America the Beautiful Lyrics & History
Who wrote America the Beautiful?
America the Beautiful lyrics were written by Katherine Lee Bates in 1893. She was lecturing in Colorado and visited Pike's Peak while she was there. When she reached the top of the majestic peak in the Rocky Mountains, she was moved to write the poem America the Beautiful, which was eventually set to music, but not to the tune that we now sing it to.
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The first tune was written by Silas G. Pratt, according to this quote by Katharine Lee Bates...
"It was then and there, as I was looking out over the sea-like expanse of fertile country spreading away so far under those ample skies, that the opening lines of the hymn floated into my mind. When we left Colorado Springs the four stanzas were penciled in my notebook, together with other memoranda, in verse and prose, of the trip. The Wellesley work soon absorbed time and attention again, the notebook was laid aside, and I do not remember paying heed to these verses until the second summer following, when I copied them out and sent them to The Congregationalist, where they first appeared in print July 4, 1895. The hymn attracted an unexpected amount of attention. It was almost at once set to music by Silas G. Pratt. Other tunes were written for the words and so many requests came to me, with still increasing frequency, that in 1904 I rewrote it, trying to make the phraseology more simple and direct."
The music for the America the Beautiful song we sing today was written by Samuel A. Ward. It was actually written as "Materna", or "O Mother Dear Jerusalem" in 1888, before the poem was written. It eventually became the tune that everyone now recognizes as America the Beautiful.
This song inspires me, and I think it will inspire you too!
Sources: www.harvardsquarelibrary.org; www.songwritershalloffame.org; Wee Sing America by Susan Hagen Nipp
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America the Beautiful Lyrics
Lyrics by Katharine Lee Bates
O beautiful for spacious skies
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
Chorus
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!
Chorus
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!
Chorus
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 cites gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
Chorus
America! America!
God sheds His grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
In looking at these photos of the Rocky Mountains, I can understand how Katharine Lee Bates would be inspired to write the moving America the Beautiful lyrics. Visiting Colorado was a regular event in my life while I was growing up, as we lived nearby in Kansas. I have visited these mountains too many times to count, but the beauty of the Rockies never fails to take my breath away!
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Here is a beautiful rendition of America the Beautiful song, sung by the great Ray Charles...
You can download America the Beautiful and other patriotic songs on iTunes. Here are a few albums that I found that you have a ton of great songs about America!
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