# How many patriotic songs do you know? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 30, 2002, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-patriotic-songs-do-you-know/111552 "2002-05-30T15:11:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![auntie\_em](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@auntie\_em](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auntie_em)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2002, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-patriotic-songs-do-you-know/111552/1 "2002-05-30T15:11:24Z")
This is mainly a question for Americans, though those of you in other countries are welcome to chime in! I ask because I was talking to a friend in California the other day, and told her my story about threatening to sing _God Bless America_ naked in church. With a tone of… slight disdain? mild disturbance? moderate _ewwwww_? she said: "You actually _know the words_ to _God Bless America_? Well, um… yeah. (I mean, that wasn’t the point of the story, and I wasn’t _really_ going to sing naked in church at all, but yeah.) I learned them in grade school, along with the words to _My Country Tis of Thee_, _The Star Spangled Banner_, _America the Beautiful_, _Glory Glory Hallelujah_, and all that. Is that weird? I mean, regardless of how one feels about America, about forcing patriotism/Christian notions of “God” on kids, or about Celine Dion (who sang _God Bless America_ on that TV special that was on every channel after 9/11), I figured that _everyone_ learned those songs in school as a kid (or at least everyone 30 and older… don’t know what they’re doing with the young whippersnappers these days)… Apparently I was wrong, because my friend (who grew up in California) NEVER learned these songs in school. Did you? ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2002, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-patriotic-songs-do-you-know/111552/2 "2002-05-30T15:23:01Z")
Well, I’m 41, and I know loads of patriotic songs… but not from my school days. We didn’t learn many patriotic songs in the Catholic school I went to during the 1960s. In fact, the only “patriotic” songs I remember being taught were: 1. “America” (My Country, Tis of Thee), which we learned in 1st grade 2. Woodie Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land,” which our hippie/folkie nun teacher taught us in 2nd grade , and which we always had to sing (along with “If I Had a Hammer” and “Michael Row the Boat Ashore”) on the bus to CYO camp. As for the other patriotic standards, I learned most of them at baseball games and other sporting events (remember when Kate Smith used to sing “God Bless America” before Philadelphia Flyers hockey games?). ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2002, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-patriotic-songs-do-you-know/111552/3 "2002-05-30T15:46:01Z")
\<-- probably the only person in North Carolina, other than my wife, who knew the words to “O Canada” before the hockey playoffs. I know most American patriotic songs (owing to skilled elementary school teachers, for the most part) and also the words to the Finnish patriotic folk song which Jan Sibelius used as the main theme for “Finlandia,” the hymn that is a free translation of the Czarist national anthem of Russia, and a couple of other “foreign” national songs (plus the parody words to “Louis XVI was the King of France…” if that counts). ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2002, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-patriotic-songs-do-you-know/111552/4 "2002-05-30T16:01:38Z")
I know all the aforementioned songs, but then I know a lot of song lyrics. I can also sing a bunch of patriotic songs by George M. Cohen, such as Over There, You’re a Grand Old Flag and Yankee Doodle Boy. In a pinch, you could call Give My Regards to Broadway a patriotic song: \*Did you ever see two Yankees part, Upon a foreign shore, When the good ship’s just about to start For old New York once more? With tear-dimmed eye, they say goodbye, They’re friends without a doubt. When the man on the pier shouts, 'Let ‘em clear!’ As the ship strikes out … Give my regards to Broadway …\* ~Ellen, singer of show tunes. ---
**Author:** ![auntie\_em](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@auntie\_em](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auntie_em)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2002, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-patriotic-songs-do-you-know/111552/5 "2002-05-30T16:11:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by astorian \* > \*\*Well, I’m 41, and I know loads of patriotic songs… but not from my school days. We didn’t learn many patriotic songs in the Catholic school I went to during the 1960s. > \*\* Hmm, maybe it makes a difference that you went to a Catholic school while I went to a public school (which was _called_ Bishop Elementary, but there was no religious affiliation). Maybe it’s just that I grew up in the “God, Country, Mom and Apple Pie” Heartland, whereas my friend grew up in Northern California (which was more Buddha, Beach, Guru and Hash Brownies)? ---
**Author:** ![auntie\_em](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@auntie\_em](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auntie_em)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2002, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-patriotic-songs-do-you-know/111552/7 "2002-05-30T16:46:51Z")
OK, maybe I am the freak here, because for the duration of my grade school career, we sang a patriotic song after the Pledge every damn day. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2002, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-patriotic-songs-do-you-know/111552/8 "2002-05-30T17:08:07Z")
We sang them a lot, Em, but I don’t remember doing so every damn day. But remember in _Peggy Sue Got Married_, Kathleen Turner singing My Country Tis of Thee with nostalgic gusto while her bemused classmates looked on? That would suggest you’re not alone! Of thee I sing, Ellen ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2002, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-patriotic-songs-do-you-know/111552/9 "2002-05-30T17:24:00Z")
As a Christian, my Father is God, and His Kingdom is therefore my fatherland. So every song and hymn of praise to Him (or his Son) would qualify as ‘_patri_otic’, from my POV. I know scores of 'em. ---
**Author:** ![jkirkman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac8455/32.png) [@jkirkman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jkirkman)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2002, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-patriotic-songs-do-you-know/111552/10 "2002-05-30T17:29:24Z")
Let’s see, I know the first verse to _The Star Spangled Banner, Le Marseilles, Dixie_, and, on a good day, _The Bonnie Blue Flag_. To address the original post, though, only the first three were taught in school. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2002, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-patriotic-songs-do-you-know/111552/11 "2002-05-30T17:37:50Z")
But to answer the OP more straightforwardly, I can certainly get through at least a verse of “God Bless America”, “America the Beautiful”, “My Country, 'Tis of Thee”, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”, “From the Halls of Montezuma”, “The Caisson Song”, and of course “The Star-Spangled Banner”. I’m sure I learned practically all of them in school. I’m surprised that some schools apparently aren’t teaching kids the standard patriotic songs. And disappointed, despite my previous post. Part of the normal civics education in any country should include the country’s history, the basic workings of its government, an introduction to the values it holds dear, and even its basic repertoire of patriotic songs. (Cultural literacy, and all that.) I don’t believe kids should be required to sing those songs. (It’s a freedom-of-religion thing.) But most kids, in most places, will _want_ to, and those that don’t should be expected to behave quietly and respectfully while the others sing. ---
**Author:** ![auntie\_em](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@auntie\_em](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auntie_em)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2002, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-patriotic-songs-do-you-know/111552/12 "2002-05-30T17:57:00Z")
I don’t know if I’d be too surprised to meet, say, a 10-year-old who didn’t know the songs. I _was_ surprised that my 30-year-old friend didn’t. FTR, I would hardly classify myself as a particularly patriotic person (that’s alliteration!)–for me the songs were just… there, and everybody knew them, just like we all knew the “Like a Lightbulb” version of _Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer_. Of course, when I was a kid, _I_ was not giving a bit of thought to the sentiment behind these songs (or, for that matter, behind _Rudolph_), or to the ways in which these songs might make some kids feel excluded. Nowadays, I don’t supposed I’d be surprised to meet a kid (say, a 10-year-old) who hasn’t been taught the songs in school; I was, however, surprised to know a 30-year-old who never learned them in school. Then again, our grade school music teacher was mighty ambitious; not only were we well-versed in Rod McKuen by the second grade, we also knew a slew of Hanukkah songs (I only knew of one Jewish kid), and I learned the Negro National Anthem long before I knew I was a little Black child! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![pendgwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3da27b/32.png) [@pendgwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pendgwen)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2002, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-patriotic-songs-do-you-know/111552/13 "2002-05-30T18:35:20Z")
I was in school choirs for years. In church we also sang patriotic “hymns” around the 4th of July so I know a fair number of songs: Star Spangled Banner My Country 'Tis of Thee The Battle Hymn of the Republic (would this be what you mean my Glory, Glory, Hallelujah?) Songs for all the branches of military service - The Marines Hymn (From the Halls of Montezuma), The Caisson Song for the army, the Air Force song whose title I can’t remember right now, and Anchors Away for the navy This Land is Your Land America the Beautiful, which I can also play on the piano Yankee Doodle God Bless America I know bits and pieces of a few others but those are the ones that I could sing at least one full verse off the top of my head. And I even know the official state song of Washington which, contrary to popular belief, is not Louie, Louie but Washington My Home. I’m only 24 so 15-20 years ago it was still possible to learn patriotic songs in school. I find it mind boggling that anyone 30 years old and native to this country doesn’t know at least a couple of these songs. If nothing else you could absorb them at sporting events. ---
**Author:** ![auntie\_em](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@auntie\_em](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auntie_em)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2002, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-patriotic-songs-do-you-know/111552/14 "2002-05-30T18:43:56Z")
To be honest, **pendgwen** , this particular friend of mine would probably resist any sort of absorption of patriotic songs (and in fact may have simply resisted learning them in grade school), on personal principle. This is a kid who started refusing to say the Pledge in, like, the 3rd grade or something (I would _never_ have been so politically aware/concerned at that age). Her (single) dad was called down to the school, and stood up for her, which I always thought was pretty cool, since I don’t know if my parents would have, if it had been ME (but you never know…). At any rate, she seemed disgusted enough that _I_ knew _God Bless America_, that she probably plugs her ears and hums _Love Rollercoaster_ to herself whenever she hears it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kwyjibo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/59ef9b/32.png) [@Kwyjibo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kwyjibo)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2002, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-patriotic-songs-do-you-know/111552/15 "2002-05-30T19:22:55Z")
**The Scottish Soldier** (Kinda sad) There was a soldier, a Scottish soldier Who wandered far away and soldiered far away There was none bolder, with good broad shoulder He’s fought in many a fray, and fought and won. He’d seen the glory and told the story Of battles glorious and deeds neforious But now he’s sighing, his heart is crying To leave these green hills of Tyrol. _Because these green hills are not highland hills Or the island hills, the’re not my land’s hills And fair as these green foreign hills may be They are not the hills of home._ And now this soldier, this Scottish soldier Who wandered far away and soldiered far away Sees leaves are falling and death is calling And he will fade away, in that far land. He called his piper, his trusty piper And bade him sound a lay… a pibroch sad to play Upon a hillside, a Scottish hillside Not on these green hills of Tyrol. And so this soldier, this Scottish soldier Will wander far no more and soldier far no more And on a hillside, a Scottish hillside You’ll see a piper play his soldier home. He’d seen the glory, he’d told his story Of battles glorious and deeds victorious The bugles cease now, he is at peace now Far from those green hills of Tyrol. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2002, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-patriotic-songs-do-you-know/111552/16 "2002-05-30T20:16:52Z")
I probably know more songs about Ireland than I do about America, but that won’t surprise anyone who’s spent any time over here. There’s an Irish version of “This Land Is Your Land”, btw: _This land is your land, this land is my land From the northern highlands, to the western islands From the hills of Kerry, to the streets of (Free!) Derry This land was made for you and me._ It’s so popular over here I’ve actually encountered people who don’t realise it’s an American song originally. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2002, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-patriotic-songs-do-you-know/111552/17 "2002-05-30T22:16:27Z")
I’m in my very late 20s, from Washington (state) and I know God Bless America at least 2 verses of The Star Spangled Banner at least 2 verses of My Country 'Tis of Thee all verses of The Battle Hymn of the Republic, America the Beautiful, & the Negro National Anthem Yankee Doodle Yankee Doodle Dandy This Land is Your Land The Marine Hymn & Caissons Song, and You’re a Grand Old Flag But we didn’t sing them in school very often, if at all. Definitely not every day. We didn’t do the pledge of allegiance very often either. It phased out over elementary school (and only on special occasions after that). I picked up most of the songs from church, or girl scouts, or parental indoctrination, or just on my own. ---
**Author:** ![Pencepon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@Pencepon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pencepon)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2002, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-patriotic-songs-do-you-know/111552/18 "2002-05-31T02:15:03Z")
Gosh, I learned all of the songs mentioned above in school, and I was born and raised in Southern California and went to public schools. However, I’m 51, and my era may have something to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![pbrtallboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f475e1/32.png) [@pbrtallboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbrtallboy)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2002, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-patriotic-songs-do-you-know/111552/19 "2002-05-31T03:26:11Z")
Does anyone know the name of the song that Little Edie Beale gives an impromptu USO show to, complete with Stars and Stripes, in _Grey Gardens_? “We All Stand Together” or something? ---
**Author:** ![Katisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bcef8e/32.png) [@Katisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katisha)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2002, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-patriotic-songs-do-you-know/111552/20 "2002-05-31T04:35:36Z")
I read somewhere that “This Land is Your Land” is actually a protest song, but nobody ever sings the protest verses. Alas, I don’t remember them either. **Ruadh** mentioned an Irish version of it – I’ve heard a Canadian version, too. Anyway. I know most of the famous ones, though for the most part not from school. I even used to know “Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean” because I was in _The Music Man_ in high school and at one point the cast is required to sing a bit of it. And some patriotic songs from other countries – like “La Marseillaise” and “Nkosi sikeleli Afrika” (which is absolutely gorgeous) and whatnot. Oh, and I also know a whole bunch of Civil War songs (from both sides – alas, the Confederate songs are much catchier) but they wouldn’t all qualify as _patriotic,_ per se… 😛 ---
**Author:** ![LilCutie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@LilCutie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilCutie)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2002, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-patriotic-songs-do-you-know/111552/21 "2002-05-31T05:17:39Z")
I know all of the mentioned songs. I’m 17, by the way. We learned them all in elementary school. Good times. I was watching a commerical for a CD of a whole bunch of Patriotic songs sung/played by different groups in the different areas of the military, and I was shocked when I realized I knew almost every single song’s lyrics. Jenny\* [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-patriotic-songs-do-you-know/111552.md?page=2)