“Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” (Matthew 25:40)
God Bless America debuted in 1938 when it was first sung by Kate Smith during her radio broadcast on Armistice Day. Many of us weren’t even born when Kate Smith sung God Bless America for the first time. But the lyrics are timeless and the song continues to unite our country even though we’re fighting a much different war than when those words were first sung.
It was Irving Berlin who wrote the lyrics and music to God Bless America in spite of the fact that he couldn’t read or write the first note of music. Without question, he will be remembered as one of America’s most prolific song writers with more than 1700 songs to his credit. In fact, it is Irving Berlin, and not the Beatles, who enjoys the distinction of having more songs on the top ten than anyone else in history.
Interestingly, Irving Berlin was a common man, who immigrated to America with his parents at the age of 5, and never lost his ability to connect with what the commoner in his adopted country was feeling. Cole Porter once said of Berlin, “The Berlin magic comes down to one thing; he was blessed with every man’s ear and heart.”
What you may not know is that Berlin didn’t write God Bless America in 1938. He wrote it in 1918 and for a Ziegfeld Follies production. However, he decided that the tone was too solemn for the production and the song was laid aside.
In the fall of 1938, as war was threatening Europe, this son of Russian immigrants decided to write a song about peace. He recalled the song he wrote twenty years earlier and made some changes to the lyrics to reflect the different state of the world. It was an immediate hit, but Berlin refused to keep the profits and gave every dollar he made from the song to the Boy and Girl Scouts of America.
His words have been a great source of comfort to us over the past week. We can’t quite understand all of what’s happened and are a little afraid of what the future may bring our way. But Irving Berlin’s words have reminded us all that our future is in God’s hand, where it belongs. Indeed, only God knows our tomorrows.
So on the eleventh anniversary of his death, why not take comfort in the immortal words of Irving Berlin about whom it was once written, “Surely no mortal man could have written Easter Parade or God Bless America.”
While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,
Let us swear allegiance to a land that’s free,
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer.
God Bless America, land that I love.
Stand beside her and guide her, thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies, to the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, my home sweet home.