"America the Beautiful" is an American patriotic song. The lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates, and the music was composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward at Grace Episcopal Church in Newark, New Jersey about 1910.
1911 Version
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!
Jon Bon Jovi singing America The Beautiful at FDNY Engine 8/Ladder 2/Battalion 8 (September 7, 2011).
In the wake of 9-11, the mood in the country was dark. Ray's performance at the World Series that year was a spiritual shot in the arm for America at a time when we really needed it. It was indeed a moment worth remembering.
The United States Navy Band Concert Band and Sea Chanters perform "America, the Beautiful" by Samuel Ward, arr. by Carmen Dragon at the U.S. Navy Band Birthday Concert in Oct. 2011. Lyrics written by Katherine Lee Bates.
