing cop," Daniel Rodriguez, and charted for one week at #99 on the Billboard Hot 100 as a single. Before the 2001 versions, the last time "God Bless America" had been a Billboard chart hit was in 1959, when Connie Francis reached #36 with her version (the B-side of her Top 10 hit "Among My Souvenirs").
Since the attacks, "God Bless America" has commonly been sung during the seventh-inning stretch in Sunday Major League Baseball games, except for the Toronto Blue Jays (and prior to 2005, the Montreal Expos. Yankee Stadium is the only Major League ballpark to play "God Bless America" every game during the seventh-inning stretch. The team's YES Network televises its performance during each game before going to commercial. Interestingly, some claim this offers a competitive advantage to the Yankees. This is due to the fact that at Yankee Stadium, Ronan Tynan sings an especially long version of the song at select games, during which time the opposing pitcher is unable to warm up. Some pitchers have complained that this affects their rhythm.
[edit] "God Bless America!"
An earlier and much more obscure song called "God Bless America!" was written by Robert Montgomery Bird and published in 1834. Sheet music for this version is available online from the Library of Congress. The lyrics begin:
God bless the land that gave us birth!
No pray'r but this know we.
God bless the land, of all the earth,
The happy and the free.
And where's the land like ours can brave
The splendor of the day.
And find no son of hers a slave?
God bless America!
God bless the land, the land beloved
Forever and for aye!
God bless the land that gave us birth.
God bless America!
[edit] External links
- Library of Congress page with more information, pictures of manuscript, etc.
- A songs site with a page about "God Bless America".
