Original "God Bless America"

[CG6468]

Do you remember Kate Smith?

Frank Sinatra considered Kate Smith the best singer of her time, and said that 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.

Here are the facts...

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 were HUGE, 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 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 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. She wanted to do something to cheer them up, so she went to the famous American song-writer, Irving Berlin (who 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 her and she worked on it with her studio orchestra.  She and Irving Berlin were not sure how the song would be received by the public, but both agreed 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.

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 whether 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'll enjoy it and treasure it even more.

Many people don't know there's a lead in to the song since it usually starts with "God Bless America....." So here's the entire song as originally sung.

((From a different forum. Cannot find the link posted.))

"This is the original FIRST broadcast radio performance of God Bless America by Irving Berlin as introduced by Kate Smith on November 10, 1938."

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1rKQReqJZg [/youtube]

[J P Sousa]

She always sang at the Flyers games;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRMtXUgVp0c
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRMtXUgVp0c[/youtube]


They have not won a Stanley cup since she died.   

[Chris_]

Did you see the guy that sang in Boston this year?  That guy really got into it.  Yowza.

[thundley4]

I can remember taking a tour through one of the cavern systems in Missouri back in the 70's and at one part they projected a huge American flag on one wall and played a recording of her singing "God Bless America" .  After all these years, that is all I can remember of that tour.