America's 10 Most Patriotic Songs (+1)

VFW Magazine ^ | Dec. 1998 | David E, Dayton

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

America's 10
Most Popular

Patriotic
Songs

War and song have been a common mix in U.S. history for more than 230 years. Most major conflicts --
French & Indian, Revolutionary, War of 1812, Civil, WWI, WWII and Vietnam -- have all produced distinctive tunes.

By david e. dayton

Protest songs dominated the '60s until patriotism broke forth on Feb. 19, 1966. Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler shook the musical counterculture with The Green Berets, seizing the no. 1 spot on the charts for five straight weeks.

Ever since patriots adopted The Lib-erty Song as America's first unofficial anthem and the Tories sang back for King George, our nation has expressed disagreement through music. "But generally speaking," says music historian Dr. Carole Delaney, "our patriotic songs pull us together and unify our culture."

Sifting through the red, white and blue gold of America's collection, I found the top 10 required strict criteria. I balanced the initial impact of the song against its current durability, the loftiness of the lyrics against the popularity of the message. But if your favorite is missing or misplaced, write it in where it belongs as we move from 10 to 1.

10 Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition (1942)
Frank Loesser quoted Navy Chaplain William Maguire's words of supplication and common sense to give WWII its first major hit (2 million records, 1 million sheets). Loesser's first combination of his own lyrics with his own tune proved so popular the government limited radio coverage to once every four hours to keep it from being played to death. "This song told American soldiers four things," explains Delaney, " -- keep going, keep your faith, work at the guns, and get home."

9 When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again (1863)
American composers Roy Harris and Morton Gould borrowed this march in a minor key (an unusual combination) to create stirring orchestral works. Union Army bandmaster Patrick Gilmore wrote it for the North.

But it became an all-American flag-waver during the Spanish-American War (1898), encompassing the hopes of soldiers returning from duty. The song also became symbolic of the need to provide veterans benefits in the aftermath of war.

8 Dixie (1860)
The famous refrain of the Confederacy was written by a Yankee. New Yorker Dan Emmett moped during a storm, sighing, "I wish I was in Dixie." Animated by his own remark, he knocked out the chorus and verses in one hour. Within a year, the intoxicating tune touched every corner of the globe. Though known as a Southern salute, Northern soldiers sang it with gusto and Abraham Lincoln ordered the band outside the White House to play it as an "acquired spoil of the war."

7 The Battle Hymn of the Republic (1862)
Julia Ward Howe witnessed the Union Army in review singing John Brown's Body to Glory, Hallelujah -- a tune by Southern composer William Steffe. Inspired, she wrote new lyrics, published them in The Atlantic Monthly, and discovered she'd created a standard for the North. The Civil War may be the only conflict in history when opposing forces composed each other's anthems.

6 Yankee Doodle (1765)
Dr. Richard Shuckburg took an English ditty and improvised nonsense lyrics ("Yankee" -- Indian "English," "doodle" -- a collapse of "dolittle") to taunt colonial troops during the French and Indian War. British soldiers embraced the mockery, deriding colonists even on Sunday by standing outside church windows and outsinging the hymns.

rebels hurled the song back at the redcoats and lifted the tune to nobility when the Continental Army trilled it during the surrender of Lord Charles Cornwallis to Gen. George Washington on Oct. 19, 1781.

5 Over There (1917)
"It's another great rallying song," says Delaney, "that tells the world Americans have a lot of grit." Two million sheet copies and 1 million disks made Over There the hit of World War I -- virtually everybody in the U.S. knew the song by heart.

onically, Broadway composer George M. Cohen (who wrote the song minutes after reading war headlines) forgot the verses in the middle of singing a charity benefit. Fortunately, Irving Berlin and friends sprang from the audience and sang him through to a grand ovation.

4 God Bless America (1939)
Irving Berlin penned the song for a musical, but changed his mind, shelving the hymn for 21 years. For her 1938 Armistice Day radio show, Kate Smith solicited Berlin, who remembered his pigeonholed arrangement. On Nov. 10, Smith broke into the song that became her trademark. "The song got America through WWII," Delaney says. "It was the standard bearer Americans leaned upon for emotional support."

3 My Country 'Tis of Thee (1832)
Many early patriotic efforts pasted new words over old tunes. Samuel Francis Smith wrote lyrics to the English standard God Save the King, and premiered the song with a children's choir on July 4th. Today, school children sing it as a perfect complement to the pledge of allegiance. Oliver Wendell Holmes reflected, "Everybody who sings the song at once feels a personal ownership in his native land. The hymn will last as long as the country."

2 America the Beautiful (1895)
Katherine Lee Bates climbed Pike's Peak in Colorado and saw "spacious skies" above the "fruited plains." Her verses attached themselves to Materna, an 1888 hymn melody by Samuel Augustus Ward, and despite 900 attempts to compose a new tune, the original remains.

torian Gamaliel Bradford remarked, "There is in the poem the deepest, richest sense of the splendor of the material possession that has been given to us, and it impresses upon every American citizen, every man, woman and child to be worthy of that possession."

1 The Star-Spangled Banner (1814)
Some object to the tune "nobody can sing." Some complain that the words are too easily mispronounced. But like its counterpart flying over Fort McHenry, the Star-Spangled Banner yet waves. "In any list of patriotic songs," Dr. Delaney says, "nine out of 10 people will probably pick Star-Spangled as No. 1."

hting Fort McHenry's flag still flying at dawn after a British attack, Francis Scott Key expressed himself on the back of an envelope, matching emotions to the melody of To Anacreon in Heaven."

ediately popular, the song became America's common usage national anthem, gaining martial verses during the Civil War and backgrounding the Navy and Army during flag services.

ally, a between-the-wars campaign bore fruit. The Star-Spangled Banner, our most popular patriotic song, became the nation's official anthem on March 3, 1931, thanks to the VFW.

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David e. dayton, of Sacramento, Calif., dedicates this article to his father David and father-in-law Arthur Cornish, who between them served in Vietnam, Korea and WWII.

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God Bless the U.S.A.

by Lee Greenwood

If tomorrow all the things were gone
I'd worked for all my life,
And I had to start again
with just my children and my wife,
I'd thank my lucky stars
to be living here today,
'Cause the flag still stands for freedom
and they can't take that away.

I'm proud to be an American
where at least I know I'm free,
And I won't forget the men who died
who gave that right to me,
And I gladly stand up next to you
and defend her still today,
'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land
God Bless the U.S.A.

From the lakes of Minnesota
to the hills of Tennessee,
Across the plains of Texas
from sea to shining sea.
From Detroit down to Houston
and New York to L.A.,
There's pride in every American heart
and it's time we stand and say:

I'm proud to be an American
where at least I know I'm free,
And I won't forget the men who died
who gave that right to me,
And I gladly stand up next to you
and defend her still today,
'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land
God Bless the U.S.A.

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Lee Greenwood's Home Page
Lyrics
More Patriotic Songs + Lyrics
Scout Songs + Lyrics
Great Patriotic Midi + Lyrics from fiftiesweb.com
LYRICS TO PATRIOTIC SONGS FOR FREEPER PROTESTS , download, FR's Spirit of Truth.

[ThePoetsRaven]

The kids at my granddaughters school, St. Francis Cabrini, Bay 11th Street, Brooklyn USA, held a salute to Grandparents Day. Each class sang a song. Her kindergarten class sang "Proud To be An American"..LOUD AND CLEAR....I was so proud of them.

[LiberteeBell]

Thank you for posting this. I love patriotic music, always have. I can't believe non-PC Dixie made the list!

[Chicago Guy 2]

bump for patriotism!

[katze]

Thank you for adding Lee Greenwood's tribute to our country.

[LiberteeBell]

Lee Greenwood's going to have a hard time tracking down everyone who's posted the words to God Bless the USA since 9-11 and furthermore, I'd bet he doesn't care one whit.

[FreeTally]

Oh, come on, where is "American Badass"??

[FreeTally]

Lee Greenwood's song is the only one that is definitely not in the Public Domain. Most the others are.

[Dane]

Are you allowed to post their images like this? They are probably copyrighted. Greenwood's lyrics are too. If you don't want an infringement suit, you should remove this.

I do not think the VFW or Lee Greenwood mind.

Why don't you slink back into Hillary's dungeon, overseer5.

[ArcLight]

What about the Negro National Anthem? James Weldon Johnson's Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing is as good a patriotic song as you'll ever find. We need to teach it to some of you white folks. You'd love it!

[KC_Conspirator]

What about "World Turned Upside Down".

[BraveMan]

Katherine Lee Bates penned a great song in ''America The Beautiful'', but nobody puts more feeling into it than Ray Charles. Truely a treat for the ears . . .

[NovemberCharlie]

How about Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land?"

[surrey]

First time I heard Lee Greenwood's song was at a convention quite a few years ago. It was brand new and brought down the house. Each and every time I hear it my eyes well up.

[Doctor Stochastic]

America
Columbia the Gem of the Ocean
After the Battle Mother
Tenting on the Old Camp Ground
You're a Grand Old Flag
The Liberty Song
Bunker Hill

The Yellow Rose of Texas
Carry Me Back to Old Virginny
Give My Regards to Broadway

[janus]

4 God Bless America (1939)...Irving Berlin penned the song for a musical, but changed his mind, shelving the hymn for 21 years. In my opinion this should be number 1.

George M. Cohen ...His name was Cohan.

[ROKGRUNT]

i'm partial to ragged old flag by johnny cash. i believe i'd place that one in the top five