| "God Bless the USA" | ||||||||
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| Single by Lee Greenwood | ||||||||
| from the album You've Got a Good Love Comin' | ||||||||
| B-side | This Old Bed | |||||||
| Released | May 21, 1984 (original release) October 9, 2001 (re-release) |
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| Recorded | November 1983 Nashville, Tennessee |
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| Genre | Patriotic, Country | |||||||
| Length | 3:09 | |||||||
| Label | MCA Nashville | |||||||
| Writer(s) | Lee Greenwood | |||||||
| Producer | Jerry Crutchfield | |||||||
| Lee Greenwood singles chronology | ||||||||
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"God Bless the USA" is an American patriotic song written and recorded by country musician Lee Greenwood. The first Greenwood album it appears on is 1984's You've Got a Good Love Comin'. It reached No. 7 on the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles chart when originally released in the spring of 1984, and was played at the 1984 Republican National Convention with President Ronald Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan in attendance, but the song gained greater prominence during the Gulf War in 1990 and 1991, as a way of boosting morale.
The popularity of the song rose sharply since the September 11, 2001 attacks and during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and the song was re-released as a single, re-entering the country music charts at #16. The song was also re-recorded in 2003 and released as "God Bless the USA 2003". The song could often be heard on the radio after those events, and versions of the song are widely distributed online. Lee Greenwood also wrote a Canadian version of this song called God Bless Canada. The song also rose up in popularity in May 2011 when Osama bin Laden was killed by an American raid in Pakistan.[1]
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Greenwood said that he "wanted to write it my whole life. When I got to that point, we were doing 300 days a year on the road, and we were on our fourth or fifth album on MCA. I called my producer, and I said I have a need to do this. I've always wanted to write a song about America, and I said we just need to be more united."
The reason behind the cities chosen in the song Greenwood says, "I'm from California, and I don't know anybody from Virginia or New York, so when I wrote it—and my producer and I had talked about it -- [we] talked about the four cities I wanted to mention, the four corners of the United States. It could have been Seattle or Miami but we chose New York and L.A., and he suggested Detroit and Houston because they both were economically part of the basis of our economy – Motown and the oil industry, so I just poetically wrote that in the bridge." [2]
A music video was released for this song in 1984, depicting Greenwood as a farmer who loses the family farm. The video was produced and edited by L.A. Johnson and directed by Gary Burden. A second video was released in 1991 and was directed by Edd Griles. A third music video was also released after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
"God Bless the USA" debuted on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart for the week of May 26, 1984.
| Chart (1984) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs | 7 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks | 26 |
| Chart (2001) | Peak position |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs | 16 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 16 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks | 12 |
| Chart (2005) | Peak position |
| U.S. Hot Digital Songs | 66 |
A cover performed by the American Idol Season 2 finalists was released as a single with part of the proceeds going to American Red Cross and raised $155,000 for the charity.[3] It was certified gold by the RIAA in 2003. American Idol Season 7 participant Kristy Lee Cook performed the song on the show and later re-recorded it for her major label debut album, Why Wait. It was also covered by Christian band Jump5 for their album, Jump5. America's Got Talent third season winner Neal E. Boyd released this song as his single for his debut album My American Dream. Again, following the death of bin Laden, patriotism was spreading throughout the whole country, and R&B singer Beyoncé Knowles re-released her 2008 cover of the song, the proceeds of which will go to charity.[4] American Idol eighth season winner Kris Allen performed the song on May 29, 2011 for the 2011 National Memorial Day Concert. During that performance, Allen shook hands with U.S. Military servicemen who were present at the concert.