When it comes to music that makes Americans feel patriotic, the first thing that comes to mind is the national anthem. But there are so many other songs about the United States. Many great musicians have captured in song what this country means to them. Songs like “Ol’ Man River,” “Oh Shenandoah,” and “This Land Is My Land.” These simple tunes capture something as profound as any great speech or sermon about one’s love for his or her country.
Anthem For The Nation 6f1qv
A lawyer named Francis Scott Key went aboard a British ship during the War of 1812 to arrange the release of a prisoner. Key ended up being held on board the ship in Baltimore Harbor while the battle raged on shore; the Americans still had hope. The next morning, the British surrendered.
That day, Key wrote a poem called “The Defense of Fort McHenry.” He set the poem to the tune of an old English drinking song. Key’s song was later renamed “The Star-Spangled Banner.” In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson said the song should be played at all official occasions. In 1931, it officially became the national anthem.
The Star-Spangled Banner 6h156c
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 through 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 through 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.
Yankee Doodle 68y2w
The first real American folk songs in history.
America The Beautiful 5w5x1a
Pretty much everyone knows this song. It’s been sung for years, and used in many popular plays, movies and TV shows. The words were written by Katherine Lee Bates, and the melody by Samuel Ward.
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
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