"America the Beautiful" is a patriotic American song. Its lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates and its music was composed by Samuel A. Ward, church organist and choirmaster at Grace Episcopal Church in Newark, New Jersey. The two never met.
Bates wrote the words as a poem in 1893, after an expedition to the top of "Pikes Peak" the highest summit of the southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains.
Somehow 2 years passed, before she send it to a magazine. It was first published on page 17 in the Fourth of July 1895 edition of the church periodical, The Congregationalist. It was at that time that the poem was first entitled "America".
The poem reached a wider audience when her revised version was printed in the Boston Evening Transcript on November 19, 1904. Her final expanded version was written in 1911, which appeared in her collection America the Beautiful, and Other Poems.
For several years "America the Beautiful" was sung to almost any popular air or folk tune, which had the same (common) metre: "Auld Lang Syne" was one of the most common. Today it is sung to a melody written in 1882 by Samuel Augustus Ward, a Newark, New Jersey, church organist and choirmaster. Ward originally composed the melody to accompany the words of the sixteenth century hymn "O Mother Dear, Jerusalem".
An employee of Ward’s music store said that in 1882, while Ward was crossing New York Harbor after a day’s outing at Coney Island, the composer jotted the melody down on his cuff and it was later sung at Grace Episcopal Church. However, Ward’s son-in-law, Henry W. Armstrong, stated that the tune was composed in memory of Ward’s oldest daughter, Clara, who died in 1885. In any event, the tune was first published in a periodical, The Parish Choir, vol. VIII, no. 378 (July 12, 1888), p. 1510.
At the time the tune was titled "Hymn Tune 27".
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"O Mother Dear Jerusalem" / "Hymn Tune 27" in The Parish Choir (1888)
When it first appeared in a hymnal (The Church Hymnal, edited by Charles Hutchins (Boston, 1894), the tune was retitled "Materna".
"O Mother Dear Jerusalem" / "Materna" in The Church Hymnal (1894)
By some accounts, the felicitous pairing of Bates’ text with Ward’s tune "Materna" happened as early as 1910, but the first such pairing in a hymnal seems to have been in Hymns for Schools and Colleges (Boston: Ginn & Co., 1913)
"America The Beautiful" / "Materna" in Hymns for Schools and Colleges (1913).
Here below the first recorded version of the most familiar tune of "America The Beautiful", in combination with the "O Mother Dear Jerusalem" words.
(c) Peerless Quartet (1911) (as "O Mother Dear Jerusalem")
Recorded around May 1911 in New York
Released on Zonophone 5738
Looking for a soundfile of this one !!
(c) Henry Burr aand Frank Croxton (1912) (as "O Mother Dear Jerusalem")
Recorded October 25, 1912 in New York.
Released on Columbia A 1254
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Listen here:
An instrumental version of the number using the title "America The Beautiful" was recorded by the Victor Band in 1919.
(c) Victor Military Band (1919) (as "America The Beautiful")
Recorded October 2, 1919 in Camden, New Jersey
Released on Victor 18627
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Listen here:
The first vocal recording with the now more familiar title was made by the Wellesley College Glee Club in 1914, though this was performed to an alternative tune, composed by Clarence Grant Hamilton in 1906.
(c) Wellesley College Glee Club (1914) (as "America The Beautiful")
with music by Clarence Grant Hamilton
Recorded on September 25, 1914 in New York
Released on Columbia A 1659
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And here's the first vocal recording of "America The Beautiful" with the familiar tune and lyrics
(c) Shannon Quartet (1924) (as "America The Beautiful")
Recorded November 23, 1923 in Camden, New Jersey
Released on Victor 19242
Listen here: cusb_victor_19242_01_b28678_11d.mp3
Or here:
Louise Homer's 1924 recording was a Top 10 Hit in the US charts in 1925.
(c) Louise Homer (1924) (as "America The Beautiful")
Recorded September 29, 1924 in Camden, New Jersey
Released on Victor 1074
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Listen here: cusb_victor_1074_01_b30016_08d.mp3
In 1945 Frank Sinatra recorded a version, which was on the B-side of his US hit "The House I Live In".
(c) Frank Sinatra (1945) (as "America The Beautiful")
Recorded August 27, 1945 in Hollywood, CA
Released on Columbia 36886
Listen here: America the Beautiful - Frank Sinatra.mp3
Or here:
In 1976, while the United States celebrated its bicentennial, a soulful version popularized by Ray Charles peaked at number 98 on the US R&B chart. His version was traditionally played on New Year's Eve in Times Square following the ball drop.
Ray Charles already had recorded this particular version in 1972 in Los Angeles.
(c) Ray Charles (1972) (as "America The Beautiful")
Recorded in 1972 in the RPM studios in Los Angeles, CA
Released on the album "A Message From The People"
In 1976 the same recording was re-released as a 45 rpm single on Ray Charles' own record label, celebrating the bicentennial of the USA.
Listen here:
The first single after the death of Elvis Presley was a live-version of "America The Beautiful" as the B-side of "My Way", which eventually sold over one million copies.
(c) Elvis Presley (1977) (as "America The Beautiful")
Recorded December 13, 1975 at the Las Vegas Hilton
Released in 1977 on RCA PB 11165
Listen here:
(c) Keb' Mo' (2001) (as "America The Beautiful")
Released on his album Big Wide Grin.
Listen here:
Gregory Porter performed "America The Beautiful" in his home as part of the live broadcast send-off to NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover
Also released digitally on Decca 06 0243 50328 7 0
Watch it here:
Jennifer Lopez performed "America The Beautiful" at President Joe Biden's inauguration on January 20, 2021 as the second half of a medley with "This Land Is Your Land" by Woody Guthrie.
Watch it here:
More versions here:
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