"GOD BLESS AMERICA (SONG)"

[DIGGER]

 

The link below will take you to a video showing the very first singing of " GOD BLESS AMERICA ".



But before you watch, you should also know the story of the song.

                 

The time was 1940. America was still in a terrible economic depression. Hitler was taking over Europe and  Americans were afraid we'd have to go to war.
It was a time of hardship and worry for most Americans. This was the era just before TV, when radio shows wereHUGE, and American families sat around their radios in the evenings,

listening to their favorite entertainers, and no entertainer of that era was bigger than Kate Smith Kate was also large in size, and the popular phrase still used  today is in deference to her, "Ain't over till the fat lady
sings". Kate Smith might not have made it big in the age of TV, but with her voice coming over the radio, she was the biggest star of her time. Kate was also very patriotic. It hurt her to see Americans so
depressed and afraid of what the next day would bring. She had  hope for America , and faith in her fellow Americans. Shemwanted to do something to cheer them up, so she went to the  famous American song-writer, Irving Berlin (also wrote "White  Christmas") and asked him to write a song that would make  Americans feel good again about their country.
                 
When she described what  she was looking for, he said he had just  the song for her. He went to his files and found a song that  he had written, but never published, 22 years before - way
back in 1917. He gave it to Kate Smith and she worked  with her studio orchestra. She and Irving Berlin were not sure how the song would be received by the public, but both  they would not take any profits from God Bless America . Any profits would go to the Boy Scouts of America. Over the years, the Boy Scouts have received millions of dollars in royalties from this song. 
This video starts out with Kate Smith coming into the radio studio with the orchestra and an audience. She introduces the new song for the very first time, and starts singing. After the first couple verses, with her voice in the background still singing, scenes are shown from the 1940 movie, "You're In The Army Now." At the 4:20 mark of the video you see a young actor in the movie, sitting in an office, reading a paper; it's Ronald Reagan . (And the other guy is actor George Murphy who later became US Senator (R)-CA) Frank Sinatra considered Kate Smith the best singer of her time, and said when he and a million other guys first heard her sing "God Bless America " on  the radio, they all pretended to have dust in their eyes as they wiped away a tear or two.                 
To this day, God Bless America stirs our patriotic feelings and pride in our country. Back in 1940, when Kate Smith went looking for a song to raise the spirits of her fellow Americans, I doubt she realized just how successful the
results would be for her fellow Americans during those years
of hardship and worry, and for many generations of Americans to follow. Now that you know the story of the song, I hope you  will enjoy it and treasure it even more. 
NOW HERE IS HOW " GOD BLESS AMERICA " SHOULD BE SUNG!
                 
               
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?feature=player_embedded&v=TnQDW-NMaRs#!

[solo1]

Thanks Digger.  Kate Smith was the best. I remember hearing her sing God Bless America on our GE radio way back in the early forties and throughout WWII.

  The song should be a reminder to all of us today of how far we've come the wrong way and what we should get back to.

Wayne