Patriotic Songs

           America the Beautiful

O beautiful for patriot dream that sees beyond the years
Thin alabaster cities gleam undimmed by human tears
America, America, God shed his grace on thee
Till nobler men keep once again Thy whiter jubilee!



             God Bless America  by Irving Berlin 1938
  

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 oceans white with foam
God bless America my home sweet home!
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 oceans white with foam
God bless America my home sweet home!
God bless America my home sweet home!



            The Pledge of Allegiance by Francis Bellamy 1892, (1923 & 1954)
   

I pledge allegiance to the flag 
of the United States of America 
and to the republic for which it stands; 
one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all



            This Land is Your Land by Woody Guthrie January 1940 (in reaction to Irving Berlins "God Bless America")
   

Chorus:
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California, to the New York Island
From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me

As I was walking a ribbon of highway
I saw above me an endless skyway
I saw below me a golden valley
This land was made for you and me

Chorus

I've roamed and rambled and I've followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
And all around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me

Chorus

The sun comes shining as I was strolling
The wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
The fog was lifting a voice come chanting
This land was made for you and me

Chorus

As I was walkin' - I saw a sign there
And that sign said - no tress passin'
But on the other side .... it didn't say nothin!
Now that side was made for you and me!

Chorus

In the squares of the city - In the shadow of the steeple
Near the relief office - I see my people
And some are grumblin' and some are wonderin'
If this land's still made for you and me.

This land is your land, this land is my land
From California, to the New York Island
From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me

This land is your land, this land is my land
From California, to the New York Island
From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me



             God Bless The U.S.A  by Lee Greenwood 1995
  

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. 

And 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: 

That 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. 

That 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. 



            Battle Hymn of The Republic  by Julia Ward Howe February 1861
  

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on.

Glory glory hallelujah, Glory glory hallelujah
Glory glory hallelujah, His truth is marching on

I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps,
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps:
His day is marching on.

Glory glory hallelujah, Glory glory hallelujah
Glory glory hallelujah, His truth is marching on

I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:
"As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal;
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel,
Since God is marching on."

Glory glory hallelujah, Glory glory hallelujah
Glory glory hallelujah, His truth is marching on

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat:
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on.

Glory glory hallelujah, Glory glory hallelujah
Glory glory hallelujah, His truth is marching on

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me:
As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.

Glory glory hallelujah, Glory glory hallelujah
Glory glory hallelujah, His truth is marching on



            Star Spangled Banner  by Washington, D.C., lawyer Francis Scott Key September 1814
  

O say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thru the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thru the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

O thus be it ever, when free men shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation!
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the pow’r that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just;
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust!”
And the star spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!



            Stars and Stripes Forever   Composed by John Philip Sousa on Christmas Day, 1896.

Official March of the United States of America (US Code, Title 36 Chapter 10)  
  

Let martial note in triumph float
And liberty extend its mighty hand
A flag appears 'mid thunderous cheers,
The banner of the Western land.
The emblem of the brave and true
Its folds protect no tyrant crew;
The red and white and starry blue
Is freedom's shield and hope. 

Hurrah for the flag of the free!
May it wave as our standard forever,
The gem of the land and the sea,
The banner of the right.
Let despots remember the day
When our fathers with mighty endeavor
Proclaimed as they marched to the fray
That by their might and by their right
It waves forever. 

Other nations may deem their flags the best
And cheer them with fervid elation
But the flag of the North and South and West
Is the flag of flags, the flag of Freedom's nation.

Let eagle shriek from lofty peak
The never-ending watchword of our land;
Let summer breeze waft through the trees
The echo of the chorus grand.
Sing out for liberty and light,
Sing out for freedom and the right.
Sing out for Union and its might,
O patriotic sons. 

Other nations may deem their flags the best
And cheer them with fervid elation,
But the flag of the North and South and West
Is the flag of flags, the flag of Freedom's nation. 

Hurrah for the flag of the free.
May it wave as our standard forever
The gem of the land and the sea,
The banner of the right.
Let despots remember the day
When our fathers with might endeavor
Proclaimed as they marched to the fray,
That by their might and by their right
It waves forever.



            You're A Grand Old Flag  by George M. Cohan 1906
  

You're a grand old flag,
You're a high flying flag
And forever in peace may you wave.
You're the emblem of
The land I love.
The home of the free and the brave.
Ev'ry heart beats true
'neath the Red, White and Blue,
Where there's never a boast or brag.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
Keep your eye on the grand old flag.

You're a grand old flag,
You're a high flying flag
And forever in peace may you wave.
You're the emblem of
The land I love.
The home of the free and the brave.
Ev'ry heart beats true
'neath the Red, White and Blue,
Where there's never a boast or brag.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
Keep your eye on the grand old flag.



            Yankee Doodle Dandy by George M. Cohan 1941
  

I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy
A Yankee Doodle, do or die
A real live nephew of my uncle Sam's
Born on the Fourth of July
I've got a Yankee Doodle sweetheart
She's my Yankee Doodle joy
Yankee Doodle came to London
Just to ride the ponies
I am a Yankee Doodle boy

I'm the kid that's all the candy
I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy
I'm glad I am
So's Uncle Sam
I'm a real live Yankee Doodle
Made my name and fame and boodle
Just like Mister Doodle did
By riding on a pony
I love to listen to the Dixey strain
"I long to see the girl I left behind me"
And that ain't a josh
She's a Yankee, by gosh
Oh, say can you see
Anything about a Yankee that's a phoney?

I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy
A Yankee Doodle, do or die
A real live nephew of my uncle Sam's
Born on the Fourth of July
I've got a Yankee Doodle sweetheart
She's my Yankee Doodle joy
Yankee Doodle came to London
Just to ride the ponies
I am a Yankee Doodle boy

Father's name was Hezikiah
Mother's name was Ann Maria
Yanks through and through
Red, white and blue
Father was so Yankee hearted
When the Spanish War was started
He slipped upon his uniform
And hopped up on a pony
My mother's mother was a Yankee true
My father's father was a Yankee too
And that's going some
For the Yankees, by gum
Oh, say can you see
Anything about my pedigree that's phoney?

I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy
A Yankee Doodle, do or die
A real live nephew of my uncle Sam's
Born on the Fourth of July
I've got a Yankee Doodle sweetheart
She's my Yankee Doodle joy
Yankee Doodle came to London,
Just to ride the ponies
I am a Yankee Doodle boy



            My Country, 'tis of Thee  by Samuel Francis Smith 1932 
  

My country, 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of Liberty,
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrim's pride!
From ev'ry mountain side,
Let freedom ring!

My native country thee,
Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love.
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills;
My heart with rapture thrills,
Like that above.

Let music swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees,
Sweet freedoms song.
Let mortal tongues awake;
Let all that breathe partake;
Let rocks their silence break,
the sound prolong.

Our fathers' God, to Thee,
Author of Liberty,
To Thee we sing.
Long may our land be bright,
With freedom's holy light;
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God, our King!