Lyrics written 1893 by Katherine Lee Bates after climbing Pike's Peak on her trip to visit the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago; set in 1910 to the music of "Materna" composed 1882 by Samuel A. Ward, recorded by Ray Charles 1972, by Elvis Presley 1975.
song history by Lynn Sherr
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!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassion'd 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.
O beautiful for heroes prov'd
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.
[original lines:God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!]
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabster 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.
Links:
Star-Spangled Banner written by Francis Scott Key Sept. 13, 1814, but not recognized by Congress as the official national anthem until 1931.
