"On July 21, 2011, Kate Smith's version of "God Bless America" was played as NASA's final wake up call for the space shuttle Atlantis, capping the 30-year shuttle program."
Posted on 07/26/2011 6:11:53 PM PDT by navysealdad
It just doesn't get any better.
She had a TV show in the 1950s, which my mother frequently watched. I think it was a variety show. All I remember about it was her singing this song at the end of each show. Powerful voice.
This was an act of real patriotism which helped win the war.
Also helped the Philadelphia Flyers win a Stanley Cup.
He actually wrote it about 19 years earlier for his World War One show Yip! Yip! Yaphank but didn’t use it then and only released it when Kate Smith asked for a song for Remembrance Day in, I think, 1938.
"On July 21, 2011, Kate Smith's version of "God Bless America" was played as NASA's final wake up call for the space shuttle Atlantis, capping the 30-year shuttle program."
“It ain’t over till the fat lady sings” is a reference to Kate Smith who would conclude her performances with that song.
“During World War II, she traveled nearly 520,000 miles to entertain troops and sold a record $600 million in war bonds in a series of round-the-clock radio appeals. One of these, a 24-hour marathon on Feb. 1, 1944, raised a record $110 million in pledges.”
http://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/kate-smith/
I’m sure God gets to hear her talent whenever he wants....
My only wish is she had charted “America The Beautiful”.
Every time I think of Kate Smith, I think of a bit of repartee regarding a famous music director and his choice of divas that went something like this: “Unfortunately those that look like canaries sing like horses and vice versa.... >PS
Kate's statue outside of the Philadelphia Spectrum. Not sure if the statue is at their current arena, as the Spectrum was torn down.
I didn’t need the noisy motorcycles superimposed over her voice. Who decided to do that?
http://www.elyrics.net/read/k/kate-smith-lyrics/god-bless-america-lyrics.html
This site gives you an untrashed version . . very powerful and beautiful
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. "
http://quirkopatra.blogspot.com/2011/07/when-you-know-you-are-in-good-stuff.html
I think you will like this.
Irving Berlin originally wrote the tune in 1917 for the show “Yip, Yip Yaphank,” but it wasn’t used—and it wouldn’t be heard until 1938, when Kate Smith performed it during an Armistice Day radio broadcast.
In early 1939, she issued the song on the Victor label. It was a hit in the spring of that year and continued to be a bestseller for years afterwards.
I saw her perform the song at the 1976 Rose Bowl game.
Louise Homer recorded "America the Beautiful" in 1924, and it was a bestseller the next year. As far as I know, this is the biggest hit version of the song. Some of her recordings are on Youtube, but not this one.
In those days the verse made the song.
“Also helped the Philadelphia Flyers win a Stanley Cup.”
Yes indeed; she still sings for them.
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