How "God Bless America Should be Sung"....
 

FOR YOU YOUNG FOLKS, IT IS EDUCATIONAL, AND FOR US OLD GEEZERS, IT IS---WELL--YOU WILL UNDERSTAND!
The link below will take you to a video showing the very first public singing of "GOD BLESS AMERICA".
But before you watch, you should also know the story of the song.

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 was also large in size and the popular phrase still used today is in deference to her, "Ain't over till the fat lady sings". 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 very 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 Kate Smith 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. After the first couple verses, with her voice in the background still singing, scenes are shown from the 1940 movie, "You're In The Army Now." At the 4:20 mark of the video you see a young actor in the movie, sitting in an office, reading a paper; it's Ronald Reagan.

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

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 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
will enjoy it and treasure it even more.
NOW HERE IS HOW GOD BLESS AMERICA SHOULD BE SUNG!
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?f...v=TnQDW-NMaRs#!

wow beutiful

Awesome, I remember my mom singing along to Kate Smith many years ago. Thanks for sharing the link to this beautiful song. :)

Thanks for the memory. It brought tears to my eyes. She had a beautiful, clear voice.

What a great link. Thank you for posting.

I loved her voice. Thanks for sharing.

yep, i remember Kate Smith!! good t.v.

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the history lesson on our 2nd National Anthem

I had the pleasure of working with Kate Smith on a tv salute to Irving Berlin and heard her sing it along with dozens of Boy & Girl Scouts. The clip is sometimes shown on tv. It was a thrill. Another answer to how it should be sung -- often!

Haven't heard Kate Smith in a very long time. I used to love to hear her belt out "God Bless America". What a very strong voice! It still brings tears to my eyes.

Thank you for sharing.

It brought Tears and chills, I remember singing it in school. Haven't heard it in a long time and Kate Smith does it great.
Thanks for posting it..everybody needs to hear it around America, today.

Fhanks for sharing this song with us. I was at two different 1 baseball and 1 football game where supposedly two top singers were going to perform the song at the beginning of the games and neither could remember the correct words and the fans had to finish the song. All of us should be thankful to live in a free country and grace her with such a beautiful rendition of this song. What a tribute by Kate Smith.

Thanks for sharing. We used to watch her on early TV

My family watched her on tv, way back when. She had a great since of humor, too.

I am sure a lot of you do not remember Kate Smith. she was a great person. I lived in the age of round TV screens and Dick Clark but she was still around and my family spoke of her and her singing.

WOW, now that is how that sung should always be sung !!! She had one awesome voice. As a Canadian & a good neighbour to you folks in the U.S., that song gives me shivers when I hear it. The world was lucky to have that voice & that truly wonderful lady in our lifetime.

Thank you for sharing! I have never heard her sing and was smiling while she sang. I agree that this and other songs should be shared more often and taught to our children. Sadly, many schools have almost phased out music programs, so it is up to teachers to install these wonderful American songs to our children.

Kate Smith sings it the best

I think different generations find different styles to be patriotic. Many folks would prefer Lee Greenwood's "Proud to be an American". They're not less patriotic, just not a Kate Smith fan.

God Bless America! Tears, pride, love of country and I wonder why we never hear it anymore. What a shame for the younger people. I can't get through singing God Bless America, Battle Hymn of the Republic or OUR National Anthem without bawling. And proud to do same. Edie

Our children don't have the ability to feel what we feel when we hear this song. This song with the word "God" in it, is not permitted to be sung in schools. The ACLU would be screaming at the court house doors.

Thank You. I had forgotten how beautiful she sings this.

Thanks for the memories love to hear the song sung perfectly.

God Bless America is not a song that the average person with the average voice can sing. Kate Smith's voice is beautiful. One of the reasons they have professional singers at games to lead the singing is that it is so hard to sing. Proud To Be An American is a much easier song to sing because it does not hit the high notes. Please do not equate not having a professional singing voice with being un American. And a song like Proud To Be An American is Inclussive, not Exclussive.

Thanks for the memories. I have to say that my reaction years ago was not quite as awe-inspiring as it is today. Amazing the difference a few (?) years can make. I am going to forward the site to many friends, Thanks again.

I so agree with you. She sings it so great.

Thank you for sharing this plus the story. That was the song that carried us through the next hard years. I was in high school and we sang it in the glee club after it was introduced by Kate Smith. And we sang it on the day after Pearl Harbor as we gathered to hear the Declaration of War and FDR give his Day of Infamy speech.

Thank you.

*Thanks so much for shaaring this! :)

Wonderful. Thanks so much for sharing.

So right...we all need to sing it more often....

Thanks for posting that. It was wonderful.

Thank you for sharing this. I sure wish it stirred the feelings in today's young people that it did then. It seems that patriotism is a thing of the past and we live in a "gimme" society.

And when we sang it, back then, we sang it as it was written. Nowadays, if you do occasionally hear it, it is hard to tell if it is the same song as, evidently, nobody can read music any more, or they think that their wandering note rendition is a better replacement. NOT!

Thank you that was BEAUTIFUL!

Thank You for this brought back alot of memories.My Mom loved her voice.

This brought a lump to my throat. Thanks for the history lesson and the music itself. With the way the country is going right now, we should probably play this every day for inspiration even though there may be some who would not like it.

Sadly, I would have to agree with this.