“God Bless America” 🎼
Then Kate Smith came calling. Now, Berlin looked over his earlier work and rapidly began rewriting and revising. He had less than two weeks to get it ready for her performance. Here is how the 1918 version had read:
“God Bless America, land that I love Stand beside her And guide her To the right with the light from above Make her victorious on land and foam God Bless America, my home sweet home.”
Berlin knew he had to change the line To the right with the light from above. “The Right” in politics had come to mean conservative political groups. He wanted a song that brought Americans together, not set Americans apart. And he changed Make her victorious…since it suggested military conquest, rather than the “peace song” he was shooting for. The result was the song most American school kids have learned by heart ever since.