Story Behind the Song: Lee Greenwood's 'God Bless the U.S.A.'
Dave PaulsonIt's been nearly 40 years since Lee Greenwood wrote his signature "God Bless The U.S.A." — a patriotic anthem informed by his veteran father, his experiences traveling across the country in a tour bus, and one of Elvis Presley's late-period classics, among a lifetime of other experiences.
In a conversation with Bart Herbison of Nashville Songwriters Association International, Greenwood traced the four-decade path to "God Bless," and the journey the song has taken in the decades since.
Bart Herbison: There’s a small handful of songs that I characterize as perfect songs, Lee. Take us back to that day. What inspired you for this? You know it may be one of the most recognizable songs, globally, ever written.
Lee Greenwood: I was raised on a farm in Sacramento, California. My parents were divorced when I was a year old, so my grandparents were my guardians. My father joined the Navy after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, so you can see I was born about a year later. My mom had to work several jobs in order to support me and my sister, so she really couldn’t afford to have childcare while she was working so that’s why I was raised by my grandparents, Thomas and Edna Jackson, who I love dearly.
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I had farm chores, I had music. My mother was a piano player in the ‘40s. We had a little Spinet piano in the corner of our trailer. I was allowed to play every evening if I wanted to and it was just something I could not tear myself away from. I listened to all kinds of music growing up. I played for The American Legion, The VFW, and marching in parades. I was immersed in all kinds of music. I learned more than the piano while I was in junior high and high school, and by the time I graduated in 1960, I had formed my own band and left for Nevada. During those early years – because I was the drum major in the high school marching band – I really enjoyed the marches of Sousa and many of the other composers and leading my own band in The National Anthem. Then (I was) working for the USO when I was 15 and 16 at McClellan and major Air Force bases in Sacramento…I got a good taste of the military and their sacrifice.
…I spent 20 years in Nevada writing music, playing for revues of all kinds, even dealing cards in the casinos where I learned the psychology of people under pressure, gambling, and drinking at the same time…So, there was a lot of input at that time, and there was something inside me that said, “Someday I’d like to write a song like (‘An American Trilogy’) that Elvis sings.” We were working in the same hotel several times and I listened to the song. It was inspiring. Of course, I learned a lot of the (patriotic) songs when I was learning my music in high school. I just said, “If I ever get to Nashville, and I think that’s probably where I will end up because L.A. chewed me up and spit me out, I’ll write a song kind of like the trilogy.”
Well, it took me almost three years after I got to Nashville as a touring artist, and there wasn’t any interest in releasing “God Bless the U.S.A” as a single record. If you were pursuing a career, it was romantic love songs, ballads that really hit the public right in the heart. When I toured with so many different acts, I got inspired again to write the song that would eventually become America’s most recognized anthem.
I did it on my bus one night in ’83. I already had four albums I think, two albums a year at the time. …That particular year, we already had an album song chosen, “You’ve Got a Good Love Comin',” the title of the album that year for release for 1984. When Universal made the call after they heard “U.S.A.” on that album to release it as a single, I was just surprised. I think that if that had not happened, no one would have ever heard the song, and it probably would have just been one of those things in my discography that I was proud of, but it was more than that. When it got on the radio, the audience heard it, it became the song for the National Guard of Tennessee, and then the military, and then with President Reagan and his ‘84 campaign, which I was part of, and then moved forward to Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf War – not in that order – and the (September 11) attack on America. Each time, more Americans found “God Bless the U.S.A” to be a song of spirit and unity. It didn’t happen overnight.
…I’m a conservative Christian, and even though most people recognize the song who may not be Christian, or just don’t know how to sing the whole song (think) “I’m Proud to Be an American” is the title. I’ll go with that, and as far as on the sheet music MCA has listed, after pressure for many years, “God Bless the U.S.A.” (with the) subtitle “I’m Proud to Be an American.”
I’m O.K. with that. The reason I wrote that line was not just because my father served in World War II, and survived it by the way, but I hadn’t heard for many, many years that people were proud of their heritage. My heritage is American. Sure, I’m German, English, Irish, Scottish, but I was born in the United States of America and this is my heritage, American…So, when I said “I’m proud to be an American where at least I know I’m free,” I know that resonated with every American who has lost a son or daughter in conflict combat, and maybe just the strife of how we exist here in America. There’s no other country like this that’s free like we are.
About the series
In partnership with Nashville Songwriters Association International, the "Story Behind the Song" video interview series features Nashville-connected songwriters discussing one of their compositions. For full video interviews with all of our subjects, visit www.tennessean.com/music.