Happy Independence Day to All My Readers!

Nicholas Stix
Last revised at 2 a.m., on Tuesday, July 5, 2011.

John Philip Sousa’s (1854-1932) “Stars and Stripes Forever,” with Leonard Bernstein Conducting the New York Philharmonic
 

 
Thanks to ShartanX.


Bicentennial, or: Build Me a Nation
By Nicholas Stix (1992)

On a night of celebration,
We musicians watched,
While Lenny B. made love
To his public

In the Central Park band shell,
A descendant of slaves,
Sang out a fanfare
For an emancipator,

And we played star-spangled
Encore after encore,
Openly adoring
The Preening One.

On the way home,
Even midtown whores
Had innocence
To spare.

For a day,
We commoners and gentry,
All were rich,
All in love.

Originally published in A Different Drummer magazine, 1993.


The Star-Spangled Banner
Sung by the Service Academy Choirs and
Accompanied by the US Army Herald Trumpet Corps
 

 
Thanks to Lunatic77.



God Bless America
As sung by 79-year-old Irving Berlin on
The Ed Sullivan Show, May 5, 1968.
 

 
Thanks to TheEdSullivanShow.


God Bless America
Words & Music by Irving Berlin
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,
My home sweet home.



Grand Old Flag
Sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
 

 

I could do without that organ, but there’s just no beating the Mormon Tabernacle Choir!

Words & Music by George M. Cohan

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.

Thanks to PatrioticMusic and Scout Songs.


Jimmy Cagney Version from Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
 

 
Thanks to davidhertzberg for the lyrics and background information.


There's a feeling comes a-stealing,
And it sets my brain a-reeling,
When I listen to the music of a military band.
Every tune like "Yankee Doodle"
Simply sets me off my noodle,
It's that patriotic something that no one can understand.
---------------
"Way down south, in the land of cotton,"
Melody untiring,
It's so inspiring.
---------------
Hurrah! Hurrah! We'll join the jubilee!
And that's going some, for the Yankees, by gum!
Red, white and blue, I am for you!
Honest, you're a 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
Under Red, White and Blue,
Where there's never a boast or brag.
---------------
But should auld acquaintance be forgot,
Keep your eye on the grand old flag.
-------------------
Rally 'round the flag,
Let us rally 'round the flag.....

We took the Red from the flame of dawn, the dawn of a new nation.

And the White was the white of the snow at Valley Forge.

The Blue was the blue of the free open sky.

And the stars were the thirteen sisters by the sea who built their home, and called it Liberty.

To symbolize our spirit --

Right!

The spirit of freedom --

Right again!

The spirit that gave birth
To American democracy

That's the spirit!

My country tis of thee,
Sweet land of Liberty,
Of thee we sing...


---------------
Background:
-----------------
You're a Grand Old Flag" was written by George M. Cohan for his 1906 stage musical George Washington, Jr. The song was introduced to the public in the play's first act on opening night, February 6, 1906, in New York's Herald Square Theater. It was the first song from a musical to sell over a million copies of sheet music. This rendition is sung by James Cagney in Cohan's 1942 film biography, Yankee Doodle Dandy. (More information below the lyrics.)

See the original sheet music (from 1906) here:

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.100010512/enlarge.html?page...
The original lyric for this perennial George M. Cohan favorite came, as Cohan later explained, from an encounter he had with a Civil War veteran who fought at Gettysburg. The two men found themselves next to each other and Cohan noticed the vet held a carefully folded but ragged old flag. The man reportedly then turned to Cohan and said, "She's a grand old rag." Cohan thought it was a great line and originally named his tune "You're a Grand Old Rag." So many groups and individuals objected to calling the flag a "rag," however, that he "gave 'em what they wanted" and switched words, renaming the song "You're a Grand Old Flag."

It was in George Washington, Jr. that Cohan worked out a routine with this song that he would repeat in many subsequent shows. He took an American flag, started singing the patriotic song, and marched back and forth across the stage. Music such as Cohan's "You're a Grand Old Flag" helped create a shared popular cultural identity as such songs spread beyond the stage, through sheet music and records, to the homes and street corners of America. (Source, Library of Congress, http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.200000026/default.html)



God Bless the U.S.A.: Written and Sung by Lee Greenwood
 

 

God Bless the U.S.A.
Words & Music 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 livin’ 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 USA.

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.,
Well 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 USA.

And I'm proud to be and 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 USA.


Thanks to Fuzzy700.



Semper Fidelis
By John Philip Sousa
 

 
Thanks to mastergunnyUSMC.



This Land is Your Land
Words & Music by Woody Guthrie
 

 

This Land is your Land
Words & Music by Woody Guthrie
This land is your land and 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 went a walkin' that ribbon of highway,
An' I saw above me that endless skyway,
I saw below me, that golden valley,
This land was made for you and me.

I roamed and rambled and I follered my footsteps,
To the sparklin' sands of her diamond deserts,
All around me, a voice was a-sounding,
This land was made for you and me.

There was a big high wall there that tried to stop me,
Sign was painted said, "Private Property,"
But on the back side it didn't say nothing,
This land was made for you and me.

When the sun comes shining, then I was strolling,
And the wheat fields waving, and the dust clouds rolling,
The voice was chanting as the fog was lifting,
This land was made for you and me.

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

Thanks to solutioncow.



George M. Cohan Medley
 

 
Thanks to tom5713.



Johnny Cash: That Ragged Old Flag
 

 

That Ragged Old Flag
By Johnny Cash

I walked through a county courthouse square,
On a park bench, an old man was sittin’ there,
I said, "Your courthouse is kinda run down,
He said, "No, it will do for our little town,"
I said, "Your old flag pole kinda leaned a little bit,
And that’s a ragged old flag you got hanging on it."

He said "have a seat," so I sat down,
He said, "Is this your first visit to our little town?"
I said, "I think it is,"
He said "I don’t like to brag,
But we’re kinda proud of
"That ragged old flag."

"You see, we got a little hole in that flag there,
When Washington took it across the Delaware,
It got powder burned the night Francis Scott Key sat watching it,
Writing "Oh Say Can You See,"
It got a rip in New Orleans, with Packingham & Jackson
Tugging at its seams.

It almost fell at the Alamo beside the Texas flag,
But she waved on tho,
It got cut with a sword in Chancellorsville,
Got cut again at Shiloh Hill,
There was Robert E. Lee and Beauregard and Bragg,
And the south wind blew hard on
"That ragged old flag."

On Flanders Field in World War I,
She took a bad hit from a Bertha Gun,
She turned blood red in World War II,
She hung limp and low by the time
That one was through,
She was in Korea, Vietnam,
She went where she was sent
By her Uncle Sam.

The Native Americans, the black, yellow, and white,
All shed red blood for the Stars and Stripes,
And here in her own good land,
She’s been abused, burned, dishonored, denied and refused,
And the very government for which she stands,
Has been scandalized throughout the land,
And she’s getting threadbare,
And she’s wearing kinda thin,
But she’s in pretty good shape,
For the shape she’s in,
‘Cause she’s been through the fire before,
And she can take a whole lot more.

So we raise her up every morning,
And we bring her down slow every night,
We don’t let her touch the ground,
And we fold her up right.

On second thought,
I do like to brag,
‘Cause I’m mighty proud of
"That ragged old flag."


Thanks to Hippekuln and Junto Society.



Pledge of Allegiance

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.