Katherine Lee Bates taught English literature at my alma mater, Wellesley College. She wrote the words to this song in 1893, when she was teaching for that summer at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. Over the years, some have suggested this song should replace “The Star-Spangled Banner” as the national anthem, because it is easier to sing, and the lyrics are more beautiful. But the idea never caught on.
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!
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 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.
Original poem (1893)[edit]
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Nice tune, but too god-heavy for my taste.
You think the Star Spangled Banner is easy to sing?
As music education is my chosen profession, I tend to view these discussions differently because I place importance on the developmental appropriateness of the work to do make the most pleasing sound for all to participate in. Let’s face it, the SSB, lyrics by Francis Scott Key, is the melody of “God Save the Queen” used commonly in England as a drinking song-meant for singing while drunk. It is a difficult song to sing in terms of range (lowest to highest. If we want an anthem to be a song we all can sing why would we of adopted a song that only the minority can sing well. Key’s lyrics though are beautiful
God Bless America is developmentally appropriate for young voices as well as the experienced singer. The lyrics scream patriotism and the pitch range is not as wide as SSB so more people can sing it well.
Those are my 2 cents (which when added to a metrocard that has $2.48 on it can get you a 1 ride on the subway)
Really dislike “God Bless America”. Seems totally jingoistic to me.
I wouldn’t mind some jingoism if it weren’t so melodically, metrically, and lyrically boring.
“Let’s face it, the SSB, lyrics by Francis Scott Key, is the melody of ‘God Save the Queen’ used commonly in England as a drinking song-meant for singing while drunk.”
Are you talking about the UK national anthem? Or is there some alternate pub version that I’ve never heard? Because I don’t hear the Star Spangled Banner in that melody at all.
Agree with the comment above about God Bless America.
Here’s a column for July 4 about a little known, Washington DC monument to a major US mistake in WW II:
http://hometownsource.com/2013/07/02/joe-nathan-column-a-memorial-to-a-mistake/
Joe, just for the record, how are we falling short at the moment of equal justice under the law?
Hi Harlan,
A number of the people in Guantanamo have not yet been tried and have been held there for years. There is a Constitutional guarantee against that.
Happy July 4.
A constitutional guarantee that covers enemy combatants? Where in the constitution is that guarantee of due process found? Do they really have the same standing as U.S. citizens? Do constitutional guarantees of a trial by jury in the—what? Federal Court System?—apply? It seems to me unlikely on the face of it, but I remain here to be instructed.
HU,
How can they be “enemy combatants” when not one of them was fighting for a particular nation with which we were at declared war? The term “enemy combatant” is a legal bait and switch machination.
This topic has been “fully briefed,” as the courts would say, for several years. All sides of the “enemy combatant” issue have been argued, and my gut tells me nobody’s going to break any new ground on this thread.
Maybe “Pitbull” can compose something as an alternative…
And the current Secretary of Education can put on his “Duncan Cap” [as someone felicitiously suggested] at the next major conference of edupreneurs and belt out some of those coarse lyrics while bustin’ a few moves.
A steal at the 99¢ store? A great value. Dancin’ Duncan? Priceless.
🙂
My vote is for Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is My Land,” … Woody’s songs may have been written a half century or more ago – they resonate today more than ever.
The struggle for liberty, equality and justice is forever. Woody embodied that struggle.
“This Land is Your Land”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxiMrvDbq3s
This Land Is Your Land
Words and Music by Woody Guthrie
This land is your land This land is my land
From California to the New York island;
From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and Me.
As I was walking that ribbon of highway,
I saw above me that endless skyway:
I saw below me that golden valley:
This land was made for you and me.
I’ve roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts;
And all around me a voice was sounding:
This land was made for you and me.
When the sun came shining, and I was strolling,
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling,
As the fog was lifting a voice was chanting:
This land was made for you and me.
As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said “No Trespassing.”
But on the other side it didn’t say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.
In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?
Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me.
Diane Ravitch & Duane Swacker: a bit of Holy Metrics that hasn’t yet been co-opted by the accountabullies.
“God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say ‘thank you’?” [William Arthur Ward]
Thank you both for giving us presents on the 4th of July.
🙂
And a very small gift on my part to you both to honor your individual contributions on this blog to the cause of a “better education for all”:
“If ‘Manners maketh man’ as someone said
He’s our hero of the day.
It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
Be yourself, no matter what they say.”
[Sting]
🙂
Thanks, Krazy TA, for the kind words.
Worked in the garden most of yesterday so only had a chance to get back here now. Goin fishin in 45 minutes!!
It’s a pity that nobody knows that song beyond the first stanza. (Until I reviewed the lyrics in your post, I counted myself in that group, even though I’ve probably heard the song 500 times and was a big Guthrie fan, via Bob Dylan of course, in my late teens.) The fifth and sixth verses are great.
Many of Woody’s songs, are as relevant today as they were a half century ago .. Check out U-Tube – perhaps his recent 100th birthday will revitalize his passion for justice for all – any of u teach Woody’s songs, or their lyrics in your classes?
Yes!
I like this one too. Kids do too. Works well with piano or guitar.
Another great song!!!
What I love about America the Beautiful is its insistence on the country as a work in progress. We have this beautiful country, but we are still in the process of fulfilling its promise. Another verse I have heard is, “America, America, God mend thine every flaw. Confirm thy soul in self control, thy liberty in law.” Rather than deify the early Americans, I like that the song is celebrating their ideals, which we’re still struggling to reach.
Yes.
And it is in some Protestant hymnals, by the way.
What is the difference between patriotism and nationalism?
In the United States, they both mean the same thing: You either go shopping on a national holiday or, if you are stuck in a minimum wage job, you go into work . . . .
Happy $4th . . .
I think patriotism makes you cry tears when you see the flag and hear the songs and look out over the graves at Arlington.
I think nationalism makes you fight and only buy American.
Thanks for replying. They are two different things for me. Not in the way you state it but they are different.
The Pats play in Foxborough, the Nats play in D.C.
This is a great question, though. I don’t have an OED subscription but after googling, wiki’ing, and considering the terms, it appears that the two terms became entangled and closely related starting in the late 18th century, with the parallel events of (1) the development of the theories of nationalism and self-determination in continental Europe and (2) the American Revolution, which borrowed from and added to the discourse in Europe. But “patriot” has a connotation of devotion to one’s homeland (or “patria”) or “country” (as in “countrymen”) in the non-statist sense. In the context of English and American history, a “patriot” also conveyed an anti-establishment identity and politics, and the term probably still has that resonance today. Whereas “nationalism” seems to have always related to some sense of an essential identity that binds people together (through language, culture, ethnicity, etc.). The German intellectuals were keen on “nationalism” well before there was a Germany, and, as we know, some later Germans were even keener on it.
All in all, I think the politically correct position is that it’s ok to be a Patriot, but probably best to avoid being a Nationalist.
FLERP!,
Thanks for the response. Well stated.
For an interesting definition of patriotism see: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/07/04-2
This is far, far off-topic, but whatever. The point about racism in that link reminded me of Stephen Fry’s oft-played question to the Catholic Church.
This music teacher weighs in:
http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2013/07/should-star-spangled-banner-be-our.html
My vote: the problems with the other choices really can’t be overcome. Keep The Star Spangled Banner, warts and all.
I enjoyed your blog entry on these.
(NC music teacher; and no I was not thinking of adding “Dixie” to the list).
😉
Our Southern household enjoyed “Battle Hymn of the Republic” growing up (while I still know people who want no part of it). It is powerful to sing it in church, which is mostly where I have heard it (there and in the car on our family vacations).
Snoopy made even more dear the words “be jubilant my feet!”
“Let the hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel, since God is marching on.”
Love it. Whatever it means.
“Glory glory hallelujah”
Or as young children might sing
“Glory glory had a looyah”
Love this song and the story behind it! I teach it to my second graders each year along with 4 other patriotic songs. We do the pledge and sing a different song each morning. ( A retro moment each day) For those who think it’s too God-heavy, at least it’s not “God Bless America” which I really don’t care for. I love the idea of Katharine on the top of Pike’s Peak and at the Centennial Exhibition in Chicago.