Let’s Celebrate… It was on this date, March 21, 1939, that the song “God Bless America”, written by Irving Berlin back in 1918 as a tribute by a successful immigrant to his adopted country, was recorded for sale as a recording by Kate Smith for Victor Records. Irving Berlin wrote the song in 1918 (during World War I) while serving the U.S. Army at Camp Upton in Yaphank, New York. It was supposed to be part of an ‘entertainment for the troops’ revue, but Berlin felt that it didn’t fit the theme of the show, so he set it aside. Smith had first introduced the song to the public in a live format on her Thursday, November 10, 1938 radio show (aired live the day before Armistice Day). “God Bless America” was a fitting tribute to its composer, who gave all royalties from the very popular and emotional song to the Boy Scouts. In 1938, with the rise of Adolf Hitler, Berlin, who was Jewish and a first-generation European immigrant, 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 on her radio show. The revision included an introduction that is now rarely heard but which Smith always used: While the storm clouds gather far across the sea / Let us swear allegiance to a land thats free / Let us all be grateful for a land so fair, / As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer. (In her first broadcast of the song, Kate Smith sang that were far from there rather than for a land so fair.) This was changed when Berlin published the sheet music in March 1939. The song became Kate Smith’s second signature after When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain; and the second national anthem of the United States of America. On several occasions, it has even been suggested that the U.S. Congress enact a bill changing the national anthem to God Bless America. I don’t see that happening in today’s USA – especially with the word “God” in the title. To hear the ORIGINAL recording, click the YouTube link: https://youtube/watch?v=b1rKQReqJZg
Posted on: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 11:23:44 +0000