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"God Bless America" is an American patriotic song written by Irving Berlin in 1918 and revised by him in 1938. It is sometimes considered an unofficial national anthem of the United States.
Berlin originally wrote the song in 1918 while serving in the U.S. Army at Camp Upton in Yaphank, New York, but decided that it did not fit in a review called Yip Yip Yaphank, so he set it aside. The lyrics at that time included the line, "Make her victorious on land and foam, God bless America..."
In 1938, with the rise of Hitler, Berlin, who was a Jewish immigrant from Siberia, felt it was time to revive it as a "peace song" and it was introduced on an Armistice Day broadcast in 1938 sung by Kate Smith. The song was a hit; there was even a movement to make "God Bless America" the national anthem of the United States. In 1943, Smith's rendition was featured in the patriotic musical This Is the Army along with other Berlin songs. Manuscripts in the Library of Congress reveal the evolution of the song from victory to peace.
Woody Guthrie disliked the song, and wrote "This Land Is Your Land," originally titled "God Blessed This Land For Me," as a response to "God Bless America."
In recent years the song is increasingly sung at sporting events, recitals, and other public events where national anthems are sung. It sometimes even replaces "The Star-Spangled Banner." "God Bless America" is similar in format and lyrics to many other contemporary national anthems, and is popular as a "modern" national anthem because of its memorable words and tune, as opposed to the rather complex music and abstract lyrics of "The Star-Spangled Banner." It is clear from the full lyrics that Berlin's song is in the form of a prayer for "God's blessing" and peace for the nation—"stand beside her and guide her through the night"—not an empty appeal to nationalistic sentiment.
Berlin gave the royalties of the song to the God Bless America Fund for redistribution to the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of America.
The song was by far the most common choice for memorials for the September 11, 2001 attacks. On the evening of September 11, 2001, members of the United States Congress gathered at the steps of the Capitol for a news conference started singing "God Bless America."
Since the attacks, "God Bless America" has commonly been sung during the seventh-inning stretch in Major League Baseball games.
President George W. Bush has adopted the phrase "God Bless America" into his speeches, and often ends speeches with it.
Lyrics
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:
God Bless America.
Land that I love
Stand beside her, and guide her
Through the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America
My home sweet home.
God Bless America,
Land that I love
Stand beside her,
And guide her,
Through the night
With the light from above,
From the mountains,
To the prairies,
To the ocean,
White with foam,
God bless America,
My home sweet home.
God bless America,
My home sweet home.
God Bless America!
An earlier and much more obscure song called "God Bless America!" was written by Robert Montgomery Bird and published in 1834. Sheet music for this version is available online (http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/S?ammem/mussm:@FILREQ(@field(TITLE+@od1(God+bless+America!++))+@FIELD(COLLID+sm1820))) from the Library of Congress. The lyrics begin:
God bless the land that gave us birth!
No pray'r but this know we.
God bless the land, of all the earth,
The happy and the free.
And where's the land like ours can brave
The splendor of the day.
And find no son of hers a slave?
God bless America!
God bless the land, the land beloved
Forever and for aye!
God bless the land that gave us birth.
God bless America!
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