NORMAN ROCKWELL'S O, AMERICA

You Tube ^ | Oct. 14, 2009 | Yours Truly

[ForGod'sSake]

Link to video

[ForGod'sSake]

I felt compelled to do something combining Celtic Woman's "O, America" and Norman Rockwell's rendition of what America was like when I was growing up. IMO, he captured in intimate detail what America used to be.

I did a small amount of research on Rockwell and discovered he was not that comfortable in metropolitan areas of America, such as New York City(imagine that!). His heart and his roots were in small town America, what most of us now call flyover country. Bless him.

[ForGod'sSake]

Here it is Jeff. To the rest, I hope you enjoy it...

[Leo58]

Absolutely fantastic.
A must see. Only 2 views so far, glad to be the 3rd.

[fellowpatriot]

Thank you!

[ErnBatavia]

..and I got to be the first comment.

[ForGod'sSake]

Thank you kindly!

[ForGod'sSake]

You’re welcome!

[ForGod'sSake]

The members of the Obama "regime" should be forced to watch this at their morning briefings....a little reminder.

Thanks Joe.

This is exactly the America they are attempting to destroy. May God help us in our efforts to revive our once great nation.

;^)

[snippy_about_it]

Very, very nice.

[ForGod'sSake]

Thank you!

[EverOnward]

Emailed the link to everyone I know. Thank you. I miss America. I wish my children and grandchildren knew the America I was privileged to have known. The Christian values represented by Rockwell’s paintings are mocked, ridiculed and attacked by those who do not share the vision of our Founding Fathers.

[ErnBatavia]

Bump -- this one needs more FReeper views!

Norman Rockwell reflected Americana like nobody else. Fine job, once again. I've sent the link to my addressbook, and all here should do the same.

[nutmeg]

.

[joesjane]

Thank you so much, I just added it to my patriotic videos playlist!

[potlatch]

That is lovely FGS! We all love Rockwell’s art. It was an added bonus for me. I am not able to understand ‘words’ on radio or youtubes so I don’t listen to recent music. Celtic Woman’s O, America is beautiful.

[ForGod'sSake]

I miss America.

Just reading that and saying it a time or two brings a lump to the throat of this old Texan. I hope we still have enough fight in us to be able to pass along an America to our grandkids we can be proud of.

[ForGod'sSake]

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it.

[mware]

Here is my Rockwell America.

[LetMarch]

Wow!!!! And thanks you so much!!! That was the America (the USA) we loved!!!They showed it as it was!!!

Norman Rockwell, Paul Harvey, Walter Cronkite, Billy Graham, Jimmy Hart (B.C. Comics), Chic Young (Blondie & Dagwood),Jimmy Stewart (Wonderful Life), John Wayne (The Searchers++),Ronald Reagen, and time would fail us to name them all!!!!

We loved those dear hearts and gentle people of our home towns.

[ForGod'sSake]

I am not able to understand ‘words’ on radio or youtubes so I don’t listen to recent music.

FWIW, I can count on one hand the number of times I've turned on a radio over the last few years. Lost interest entirely!

Celtic Woman’s O, America is beautiful.

Yes it is. Were it not for a couple of Freepers I would probably not have even been aware of this beautiful composition.

[ForGod'sSake]

Ain’t it the truth; well done!

[potlatch]

I lost a lot of hearing in my mid 30’s, so radio talk isn't understandable to me. Everyone loves Rush but I can't listen, lol. Enjoyed your youtube, I could hear the beautiful voice while I watched.

[ForGod'sSake]

Thank you! JMO, but the “average” American is America. WE have been so busy with our lives we forgot to keep an eye on our, for lack of a better word, icons. RR was the last of a breed ALLOWED to reach prominence in the minds of Americans. Our faux press, hollyweird, and Madison Avenue have contributed mightily to the destruction of our culture and way of life. I miss America too.

[ForGod'sSake]

I sympathize about the hearing problem. After giving Uncle Sam about three and a half years in the late 60's copying ditty-bahs I had about a 20% hearing loss. It's only gotten worse over the years. Still in all, more of an annoyance than anything else.

Thanks again!

[ForGod'sSake]

Uhhh, make that, “copying ditty-dahs”; Morse code IOW...

[potlatch]

I’m glad yours isn’t severe.

[holly go-rightly]

bump for later

[ntnychik]

That was a beautiful piece of work, FGS. So moving!

I hope you have the chance someday to go to the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Mass, in the Berkshire Mtns, near the New York border. It’s a thrilling experience to see so many of his original paintings, and to visit his studio. There is a small gallery in the center of the museum, in which you are surrounded by the Four Freedoms paintings. I can’t describe the feeling. A large gallery on a lower level has all the Saturday Evening Post covers.

In your video, there was a wide painting of a smalltown Main Street. That is Stockbridge, and it is still lovely today.

[ForGod'sSake]

Thank you for the kind words.

I did a small amount of background on Rockwell just to get an idea of what he was about. Little doubt his connections were with the Heartland of America and his art bears that out. It feels a bit unsettling, eerie even, to look at some of his work and say, I know this place, or a place just like it; or I know these people, or people just like them. His settings and all were just so, I dunno, down home. He had a knack...

The museum must be quite a place. I can only imagine.

[MagnoliaMS]

That was just beautiful. I enjoyed it very much. The REAL
America!

[ForGod'sSake]

Thank you. To me, he had the ability to capture the essence of what the real America ONCE was; certainly the America I knew as a kid. I pray his work will stand as an enduring legacy of America’s greatness and not an epitaph.

[potlatch]

You are the History buff and know where everything important is located.

[DoughtyOne]

Very nice. Didn’t see this until just now.

[ForGod'sSake]

Thank you sir! I find myself frequently going off in other directions, etc, so I don’t take or make the time to promote stuff like this. I’m proud of the way it turned out and I am humbled and thankful for the flowers sent by those who have seen it. Thanks again.

[DoughtyOne]

IMO, kids are not taught to respect those who died for us.

That would imply that fighting to maintain a nation as vile as ours was worth defending, and that our brand of freedom is better than any other nation’s brand of freedom. Why don’t you know, Hanoi has a good a system as we do.

I don’t agree with that in any way shape or form, but that’s pretty much what is going on these days.

[little jeremiah]

Very beautiful. Brought tears to my eyes.

[ForGod'sSake]

IMO, kids are not taught to respect those who died for us.

Just so, and we both could probably go on at length about the reasons why it has come to that...

[ForGod'sSake]

Is it a safe bet you’re no spring chicken??? Seeing Rockwell’s work in a presentation such as this may have a greater impact on those who grew up in the era he so eloquently depicts. My age group of 60 plussers lived it like he drew it. Like someone else sadly pointed out, “I miss America”. I want it back. Not for me, but for my grandchildren and all the grandchildren in this country.

[little jeremiah]

I was born in 1950. Lived a rural life most of my life.

Sigh.

[VOA]

“I did a small amount of background on Rockwell just to get an idea
of what he was about. Little doubt his connections were with the
Heartland of America and his art bears that out.”

Believe it or not I saw some of it in West Los Angeles.
Just like what my grandparents told me about the four years following
Dec. 7, 1941 in their area of southern Kansas and north-central Oklahoma.

Of course, this was after 9-11 and evaporated within a month or so.

Sadly, they remembered the West Los Angeles residents (in a vast
majority) remembered they were anti-American Democrats and returned
to the fold of Rep. Henry Waxman.

[VOA]

Sorry, my last paragraph should have started:

“Sadly, the West Los Angeles residents remembered...

[Chickensoup]

Wonderful. Thank you

[ForGod'sSake]

I know what you're talking about, sortof. Difficult for me to relate to any large extent being from a very conservative area of a pretty conservative state. Believe it or not, there are STILL places and people very much like what Rockwell portrayed within walking distance from where I live.

I suppose a big part of the problem today is that it's difficult for most folks to make a decent(depending upon your definition) living in the small towns, hamlets and villages in the country. I suspect also that corporate farming and ranching have done as much to contribute to the decline in rural areas as anything else. One man with several million dollars worth of equipment can match the output of what dozens of people used to produce.

Still in all, flyover country is alive and well.

[ForGod'sSake]

Thank you. You’re welcome!

[DoughtyOne]

Yes, we sure could.

[iowamomforfreedom]

Beautiful work, FGS. Very moving.

[ForGod'sSake]

Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed it.

[Seadog Bytes]

VERY nice! ...brought tears to these old eyes.

     

[smokingfrog]

bookmark

[Cindy]

Just perfect.
Thank you Seadog Bytes.

I’ve added it to my list of videos for the Troops in
my Friday Night Videos and Special Web Sites post.