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A portion of each sale will be donated to The Red Cross
to help the families and victims of the September 11th attack
on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
America
(My Country, 'tis of
Thee)
by Rev. Samuel F. Smith (1808-1895)
Sweet Land of Liberty
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims' pride,
From every mountain side
Let Freedom ring.
My native country, thee,
Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills,
My heart with rapture thrills
Like that above.
Let music swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees
Sweet Freedom's song;
Let mortal tongues awake;
Let all that breathe partake;
Let rocks their silence break,
The sound prolong.
Our fathers' God to Thee,
Author of Liberty,
To Thee we sing,
Long may our land be bright
With Freedom's holy light,
Protect us by Thy might
Great God, our King.
The tune itself was controversial. It was considered to be "un-American" in later years, even though the tune had actually appeared in America before 1776. It was used for a number of patriotic songs, including God Save the President, and God Save George Washington. In 1798, it appeared again as an Ode to the Fourth of July, with the words, "Come All ye Sons of Song. "
The author removed one of the original verses dealing with tyrants and ending with "No more our blood be shed... By alien hands."
Insights...
Grasping the inner nature of things intuitively.
