"God Bless America"
It's a song that every American knows the chorus of. It's song during the 7th inning at every Yankee game & Sunday baseball game in the US. It's that timeless "American Hymn" that even toddlers can remember the words to. "God Bless America" is America's unofficial national anthem But do you know the background to it?
Written by Irving Berlin in 1918 while serving in the US Army at Camp Upton in Yaphank, New York. Berlin wrote "God Bless America" for Yip Yip Yaphank a revue put on by the men at Camp Upton. Berlin never used it during the revue, feeling that it did not fit the act. In 1938 with the World at war again, Berlin brought the song back as a peace song.
In 1938 with some of the lines changed and words switched out. Berlin asked Kate Smith to sing it on her show. On Armistice Day 1938 Kate Smith sang with a full band. Almost over night "God Bless American" became a hit all through out the US. There were even some who pushed for it to be made into the National anthem, though it was enough of an opposition, that it was never passed.
"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
Thru 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.
