This Is My Country

For the Impressions album with title song by Curtis Mayfield, see This Is My Country (album).

"This Is My Country" is an American patriotic song composed in 1940. The lyrics are by Don Raye and the music is by Al Jacobs.

Lyrics

The folk song begins slowly, opening with:

What difference if I hail from North or South
Or from the East or West?
My heart is filled with love
For all of these.
I only know I swell with pride
And deep within my breast
I thrill to see Old Glory
Paint the breeze.

It then swings into a march tempo for the verse.

The song is made notable by the fact that it honors both native-born Americans and immigrants. The first verse reads:

This is my country
Land of my birth
This is my country
Grandest on Earth

While the second verse (sung on a repeat, as the introduction is not repeated) instead reads:

This is my country
Land of my choice
This is my country
Hear my proud voice.

Both versions join together at the ending:

I pledge thee my allegiance
America the bold
For this is my country
To have and to hold


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/4/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.