And it does not get any more beautiful than Ray Charles singing it. He makes the unusual choice of singing the seldom heard third verse first:
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
Originally written as a poem by Katherine Lee Bates in 1893 and put to music by Samuel Ward in 1910. Charles is performing on the Dick Cavett Show in 1972.
No comments:
Post a Comment