I hate Toby Keith, but I well up with pride and patriotism when I hear Johnny Horton’s, Battle of New Orleans.
What inspires patriotism in you? Music and beyond?
“Wolveriiiines!”
Aw, c’mon, it has it’s charm.
Okay, okay…how about The Battle Cry of Freedom, as performed by Rob Carriker, or the 119th New York State Volunteers Historical Association. (The latter has plenty of fife and drum-my goodness.)
“This Is My Country,” by Don Raye and Al Jacobs (1940) would make a much better national anthem than “The Star Spangled Banner.”
“This Is My Country”: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cocoon/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.200000021/default.html
America the Beautiful.
The Ray Charles version, definitely.
“Northwest Passage”, from Call of the Wild, a Due South episode. It’s cheesy but it makes my heart melt every time.
Also, “Canada is Really Big” by the Arrogant Worms.
I can’t hear the National Anthem played at a ballgame without tearing up.
America the Beautiful does the same thing.
There is something about a small town parade…I’ll tear up when the colors go by.
God Bless the USA makes me want to punch Lee Greenwood right in the throat.
Does that make me a bad person?
I’m not generally patriotic, but Asimbonanga comes closest to evoking that sort of feeling. I’ve heard that Joan Baez has covered it - I should track that down sometime.
I haven’t been in several years, but the U.S. Air Force Academy’s Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs is a great place to watch a football game and a wonderful place to be a U.S. citizen.
The academy usually has an aerial parade prior to the anthem that has six or eight different aircraft flying over the stadium – everything from trainers to the heavy lifters. Then, during the final refrains of the anthem, the fighter jets zoom past the stadium. It’s got a different perspective because it’s taking place at a U.S. service academy, and I get a very strong patriotic feeling – and I tear up every time.
That’s followed by a football game that’s just a blast to watch, partly because of the Falcon’s option offense and partly because of the environment of the Academy’s stadium (a goodly percentage of the attendees are cadets, and another goodly percentage have some sort of connection to the U.S. armed forces – active or retired).
I had more than enough of Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A” back in the 1980s, and I’m of the opinion that the current trend of singing “God Bless America” prior to the seventh-inning stretch in MLB ballparks detracts from the sanctity of the national anthem prior to the game.
The flybys here at the Academy might be coming to an end. At least until the war is over. It’s getting too costly, and they are considering cutting them.
It’s a damn shame, too. I love to watch those planes go by.
Have you ever seen the laser light show at Stone Mountain Georgia?
Hell, I was born and raised a Yankee and it still made me proud to be “in” the South at that moment.
Just looked up Lee Greenwood and (as I suspected) he’s another Charlie Daniels / Toby Keith Armchair Patriot. (all 3 never served in the military).
It’s funny that the people who speak and/or sing the loudest about the greatness of the USA have never had to prove it. (Sorry for the editorializing).
As for what inspires patriotism in me? The photograph of the US Marines raising the American Flag over Mt Sirubachi, Iwo Jima. To me, that symbolizes the American spirit.
Most patriotic songs don’t give me much of an emotional jolt, but I always get weepy for “America the Beautiful,” particularly these lines:
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
Neil Diamond’s “America”
“Home, to a new and a shiny place
Make our bed, and we’ll say our grace
Freedom’s light burning warm
Freedom’s light burning warm”
Speaking as someone who served in the military, I have to say, it’s not necessary to have served in the military to be patriotic, and I don’t think it’s fair to call someone who didn’t serve an “armchair patriot.” FDR never served in the military, but he sure as hell did a lot for this country (also did some things I don’t agree with, but that’s neither here nor there).
God, that got to me so hard right after 9-11. Punched me in the gut every time I heard it.
Same here - but pretty soon after that, and ever since, the verse that gets me the most is
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw!
Preserve thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!
But it’s still never as spine-tingling as “Battle Hymn of the Republic”.
That one never really affected me. My favorite part of the song is:
O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life.
Yeah, I especially like the part about “I have seen a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel.”
There was a full orchestra version a couple years ago of “Johnny Come Marching Home” I can’t think of who wrote it or what orchestra played it but it was BEAUTIFUL!
Can anyone help me with this? I’d like to download it.
Thanks