My Country, 'Tis of Thee explained

"My Country, 'Tis of Thee", also known as simply "America", is an American patriotic song, the lyrics of which were written by Samuel Francis Smith.^[1] The song served as one of the de facto national anthems of the United States (along with songs like "Hail, Columbia") before the adoption of "The Star-Spangled Banner" as the official U.S. national anthem in 1931.^[2] The melody used is adopted from the national anthem of the United Kingdom, "God Save the King".

History

Samuel Francis Smith wrote the lyrics to "America" in 1831^[3] while a student at the Andover Theological Seminary in Andover, Massachusetts. The use of the same melody as the British royal anthem is a contrafactum which reworks this symbol of British monarchy to make a statement about American democracy.^[4]

Composer Lowell Mason had requested that Smith translate or provide new lyrics for a collection of German songs, among them one written to this melody. Smith gave Mason the lyrics he had written, and the song was first performed in public on July 4, 1831, at a children's Independence Day celebration at Park Street Church in Boston. The first publication of "America" was in 1832.

Lyrics

An abolitionist version was written, by A.G. Duncan, 1843, with lyrics mentioning white and black races.^[5] For Washington's Centennial celebration, another verse was added to the original version.^[6]

Notable performances

Marian Anderson performed the song at the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939. Anderson, an African American singer, had been forbidden to perform at the DAR Constitution Hall due to its whites-only policy. After a national outcry, and with support from Eleanor Roosevelt, the concert was held on the steps of the memorial, and attracted a crowd of more than 75,000 in addition to a national radio audience of millions.^[7]

Martin Luther King Jr. recited the first verse of the song toward the end of his famous "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963.^[8]

Crosby, Stills & Nash performed the song on the first episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno that aired after the September 11 attacks in 2001.^[9]

On January 20, 2009, Aretha Franklin sang the song at the first inauguration of Barack Obama.^[10] Kelly Clarkson sang it at his second inauguration.^[11]

See also

Other texts set to the same music:

• "E Ola Ke Aliʻi Ke Akua"
• "Heil dir im Siegerkranz"
• "Kongesangen"
• "Oben am jungen Rhein"
• "The Prayer of Russians"
• "Rufst du, mein Vaterland"

Organ variations by Charles Ives:

• Variations on "America"

Bibliography

• Book: Collins, Ace. Songs Sung, Red, White, and Blue: The Stories Behind America's Best-Loved Patriotic Songs . registration. HarperResource. 2003. 0060513047. none.
• Book: Music. David M.. Paul A.. Richardson. I Will Sing the Wondrous Story: A History of Baptist Hymnody in North America. Macon, Georgia. Mercer University Press. 2008. 978-0865549487. none.

External links

• Page about the song at the Library of Congress, with scans, etc.
• Public Domain version of the sheet music in multiple formats for viewing, printing, editing, etc. – (from the Choral Public Domain Library)
• Review of a book about the song from the Journal of American History
• CyberHymnal – contains history, lyrics, and infinitely-looping MIDI music.
• America (hymn). x. America. The American national hymn.

Notes and References

1. Web site: My Country, 'Tis of Thee. . The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. December 6, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141207203448/http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/art-music-and-film/resources/my-country-%E2%80%99tis-thee. December 7, 2014. dead.
2. Book: Snyder, Lois Leo . Louis Leo Snyder . Encyclopedia of Nationalism . Paragon House . 1990 . 13 . 1-55778-167-2 . registration .
3. Book: Garraty . John A. . Carnes . Mark C. . amp . American National Biography. 20. New York. Oxford University Press. 1999. 281.
4. Book: Fassler . Margot Elsbeth . Music in the Medieval West . 2014 . New York . 978-0-393-92915-7 . 5 . First . Examples of contrafacta abound in many times and cultures. My Country, 'Tis of Thee, for instance, is a contrafactum of an earlier English anthem, God Save the King, and the reworking makes a statement about American democracy..
5. Jarius Lincoln, [ed.] Antislavery Melodies: for The Friends of Freedom. Prepared for the Hingham Antislavery Society. Words by A. G. Duncan. (Hingham, [Mass.]: Elijah B. Gill, 1843), Hymn 17 6s & 4s (Tune – "America") pp. 28–29.
   Some of these verses can be heard in the recording of the Arizona State University Antislavery Ensemble. March 1, 2006 . "My Country 'Tis of Thee" . . May 17, 2019 . Arizona State University – Department of English. .
6. Book: Andrews , E. Benjamin . Elisha Andrews . History of the United States . Charles Scribner's Sons . 1912 . New York .
7. Web site: Jacqueline . Hansen . Marian Anderson, Voice of the Century . United States Postal Service . 2005 . August 5, 2007 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070929100152/http://www.usps.com/communications/community/_txt/mariankit.txt . September 29, 2007.
8. Book: Hansen, Drew D. . 2003. The Dream: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Speech that Inspired a Nation. New York. Harper Collins. 83.
9. News: Keveney . Bill . Audience identifies with low-key Leno . USA Today . 2001-09-19. 2009-07-03 .
10. News: 10 best inauguration performances of all time, including Lady Gaga, Bruce Springsteen, Beyoncé . . January 16, 2023 . January 19, 2021 . Patrick . Ryan . Gary . Dinges.
11. News: January 21, 2013 . Kelly Clarkson Sings 'My Country 'Tis of Thee' at Inauguration 2013 . Wall Street Journal . September 13, 2022.