Songs can be subtle, but not patriotic music, most of which is designed to get feet stomping and blood boiling.
It's time to reveal some secrets behind the most influential rabble rousing music of all time.
Star Spangled Banner
Francis Scott Key, 1814
Mr. Key watched the British bombardment of Fort McHenry during the War of 1812 and was so moved by the courage of the beleaguered American forces that he wrote four stanzas of "The Star Spangled Banner" (only the first stanza is usually performed). Key based the melody on an English drinking song called "To Anacreon in Heaven," creating a song that became the US national anthem in 1931, although there have been suggestions to replace it with one of the other numbers on this list.
America (My Country 'Tis of Thee)
Samuel F. Smith, 1832
The music was composed in the 1700s, sometimes attributed to Henry Cary. First popular in Great Britain as "God Save the King (Queen)," the song became bi-continental in 1832. Modern audiences have been moved by the R&B version by Ray Charles, a wonderful blending of emotion and groove.
Rally 'Round the Flag
George F. Root, 1862
Written for the Union army and its supporters during the Civil War, the song was hugely popular in the North. This didn't prevent Confederate troops from writing their own treasonous lyrics and singing the song throughout the South.
When Johnny Comes Marching Home
Louis Lambert, c. 1863
Lambert was a pseudonym for Union Army Bandmaster Patrick S. Gilmore. His lyrics, set to an old Irish folk song, were popular through the Reconstruction Era (1865-1896). The music appears in an extended instrumental version on the soundtrack of Stanley Kubrick's film, Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.
Battle Hymn of the Republic
Julia W. Howe, 1861
Howe is another lyricist who utilized a preexisting piece of music, in this case a camp meeting tune of the 19th century (which also became the music for "John Brown's Body"). The profound power of the words combined with the compelling melody cannot be denied. Sung at the funerals of Winston Churchill and Robert Kennedy, the lyrics and melody are so appealing that the song was even utilized at the funeral of the traitor Ronald Reagan.
Overture: 1812
Petr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, 1880
Patriotic music doesn’t always revolve around the July 4th celebration, or even refer to the USA. Tchaikovsky got Russian hearts a-pounding with his "1812 Overture in E Flat Major Op. 49," written to celebrate the 70th anniversary of his country's victory during the Napoleonic Wars.
Semper Fidelis
John Philip Sousa, 1889
Popular ever since it was first performed, the effective and spirited tune takes its name from the U.S. Marine Corps motto meaning "always faithful" and is dedicated to the Corps.
America the Beautiful
Katharine Lee Bates, 1895, 1904, 1913
Originally a poem that Bates twice revised after its first publication in 1885, America the Beautiful was sung to several different melodies. The song associated with it today is "Materna," composed by Samuel A. Ward in 1882, but it was also often performed to the tune of "Auld Lang Syne."
Stars and Stripes Forever
John Philip Sousa, 1896
Composed on Christmas Day, The Stars and Stripes Forever has become the country's official march (US Code, Title 36 Chapter 10). Sousa wrote lyrics to the song, but they are quite lame and are little known today.
Yankee Doodle Boy
You're A Grand Old Flag
Over There
George M. Cohan, 1904, 1906, 1917
Known as "the man who owned Broadway," Cohan was a superstar before the term was coined. While his film biography is called Yankee Doodle Dandy, the title of his first big tribute to America is as you see it above. Cohan excited U.S. audiences again in 1906 with You're a Grand Old Flag, although the original line was "You're a Grand Old Rag." It was America's entrance into World War I in 1917 that inspired Cohan to write Over There, for which he received a congressional medal to go along with lots of royalties.
God Bless America
Irving Berlin, 1938
The prolific Berlin (900+ songs despite being unable to read music) began writing this song right after The Great War and completed the piece just before World War II. Kate Smith first performed it during her radio show on Armistice Day, 1938. An immediate sensation, the song was often suggested to replace the Star Spangled Banner as America's national anthem.
Star Spangled Banner
Jimi Hendrix
The legendary guitarist took the stage near dawn on the final day of the 1969 Woodstock Music and Art Fair. The 13th number in his hour-long set was an incendiary rendition of Francis Scott Key's venerable song. In a performance that was somehow savage and grand at the same time, Hendrix wrestled new levels of emotion from the piece.
Apocalypse Now
Francis Ford Coppola, 1979
The music in question is "Ride of the Valkyries," from Richard Wagner's opera, Die Walkure (1854-56). The composition fit perfectly into director Coppola's nightmarish vision of the Vietnam War. The sequence, featuring a helicopter attack at dawn, never fails to raise the emotions of viewers. (The same is true when watching the opera, come to think of it.)