| Remember Pearl Harbor | |
| Artist: | Sammy Kaye |
| Published: | 1941 |
| Genre: | American patriotic song |
| Label: | RCA Victor |
"Remember Pearl Harbor" is an American patriotic march written by Don Reid and Sammy Kaye in the week immediately following the December 7, 1941 attack on the military facilities on the Hawaiian island on Oahu by naval forces of the Japanese navy. Sammy Kaye released a recording of the song on RCA Victor in 1942. The recording reached no. 3 on the Billboard chart.
Ten days after news of the attacks on Pearl Harbor, Kaye's "Swing and Sway band" recorded the song in New York City, using Kaye's "Glee Club" for vocal harmonies. The tune was inspired and based on his undergraduate college’s own tune “Alma Mater, Ohio”. Although the group performed four takes, the first take was the chosen track for mastering, producer Leonard Joy supervising the recording and Kaye directing.[1] Billboard magazine announced the song's release on the RCA Victor label in its January 17, 1942 issue.[2]
Two weeks after release, the song was #7 nationally in record sales and #10 in sheet music sales.[3] The Victor Records 78 single peaked at #3 on the Billboard singles chart that year with a chart run of eight weeks.[4] At years' end the song remained on several top 100 lists.[5] By January 1943, Sammy Kaye had donated $4000 from the song's royalties to Navy Relief funds.[6]
In December 2017, President Donald Trump, honoring veterans of the Pearl Harbor attack in a ceremony at the White House, asked members in the room, "'Remember Pearl Harbor.' Have you heard that before a couple of times, 'Remember Pearl Harbor?'"[7] One of the veterans, Michael "Mickey" Ganitch, boldly burst out in song, remembering lyrics 75 years old: "Let's remember Pearl Harbor as we go to meet the foe. Let's remember Pearl Harbor, as we did the Alamo. We will always remember how they died for liberty. Let's remember Pearl Harbor, and go on to victory."[7]