“It was the song of an immigrant boy made good.”
Mary Ellin Berlin Barrett, daughter of Irving Berlin
The songwriter Irving Berlin, who would live to be 101 years old, first wrote the song “God Bless America” in 1918 while serving in the army at Camp Upton in Yaphank, New York. It was intended for a military review called “Yip Yip Yaphank.”
Later, in 1938, Berlin slightly revised the words and introduced the new lyrics, sung by Kate Smith on her CBS radio show. Kate was described as “200 pounds of wholesome country girl goodness.”
Kate had been a vaudeville singer who had entertained World War I troops at the age of 8 and went on to host her own radio show. The show was listened to by millions of fans all across the country. The song immediately touched the hearts of a people ill at ease over an impending war; the song became sort of a collective prayer. In 1940, both the Democratic and Republican parties adopted it as their theme song.
Since then the song has been sung in a multitude of venues by a wide array of singers, from Celine Dion to Martina McBride, Lil Wayne and Ray Charles.
Bill DeMain reported a conversation with Mary Ellin Berlin Barrett in which she said, “I came to understand that it wasn’t ‘God Bless America, land that we love.’ It was ‘God Bless America, land that I love.’ It was an incredibly personal statement that my father was making, that anybody singing that song makes as they sing it, and I understood that that song was his ‘thank you’ to the country that had taken him in.”
In September of 2001, 12 years after Irving Berlin’s death, on an historical day we all remember, 150 members of Congress, senators and representatives, Republicans and Democrats, came together on the steps of the Capitol where the spontaneous singing of “God Bless America” was heard across the country.
A leading newspaper, The Australian, reported, “They stood shaken and tearful on the steps of the Capitol, their love of nation and all that it symbolizes plain for the world to see.” (Office of the United States historian: [email protected])
The lyrics of “God Bless America” as written by Irvin Berlin, the immigrant boy:
“While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,
Let us swear allegiance to the 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.
Email reaches Shannon Bardwell of Columbus at [email protected].
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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