I have a collection of marches on CD that includes a John Phillip Sousa medley. The rest of the piece is ok, but when “Columbia, Gem of the Ocean” kicks in, I get chills and want to salute something.
“America the Beautiful” really gets to me. I also really love “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” and I wish it was heard more often:
Lift every voice and sing
til earth and heaven ring
Ring with the harmonies of liberty
Let our rejoicing rise
high as the listening skies
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea
“Concord” piano sonota by Charles Ives
Ooh, yeah…I’m another march-inspired patriot. A good rolling march can get me on my feet in a flash!
O Columbia, the gem of the ocean!
The home of the brave and the free,
the shrine of each patriot’s devotion!
A world offers homage to thee!
(Oh, and Columbia is by David T. Shaw, not Sousa…)
Geez how could I have forgotten? To me the most “patriotism-inspiring” song has got to be “Stars and Stripes Forever”. Darned good song !!!
I’m surprised no one has mentioned this yet. Any other fans of this song?
I sit corrected. Probably because the medley begins with “Stars and Stripes Forever” and segues into “Under The Double Eagle.” 
Some of the above songs bring shivers down my spine, but so does Hail Columbia.
But so do the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine hymns
The Star-Spangled Banner, America the Beautiful (love the last verse), The Stars and Stripes Forever, Battle Hymn of the Republic (the choral arrangement (by Wilhousky, I think). I greatly prefer the first two sung straight, but to each his own.
The only one that comes to mind is Morton Gould’s American Salute, a popular short orchestral work based on WJCMH. There’s an excerpt on this page (track 20): http://www.towerrecords.com/product.aspx?pfid=1892386&title=American+Classics+-+Gould%3A+American+Ballads%2C+etc+%2F+Kuchar
I CANNOT BELIEVE I’m about to admit this…
but when I was 16 or 17 I used to get choked up around the fourth of July when I heard United by Judas Priest.
(slinks away)
I’ll just go now…
Rhapsody in Blue always gives me goosebumps. Not a patriotic song, per se, but so very American.
Sounds cheesy as all rip, but Elvis’s American Trilogy I love.
In the 1960s Tennessee Ernie Ford released two records: Civil War Songs of the South and Civil War Songs of the North. I LOVE these albums and have tried getting them on CD but without success. (I ordered them once on Amazon and got a “could not fulfil order” message.) I love Ken Burns’ CIVIL WAR soundtrack as well, the musical 1776 and the clip of Judy Garland (I know, I know… but I really don’t like her usually) being poured onto stage the week JFK was killed and singing, perfectly, Battle Hymn of the Republic, leaving not a dry eye in the house.
Polish ancestried/Austrian born/Israeli reared/Jewish singer Theodore Bikel singing Follow the Drinkin’ Gourd a slave song, for some reason brings patriotic chills. I suppose it’s the history of the song, reminding me that even in America’s worst hours there were people willing to risk their lives to better their situation or to help others (both the slaves and the white southerners working on the Und.RR) plays a part, plus knowing Bikel’s biography (his family fled the Nazis through a form of underground railroad shortly after the takeover) helps put it in universal perspective. Or I just like the sound- Richie Havens’ version on the Burns soundtrack is also great.
Not song, but from an advertising flyer sent to my company in early 2002. I liked it so much I kept it:
My company has always been unabashedly and unapologetically patriotic.We’ve always flown the biggest American flag we could find. Always made a huge deal out of our national holidays–the 4th of July especially. I’m proud to say that we’ve never taken this great country and all the opportunities it affords us for granted. We’ve always recognized how truly fortunate we are to call outseles Americans.
Our very first ctalog featured just one 4th of July post card. I can remember writing the copy to sell it. I admonished our small group of customers (less than 5000 at the time) not to let this, our most patriiotic of holidays, slip by without sending out a post card. What an easy listing opportunity, I wrote. What a great way to show your patriotism. What a wonderful contact to make with your entire market area.
Now, almost a decade and 140,000 REALTOR customers later, 4thof July post cards have become our most popular of the year.
In years past it’s probably sounded cheese when I droned on and on about what a great country we live in. But not this year. This year is different.
So here’s my big sales pitch for 2002…
“An order form is enclosed.”
Stay safe, be well, and Happy 4th of July!
For me it’s “As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free”.
If we were taking a vote, I’d be happy with Ray Charles’ “America the Beautiful” - that’s the recording that started the drive to make it the national anthem.
From the little I’ve heard, “God Bless the USA” makes Lee Greenwood want to punch his own throat out, he’s so sick of singing it.
I’m really embarassed to admit it, but I tear up at Epcot at the American part of the international village thing - at the end they have this amazingly schmaltzy song with a montage, and it gets me every time. It’s humiliating - don’t want to show weakness in front of the Japanese! 
I love “America the Beautiful”, and also “My Country, Tis of Thee”, but even this agnostic Southerner gets a little soft for the “in the beauty of the lilies” verse of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”.
Oh, and that Air Force song and “Over There” are kinda stirring.
I was just coming in here to say the exact same thing. It just reminds me of cities and gleaming skylines and the roaring twenties and all that. It puts me in an “american” mood.
I Am A Patriot by Steven Van Zandt. Actually, I’ve never heard Little Steven sing it. David Lindley does a fine job.
Rally 'Round The Flag, not the jolly, marching kind, but the reverent, weary version by Ry Cooder.
Hearing Ray Charles singing America The Beautiful, in a way the composer did not imagine, always brings tears to my eyes. Part of it is missing Ray, but it’s mostly his masterful performance.
I’ll join the parade walking on Lee Greenwood’s bloody form. It ain’t much, but at least I know I’m free?! This is supposed to be something to be proud of? Watta maroon.
There are several versions of Shanadoah that move me – and not just for that part of the country. One of them is a very gentle, echoing version by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I wouldn’t have expected anything so hushed from them. It’s perfect.
I’m almost sloppily patriotic and I like some of Toby Keith’s songs (although not The Angry American, which I don’t dislike for the sentiments but because it’s just dumb). I like most of the ones mentioned here, especially some of the lesser heard ones such as Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean, and This is My Country, both of which I love.
When I was in the 2nd grade (circa 1968), our class opened the day with the Pledge of Allegiance and a song from a mimeographed pamplet our teacher (Mrs. Cunningham) had made. The pamplet had a bunch of patriotic songs – Columbia…, and …My Country among them). Each day a different kid got to choose the song. When it was my turn, I always chose This Land is Your Land. So I’ll give a shout out to that one – still a favorite of favorites.