Yesterday, I heard more than one pundit marvel at the fact that Brandi Carlile, who openly identifies as queer, sang “American The Beautiful.” The suggestion was that this was groundbreaking.
And, it was.
But perhaps some have forgotten the credible evidence that might have been written by a same sex woman as well?
I wrote about this more than a decade now. And the writing of the song —that story— is one of the reasons this is my favorite “patriotic song” by a mile.
That, and some of the verses we never sing.
Here’s that essay, with a few updates for our time:
“In the summer of 1893, Katharine Lee Bates, a teacher at Wellesley College, set out on an adventure across America. She and other teacher friends were invited to spend the summer teaching at Colorado College in Colorado Springs…the city I’m writing you from tonight.
But before coming here, they stopped in Chicago to see the World’s Fair, and took in the best of human ingenuity of the time. Then, they headed south through Kansas’ amber waves of grain.
Among other friends, she was accompanied by another woman named Katharine, who many believe may have been her longtime lover.
Bates herself describes one of the events of that summer in Colorado Springs:
“One day some of the other teachers and I decided to go on a trip to 14,000-foot Pikes Peak. We hired a prairie wagon. Near the top we had to leave the wagon and go the rest of the way on mules. I was very tired. But when I saw the view, I felt great joy. All the wonder of America seemed displayed there, with the sea-like expanse.”
One story goes that Bates lingered longer on the mountain than her companions and –even there, at that high elevation– began to write down verses. By the time she left the town later that summer, she had all of the verses of a hymn you have heard countless times.
O beautiful, for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.
As you might imagine, I am thinking of all of this today, because earlier we took our own sojourn to the top of Pike’s Peak.
Dennise says she remembers visiting here at a kid, but she clearly didn’t remember the road; which, turns out, is as daunting, or more so, than the Trail Ridge Road.
Frankly, I was a bit surprised by the road too. I’d always been told what an easy drive up it is. And, I guess in some sense that’s true. But, much of the top third of the drive is gravel (nobody mentioned that to me!) and there are few directional or speed limit signs.
Which, of course, means the speed limit is slow.
It was amazing.
I totally get that folks have varied relationships with this song. It is a hymn, that is sure. It was first published in a Congregationalist newspaper. And the nationalistic tone can sometimes be troubling.
But I sure like it more than “God Bless America.”
To me, “America the Beautiful” was redeemed by two events. One was when Ray Charles recorded it, which gave us, by a factor of ten, the best recording of it, ever.
The second event was after September 11th, when along with millions I saw Dan Rather on David Letterman, and both of them teared up a little. But none more than when Rather cited the fourth verse of the hymn:
“O beautiful, for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years,
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!”
There was something about the memory of the twin towers, the connection of urban America with rural America, that really spoke to me. For about a year I learned my own little acoustic version of the song and played it at every show.
I still like it far more than “God Bless America.” There is something about the driving, bombastic nature of that song that simply doesn’t do anything for me.
But “America the Beautiful?”
There’s such richness to the imagery…
Amber waves of grain…
Fruited plains…
Purple mountains majesty…
Alabaster cities…
The poetry is lush. And, the truth is, the theology is better too. Check out the chorus of verse two, in case you’ve never heard it:
“America! America! God mend thine ev’ry flaw;
Confirm thy soul in self control, thy liberty in law!”
There’s something about this song that, while it is asking for God’s favor on the nation, is not assuming we deserve it.
It’s a song that asserts whether that God’s continuing favor depends upon our actions.
It’s a song that’s not so much saying that America is “great,” but that America is “beautiful.” I like to meditate on how being “beautiful” might even be more important than being “great.”
I remember how philosopher Charles Hartshorne posited that beauty is a key to the heart of what is good in the world. Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but it’s also a universally understood “good.”
I recently suggested that before we “Make America Great Again,” we focus on what makes us good.
Last night, with Carlile, Bad Bunny, et al…there was plenty to remind us of what makes America Good.
And perhaps the beauty of America comes from the country’s incredible nature landscape.
Perhaps the beauty also comes through, dare I say, humility, kindness, compassion, art?”
Yes, let’s ask God to mend our many flaws.
In every generation, we have that chance to become beautiful again.