America (My Country 'Tis Of Thee) (July 4th)
Words by Baptist minister Samuel Francis Smith set to Britain's "God Save The Queen." First performed July 4, 1831 at Boston's Park Street Church. One of a handful of "unofficial" American National Anthems.
America The Beautiful (July 4th)
Words by Wellesley College English professor Katharine Lee Bates, originally entitled "Pike's Peak" in response to an inspiring trip West by the author. Officially set to Samuel A. Ward's melody in 1910 as "America The Beautiful," yet another magnificent "unofficial" American National Anthem.
Dixie (July 4th)
Written & published in 1859 by Northern vaudevillian Dan Emmett, "Dixie" became the rallying cry of the South, the unofficial Confederate Anthem. The origin of the word "Dixie" is attributed either as a reference to all those states below the Mason-Dixon line (dividing Maryland & Pennsylvania)...or to the Southern monetary currency known as a "Dix"(10). The former seems more likely.
God Of Our Fathers (July 4th)
Written in 1876 by Daniel C. Roberts, a Civil War vet and Episcopal priest from Vermont, to commemorate the centennial of the Declaration of Independence.
In The Good Old Summertime (July 4th)
Music by George Evans, words by Ren Shields, an immediate Tin Pan Alley classic introduced in 1902 by musical stage star Blanche Ring.
On The Banks Of The Wabash (July 4th)
Written in 1897 by Indiana native Paul Dresser, brother to novelist Theodore Dreiser. A Tin Pan Alley classic and one of the most recorded songs in the early days of recording. The chorus is an incomparable American pastorale, a romantic reminder of what was a predominantly rural America. For good reason, the official state song of Indiana.
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