Music Tuesday: America the Beautiful

I love this song.  A tear seems to always well up in my eye whenever I hear that first stanza.  It’s the perfect song for the Fourth of July.  There is something endearing about the lyrics as it calls up our nation’s natural beauty and attributes it to God.  The other stanzas are wonderful too as they recall various archetype American primogenitors.  The song was formed from an 1893 poem, “Pike’sPeak,” by Katherine Lee bates and after some slight evolution finally settled into these song lyrics.

 

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, impassioned stress

A thoroughfare for freedom beat

Across the wilderness!

America! America!

God mend thine every flaw,

Confirm thy soul in self-control,

Thy liberty in law!

 

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 every gain divine!

 

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!

 

What is especially moving for me is the appeal to God for perfection and brotherhood.  If you take God out of the nation’s identity as we have done in say the last couple of decades (but started earlier, of course), you can see the problemed nation we have become.  Perhaps I shouldn’t be such a downer on the Fourth of July but it is true: this nation is unrecognizable today.  But with faith, we can still turn this around. 

There have been some beautiful renditions.  Let me embed a few I really like.  Now artists have juggled the order of the stanzas, perhaps for particular emphasis.  Also, each artist arranges the song in a particular style.  I’ll post a few different arrangements.

The most iconic—can you use the word “iconic” for a song?—is the Ray Charles rendition.  Charles gives a soulful arrangement, and interestingly sings stanzas three first and ends with stanza one.

 

Why stanza three first?  I think it emphasizes the “liberation” theme, and he is able then to end with the beautiful first stanza.

Elvis Presley sings it in a ballad arrangement and only sings the first stanza, but repeats it in a speaking tone. 

 

What does the speaking tone add?  I think it gives it a preacher’s sermon’s tone that emphasizes the link to God.  And Elvis has such a rich speaking voice.

Country singer Alan Jackson sings it with a traditional western country arrangement.  He starts with the traditional first stanza and sings the fourth stanza, emphasizing the “patriot” verse. 

 

That western twang in his voice makes it so American.

Marilyn Horne sings it as only an opera singer can sing it, with a full orchestra and backing chorus.  She only sings the first stanza but like Elvis above repeats it but lets the full chorus carry the energy of the song. 

 

It’s heartwarming as she pride fully sings it in what seems an international context and overlooking New York Harbor. The orchestral cadenza is punctuated with fireworks recalling Independence Day.

Another opera singer, Denyce Graves, sings it in a string quartet plus guitar (is that a quintet or a guitar quartet?) and sings three verses, One, three, and four.

 

The accentuating guitar tints it with a folk sound color while still keeping it solidly classical.

Also in a classical orchestral arrangement, but minus the chorus and less operatic, is Jackie Evancho’s version.  She too sings the first and fourth stanzas, emphasizing the theme of American “brotherhood.”

 

Her sublime voice just makes the song float in divine grace.

I have not embedded any versions with the second stanza, which seems to be in less favor.  Is it because the march of freedom across the wilderness suggests a less-than-embraced today manifest destiny?  Or is the theme of “self control” and “liberty law” just not as lyrically interesting?  I didn’t post it because of length but the opera singer Leontyne Price has a beautiful version with that second stanza.

My favorite, though all beautiful, is the Evancho rendition, a simple and beautiful voice underscoring the “O beautiful” of each opening stanza.  And I do like the first and fourth stanzas best if I were limited to two.  Which do you like best?  Any other favorites?

Happy Fourth of July!