“America has been shaped not just by our elected leaders and politics but also by our music,” Carolyn Ott told members of the Delphi Study Club at their March meeting.
She reviewed Songs of America: Patriotism, Protest and the Music That Made a Nation by Pulitzer Prize winner Jon Meacham and music superstar Tim McGraw. Meacham explores the cultural and political background of the songs and McGraw reflects on them as a performer to show the role music has played in uniting and shaping a nation.
Ott discussed both famous and lesser-known songs that defined events in American history from the Revolutionary War, Civil War, fight for women’s suffrage, two world wars, the Great Depression, the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War and into the twenty-first century.
She noted that the National Anthem, written during the War of 1812 during the battle at Fort McHenry, was not made official until 1931 and that “My Country Tis of Thee” was written by Rev. Samuel Francis Smith to the tune of “God Save the King” during the national expansion to the West.
Songs of war eras included “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” (Civil War), “Over There” (World War I), “Don’t Sit under the Apple Tree (World War II) and “Ballad of the Green Berets” (Vietnam War). Harriet Tubman used “Sorrow Songs”such as “Go Down Moses” as a signal to help slaves escape to freedom. Civil rights songs of the 1960s included “We Shall Overcome” and “Blowing in the Wind”.
Woody Guthrie, popular during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression Era, wrote “This Land Is Your Land” and “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime”. Songs defining later times included “Okie from Muskogee,” “The Age of Aquarius” and “God Bless the USA”.
“The common thread that runs through these [later] songs is lifting America up, making us realize we are Americans,” Ott said.
Attending the meeting in addition to Ott were Linda Brown, Ann Cales, hostess Shirley Cross, Vivian Pemberton, Marjilea Smithheisler and Neva Staton.
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