With this being Memorial Day, I thought it best to post something patriotic, and how more patriotic can it get than John Wayne and hit 1973 album, America, Why I Love Her. Not many people know of this album, because “The Duke” was known primarily as an actor, and although this album does not contain any songs, it does feature several patriotic ballads recited by Wayne himself. It was a bestseller in 1973 upon it’s release, and then again in 2001 after the September 11th attacks, when it was re-released and sold more albums than it did when it originally came out.
The following video contains the most-heard track on the album. I posted the lyrics below so you can follow along.
America, Why I Love Her
Lyrics by John Mitchum
Recited by John Wayne
You ask me why I love her? Well, give me time, and I’ll explain…
Have you seen a Kansas sunset or an Arizona rain?
Have you drifted on a bayou down Louisiana way?
Have you watched the cold fog drifting over San Francisco Bay?
Have you heard a Bobwhite calling in the Carolina pines?
Or heard the bellow of a diesel in the Appalachia mines?
Does the call of Niagara thrill you when you hear her waters roar?
Do you look with awe and wonder at a Massachusetts shore…
Where men who braved a hard new world, first stepped on Plymouth Rock?
And do you think of them when you stroll along a New York City dock?
Have you seen a snowflake drifting in the Rockies…way up high?
Have you seen the sun come blazing down from a bright Nevada sky?
Do you hail to the Columbia as she rushes to the sea…
Or bow your head at Gettysburg…in our struggle to be free?
Have you seen the mighty Tetons? …Have you watched an eagle soar?
Have you seen the Mississippi roll along Missouri’s shore?
Have you felt a chill at Michigan, when on a winters day,
Her waters rage along the shore in a thunderous display?
Does the word “Aloha”… make you warm?
Do you stare in disbelief When you see the surf come roaring in at Waimea reef?
From Alaska’s gold to the Everglades…from the Rio Grande to Maine…
My heart cries out… my pulse runs fast at the might of her domain.
You ask me why I love her?… I’ve a million reasons why.
My beautiful America… beneath Gods’ wide, wide sky.
Let us also take time to remember and give thanks to the many soldiers who have risked and even given their lives so that we may call America our home. From the first freedom-fighters in 1776 to the men and women we have overseas in the Middle East today. All deserve much higher praise than they receive from the general public.
We must all remember that freedom isn’t free.
God Bless America.
