Fourth of July Songs with Personal, Historical Meaning

Considering what might be a list of the top ten songs for a Fourth of July celebration, my greatest difficulty is narrowing the list to just ten songs. My generation, postwar, grew up with patriotic music at school, through the church and in the home. As a small child my neighborhood friends organized a program that was performed on a neighbor's patio for all of the parents. We sang patriotic songs, dressed in recycled ballet school, Halloween, tap dance class and general dress up rags from Mom's discarded wardrobe. We marched down the street that evening before the program with whatever toy instruments, bicycles and tricycles we could find. The little red wagons served as floats.

The whole celebration ended with sparklers, firecrackers and watermelon.

At school we began each day with the pledge of allegiance and "My Country 'Tis of Thee" (Smith) until we were old enough to master "The Star Spangled Banner" (Keye).

Early on I loved "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" (Howe) for its intensity and the similarity of the chorus to my nickname. "America the Beautiful" (Ward/Bates) was the most popular at church and it was the high school band playing "Stars and Stripes Forever" that introduced me to the stirring marches of John Philip Sousa. I remember well the late great Kate Smith singing "God Bless America" on the Ed Sullivan Show as she had done on the radio since World War I.

Folk music was popular during my high school years and the church youth group often gathered around a bonfire at the beach and sang choruses with guitar accompaniment. One of the favorites was Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land".

I served in the military overseas during the Vietnam conflict and participating in the reveille and retreat flag ceremonies brought "You're a Grand Old Flag" (Cohen) to mind. Americans have often been ridiculed as the "country bumpkins" of the world and our policies severely criticized. I respond that we enjoy the most freedom of any country in the world and we can't stop the tremendous amount of immigration for this very reason. So I just sing Cohen's "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy" and smile.

I hope that love of country is being instilled in young people today to guarantee our freedom for the future. Many of these songs were written by immigrants that were fleeing persecution in other countries. This fact gives me a greater appreciation for the music we enjoy at this important celebration. The song "This is My Country" (Smith) really sums it all up. It ends with "to have and to hold" - an important message to pass on to the next generation.