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The story behind the song

The history of our ‘de facto’ national anthem

By SUSAN WALIGUNDA WADE
Posted 11/20/24

If you were to ask a random group of people to name our country’s national anthem, there would likely be at least one person to respond, “God Bless America.” 

Though that …

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My view

The story behind the song

The history of our ‘de facto’ national anthem

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If you were to ask a random group of people to name our country’s national anthem, there would likely be at least one person to respond, “God Bless America.” 

Though that isn’t the case, the song’s sweet melody and hopeful lyrics have led some through the years to lobby to make it the official anthem.  

We know that Francis Scott Key wrote the words to “The Star-Spangled Banner” after witnessing the American defeat of the British at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, MD during the War of 1812. 

But “God Bless America” also had its origins in war. 

Irving Berlin emigrated at the age of five with his family, leaving imperial Russia. A prolific songwriter, he was known for music and lyrics that would be embraced by average Americans, whom he saw as the “real soul of the country.” 

The original version of “God Bless America” was written in 1918 while Berlin served in the army in Yaphank, NY. The war song was to be the finale of a revue titled “Yip, Yip, Yaphank.” In the finale, soldiers were marching en masse to a transport. However, it didn’t seem quite right and was ultimately not used. 

Berlin reworked the song in 1938 as he returned to America from London after the opening of his play “Alexander’s Ragtime Band.” This visit coincided with British Prime Minister Chamberlain’s visit to Hitler and the beginning of the Munich Pact. Berlin wrote a song titled “Thanks America” but considered it so bad he tore it up. 

So he went back to the original “God Bless America” and rewrote it from a song of war to a song of peace, removing references to war with such phrases as “stand beside her and guide her through the night with the light from above” and “to the oceans white with foam.” 

The song was first sung for the public by Kate Smith at the New York World’s Fair on November 10, 1938 to honor Armistice Day. Smith became synonymous with the song. The Philadelphia Flyers played Smith’s recording of the song before home games in the early 1970s and the song became something of a good luck charm for the team. Smith performed the anthem live before Game Six of the 1974 Stanley Cup Finals and the Flyers won the cup that day. 

The song is also an integral part of many other sporting events. 

“God Bless America” was so popular that in 1940, both the Democratic and Republican parties tried to appropriate it for their respective national parties, but Berlin stated that he “could not give the exclusive rights to any political party to a song that is so obviously for all Americans.” 

Berlin directed that royalties from the song would benefit the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of America. Over the years, millions of dollars have flowed to these organizations as a result. 

The song invites spontaneity. Some of the more well-known examples of this are at the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team’s Miracle on Ice, when the players broke out in song as they were overcome by patriotism, and the gathering of U.S. senators and congressmen on the U.S. Capitol steps after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.  

Amazingly, the song was not appreciated by all. Woodie Guthrie was one of its critics, and wrote “This Land Is Your Land” (originally titled “God Blessed America for Me”) in response. Groups such as the Ku Klux Klan also protested it due to its being written by a Jewish immigrant. 

Berlin himself was opposed to the idea of his song replacing “The Star-Spangled Banner” as the national anthem, stating that the national anthem cannot be replaced. 

Susan Waligunda Wade writes occasionally for the River Reporter. 

god bless america, star spangled banner, national anthem, history

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