I’m writing this on the 250th birthday of the United States of America. Later today I’ll be celebrating with friends and family and enjoying a white hot shipped in from New York. I imagine the song needs little introduction. Give it a sing-along listen, then come back and we can read fascinating info from Wikipedia about this song … and chat about beauty.
A well-known song
Here are some snips adapted from Wikipedia’s article on this song. I hope you’ll visit them and read some more.
“America the Beautiful” is an American patriotic song whose lyrics come from a poem written by Katharine Lee Bates. Its music was composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward. It is interesting that the two never met.
In 1893, at the age of 33, Bates, an English professor at Wellesley College, had taken a train trip to Colorado Springs, Colorado, to teach at Colorado College. Several of the sights on her trip inspired her, and they found their way into her poem, including the wheat fields of North America’s heartland Kansas, through which her train was riding and the majestic view of the Great Plains from high atop Pikes Peak. On the pinnacle of that mountain, the words of the poem started to come to her. The poem, originally titled “Pike’s Peak” was first published two years later in The Congregationalist to commemorate the Fourth of July. It quickly caught the public’s fancy.
By 1900 the poem had been set to at least 75 different melodies. The melody we know was composed in 1882. In 1892 it was published with Bate’s poem, and given the title “America the Beautiful”.
For more than 100 years now, efforts have been made to make this an official national hymn, or even replace “The Star-Spangled Banner” as a national anthem.
It has been performed by many famous people, Elvis Presley, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and many other artists. Ray Charles performed it at Super Bowl XXXV in 2001. It has been performed at the Indianapolis 500 pre-race ceremonies since 1991. It became the first song ever broadcast to Earth from space when the Apollo 10 astronauts played a recording of it in May 1969. The list goes on and on. Needless to say, it has resonated with many people for many years.
♪♫ Beautiful lyrics ♪♫
The lyrics paint many beautiful pictures.
The first verse gives us scenes of physical beauty found in America’s vast terrain.
Verse two shows us the beauty of the grit, integrity and determination in those who blazed trails and tamed wilderness with a view and vision to build a land of freedom based on a culture of self-control (exercising obedience to the Father above) and liberty that comes from living within the framework of just laws.
Verse three sees beauty in heroes who fought to subdue and defeat enemies of peace and justice that appeared in many forms. It notes the fights were not always fair, nor the causes always perfectly framed. It sees dross in the gold, but gold nevertheless, and prays for God’s refining.
Verse four lifts on high the beautiful dream of what could be — of God’s grace crowning His creation with peace and brotherhood.
High ideals, and, in this song’s view, worth embracing and continuing in the progress made so far.
Beauty in the eye of the beholder
I think one reason this song has been so loved is that it sees beauty everywhere. That is an art needed for joyful living. You might know Oscar the Grouch’s theme song, “Grouches of the world unite … stand up for your grouchly right … don’t let the sunshine spoil your rain … just stand up and complain!!” We laugh … or make major businesses out of bad news. That is an art, too. But this song takes no part of that.
I get the sense from the bio that the song’s writer probably had a troubled life. If so, this song is all the more remarkable. (“Just As I Am” is another song that is all the more remarkable when you know the writer’s story.)
The “optimist” is sometimes disparaged by critics as having no clue how bad things really are. Maybe the critics miss the point. The flip side is those same critics just might have no clue how beautiful things are. Measure the stress in the lives of the critic and the optimist and learn something.
Beauty lifts us. Why not find it, see it and say it? This song gets us off to a good start. Now, why not give thanks for the blessing many of us enjoy because we live in America, the beautiful.
God bless you LOTS!
–Dale R.
Download this songsheet from “The Music Box”
LYRICS – Glory To His Name
Text: Elisha A. Hoffman (1878)
Tune: John H. Stockton (1813-1877)
LYRICS – America, The Beautiful
Text: Katharine L. Bates – 1893 (1859-1929)
Tune: Samuel A. Ward (1848-1903)
1. O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
2. O beautiful for pilgrim feet,
Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine ev’ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law.
3. O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine,
Till all success be nobleness.
And ev’ry gain divine.
4. O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam,
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea.
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— Dale R.