These Songs Made Me Cry Last Night

I was replying to a diary last night and typed something that reminded me of something else. I began to hum a tune that was very familiar, but that I hadn't sung in a long time.

I looked up the complete lyrics of this song... then another... then I began to cry.

I'm not just saying it to be dramatic. I really did begin to weep after reading these words, so bright with hope, optimism, pride and beauty.

In writing this diary, I find myself again with tears in my eyes for the land of freedom that used to be.

I love to sing. I do it well. But I cannot sing these songs any more. They're too ironic and sad. They make me cry, and it's too hard to sing when you're crying.

Edited slightly to take out the overly religious verses, but you can look them up if you'd like the complete versions (none of these are copyrighted, they are public domain). They are presented in order of composition date.

And now, a challenge... can you sing these, or even read them, without crying, knowing what the House passed yesterday?

AMERICA
by Rev. Samuel F. Smith, 1832

My country, 'tis of Thee,
Sweet Land of Liberty
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims' pride,
From every mountain side
Let Freedom ring.

My native country, thee,
Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills,
My heart with rapture thrills
Like that above.

Let music swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees
Sweet Freedom's song;
Let mortal tongues awake;
Let all that breathe partake;
Let rocks their silence break,
The sound prolong.

Our glorious Land to-day,
'Neath Education's sway,
Soars upward still.
Its hills of learning fair,
Whose bounties all may share,
behold them everywhere
On vale and hill!

Thy safeguard, Liberty,
The school shall ever be,
Our Nation's pride!
No tyrant hand shall smite,
While with encircling might
All here are taught the Right
With Truth allied.

Beneath Heaven's gracious will
The stars of progress still
Our course do sway;
In unity sublime
To broader heights we climb,
Triumphant over Time,
God speeds our way!

America the Beautiful
Words by Katharine Lee Bates, 1893
Melody by Samuel Ward, 1882

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare of freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for halcyon skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the enameled plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till souls wax fair as earth and air
And music-hearted sea!

O beautiful for pilgrims feet,
Whose stem impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till paths be wrought through
wilds of thought
By pilgrim foot and knee!

O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife
When once and twice,
for man's avail
Men lavished precious life!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee!

Stars and Stripes Forever
by John Philip Sousa, 1896

Let martial note in triumph float
And liberty extend its mighty hand
A flag appears 'mid thunderous cheers,
The banner of the Western land.
The emblem of the brave and true
Its folds protect no tyrant crew;
The red and white and starry blue
Is freedom's shield and hope.
Other nations may deem their flags the best
And cheer them with fervid elation
But the flag of the North and South and West
Is the flag of flags, the flag of Freedom's nation.

Hurrah for the flag of the free!
May it wave as our standard forever,
The gem of the land and the sea,
The banner of the right.
Let despots remember the day
When our fathers with mighty endeavor
Proclaimed as they marched to the fray
That by their might and by their right
It waves forever.

Let eagle shriek from lofty peak
The never-ending watchword of our land;
Let summer breeze waft through the trees
The echo of the chorus grand.
Sing out for liberty and light,
Sing out for freedom and the right.
Sing out for Union and its might,
O patriotic sons.
Other nations may deem their flags the best
And cheer them with fervid elation,
But the flag of the North and South and West
Is the flag of flags, the flag of Freedom's nation.

Hurrah for the flag of the free.
May it wave as our standard forever
The gem of the land and the sea,
The banner of the right.
Let despots remember the day
When our fathers with might endeavor
Proclaimed as they marched to the fray,
That by their might and by their right
It waves forever.

•  Alms for the depressed

  I use chocolate to self-medicate. I've gained 10 pounds since November 2004.

  by willers on Thu Sep 28, 2006 at 09:00:23 AM PDT

•  Beautiful stuff!

  I don't cry over songs, though...except for "Somewhere Out There."

  by dov12348 on Thu Sep 28, 2006 at 09:05:45 AM PDT

•  I started to tear up

  mostly because I was thinking of you crying and singing these songs. It is a sad day when these songs ring hollow and we know our tax dollars are supporting the torture of humans hidden away in detention camps.

  by Young and on the air on Thu Sep 28, 2006 at 09:10:24 AM PDT

•  I understand

  These are indeed among the best written songs!  However, I often think; would a slave or a decenent of a slave feel the same way listening to these words/songs?  They were not the Proud Pilgrims, and definetly not beneficiaries of the 'brotherhood'.

  Despite, I still think the songs paint an ideal of a country we would all like to live in.  Therefore, I do understand you getting chocked up over them.

  by peelinglayers on Thu Sep 28, 2006 at 09:21:18 AM PDT

•  They are still great songs

  It is still the country I believe in and pray we get back to someday. The country I grew up in when men were not blamed for everything, where taxes were not so excessive I had income let over to help my fellow man, when people took care of business by helping there neighbor, and did not expect the goverment to do it

  by Old Conservative on Thu Sep 28, 2006 at 09:47:40 AM PDT

•  something similar happened to me...

  on my way home from work last night...but it wasn't a patriotic song that did it.  I decided to try something other than talk left on Sirius last night, and settled on Symphony Hall, which had just started playing Antonin Dvorak's Sym. #9, "From the New World".  I've always associated that with US and the U.S., for some reason, since I was a boy.  I kept on welling up at particularly poignant sections (like parts of the second movement, on which the hymn "Going Home" is based). I wasn't expecting the tears, but it felt good to get it out.

  by billlaurelMD on Thu Sep 28, 2006 at 09:47:44 AM PDT

•  my thoughts

  these songs remind me of what we're all doing here, doing our damnedest to fight against the criminals, murderers and thieves.  my favorite patriotic song, however, is "this land is your land."  i haven't sung it since the cowboy stole the 2000 election, because it's too freaking sad, but i hold on tight to those ideas, because that's what keeps me inspired.  without this inspiration, it would be too easy to give up.  we have to keep going.

  it's a sad damn day.

  by liberalsouth on Thu Sep 28, 2006 at 10:06:24 AM PDT

  •  I almost posted that

    But it didn't make me cry. Besides, the last line is a great kicker.

    by willers on Thu Sep 28, 2006 at 10:46:32 AM PDT

•  I have a monthly folksong circle

  with monthly themes that are mostly seasonal, and for July the theme is usually "Freedom" or "Patriotism" or "Rebellion" or "Nationalism" ...subtle variations, you see, so we can hook in different songs.

  But we always sing at least two out of three of the songs you list.  And I always tear up repeatedly.

  My favorite, favorite bit is this:

  America! America!
  God mend thine every flaw,
  Confirm thy soul in self-control,
  Thy liberty in law!

  by lgmcp on Thu Sep 28, 2006 at 10:47:54 AM PDT

•  Sometimes we sing this one, too

  when I'm feeling terribly sad for our country:

  American Tune
  Words & music by Paul Simon

  Many's the time I've been mistaken
  And many times confused
  Yes, and I've often felt forsaken
  And certainly misused
  Oh, but I'm alright, I'm alright
  I'm just weary to my bones
  Still, you don't expect to be
  Bright and bon vivant
  So far a-way from home, so far away from home

  And I don't know a soul who's not been battered
  I don't have a friend who feels at ease
  I don't know a dream that's not been shattered
  or driven to its knees
  but it's alright, it's alright
  for we lived so well so long
  Still, when I think of the
  road we're traveling on
  I wonder what's gone wrong
  I can't help it, I wonder what has gone wrong

  And I dreamed I was dying
  I dreamed that my soul rose unexpectedly
  And looking back down at me
  Smiled reassuringly
  And I dreamed I was flying
  And high up above my eyes could clearly see
  The Statue of Liberty
  Sailing away to sea
  And I dreamed I was flying

  We come on the ship they call the Mayflower
  We come on the ship that sailed the moon
  We come in the a-ge's most uncertain hours
  and sing an American tune
  Oh, and it's alright, it's alright, it's alright
  You can't be forever blessed
  Still, tomorrow's going to be another working day
  And I'm trying to get some rest
  That's all I'm trying to get some rest.

  by lgmcp on Thu Sep 28, 2006 at 10:50:58 AM PDT