Bates wrote the words as a poem, originally titled "Pikes Peak". It was first published in the Fourth of July 1895 edition of the church periodical, The Congregationalist. At that time, the poem was titled "America".
Ward had initially composed the song's melody in 1882 to accompany lyrics to "Materna", basis of the hymn, "O Mother dear, Jerusalem", though the hymn was not first published until 1892.[3] The combination of Ward's melody and Bates's poem was first entitled "America the Beautiful" in 1910. The song is one of the most popular of the many American patriotic songs.[4]
In 1893, at the age of 33, Bates, an English professor at Wellesley College, had taken a train trip to Colorado Springs, Colorado, to teach at Colorado College.[5] Several of the sights on her trip inspired her, and they found their way into her poem, including the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, the "White City" with its promise of the future contained within its gleaming white buildings;[6] the wheat fields of North America's heartland Kansas, through which her train was riding on July 16; and the majestic view of the Great Plains from high atop Pikes Peak.[7][8]
On the pinnacle of that mountain, the words of the poem started to come to her, and she wrote them down upon returning to her hotel room at the original Antlers Hotel. The poem was initially published two years later in The Congregationalist to commemorate the Fourth of July. It quickly caught the public's fancy. An amended version was published in 1904.[9][10]
Historical marker at Grace Church in Newark where Samuel Ward worked as organist, and wrote and perfected the tune "Materna" that is used for "America the Beautiful"
The first known melody written for the song was sent in by Silas Pratt when the poem was published in The Congregationalist. By 1900, at least 75 different melodies had been written.[11] A hymn tune composed in 1882 by Samuel A. Ward, the organist and choir director at Grace Church, Newark, was generally considered the best music as early as 1910 and is still the popular tune today. Just as Bates had been inspired to write her poem, Ward, too, was inspired. The tune came to him while he was on a ferryboat trip from Coney Island back to his home in New York City after a leisurely summer day and he immediately wrote it down. He composed the tune for the old hymn "O Mother Dear, Jerusalem", retitling the work "Materna". Ward's music combined with Bates's poem were first published together in 1910 and titled "America the Beautiful".[12]
Ward died in 1903, not knowing the national stature his music would attain. The song's popularity was well established by the time of Bates's death in 1929.[11] It is included in songbooks in many religious congregations in the United States.[13]
At various times in the more than one hundred years that have elapsed since the song was written, particularly during the John F. Kennedy administration, there have been efforts to give "America the Beautiful" legal status either as a national hymn or as a national anthem equal to, or in place of, "The Star-Spangled Banner", but so far this has not succeeded. Proponents prefer "America the Beautiful" for various reasons, saying it is easier to sing, more melodic, and more adaptable to new orchestrations while still remaining as easily recognizable as "The Star-Spangled Banner". Some prefer "America the Beautiful" over "The Star-Spangled Banner" due to the latter's war-oriented imagery, while others object to the implicit support of slavery and racism in its third verse; others prefer "The Star-Spangled Banner" because of its war themes. While that national dichotomy has stymied any effort at changing the tradition of the national anthem, "America the Beautiful" continues to be held in high esteem by a large number of Americans, and was even being considered before 1931 as a candidate to become the national anthem of the United States.[14]
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the enameled plain!
America, America!
God shed His grace on thee,
Till souls wax fair as earth and air
And music-hearted sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America, America!
God shed His grace on thee
Till paths be wrought through wilds of thought
By pilgrim foot and knee!
O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife,
When once or twice, for man's avail,
Men lavished precious life!
America, America!
God shed His grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain,
The banner of the free!
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America, America!
God shed His grace on thee
Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee!
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness.
America! America!
God mend thine ev'ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law.
O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife,
When valiantly for man's avail
Men lavished precious life.
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And every gain divine.
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears.
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea.
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!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet,
Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!
O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine,
Till all success be nobleness,
And every gain divine!
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
Notable performances
Katharine Lee Bates, ca. 1880–1890
Elvis Presley performed it many times in concerts starting in 1976.
Frank Sinatra recorded the song with Nelson Riddle during the sessions for The Concert Sinatra in February 1963, for a projected 45 single release. The 45 was not commercially issued however, but the song was later added as a bonus track to the enhanced 2012 CD release of The Concert Sinatra.
In 1976, while the United States celebrated its bicentennial, a soulful version popularized by Ray Charles peaked at number 98 on the US R&B chart.[18][a] His version was traditionally played on New Year's Eve in Times Square following the ball drop. Charles performed the song at Republican National Convention in August 1984 and Super Bowl XXXV in January 2001.
The song has been performed as part of the Indianapolis 500 pre-race ceremonies since 1991.
The US singer/songwriter Martin Sexton recorded a gospel-tinged version on his LP "Black Sheep," released in 1996.
Popularity of the song increased greatly in the decades following 9/11; at some sporting events it was sung in addition to the traditional singing of the national anthem. During the first taping of the Late Show with David Letterman following the attacks, CBS newsman Dan Rather cried briefly as he quoted the fourth verse.[24]
In 2017, Jackie Evancho released Together We Stand, a disc containing three patriotic songs including "America the Beautiful."[38] The song charted at No. 4 on Billboard's Classical Digital Song sales chart.[39]
An abbreviated cover with the 1911 lyrics was performed by Greg Jong for the soundtrack of the 2020 video game Wasteland 3 and is played during the final hostile encounters in the Denver section.
In 2023, Cécile McLorin Salvant performed the song at the US Open woman's final. In her rendition, Salvant notably skipped ahead to the lyrics of the second half of the second verse while singing the first verse (replacing "God shed His grace on thee..." with "God mend thine every flaw...", etc.). Jazz Critic Nate Chinen wrote the following day of the performance, "What does it mean for a singer such as Salvant to inhabit a platform like the US Open, and implore God to mend America’s every flaw? What does it mean, in the Year of Our Lord 2023, for a singer like Salvant to urge the nation to confirm thy soul in self-control, and find liberty in law? I’m not going to spell it out, but it means a lot."
In 2024 Christopher Macchio sang the song to close the 2024 Republican Party's national convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and former President's Trump campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
In 2003, Tori Amos appropriated the phrase "for amber waves of grain" to create a personification for her song "Amber Waves". Amos imagines Amber Waves as an exotic dancer, like the character of the same name portrayed by Julianne Moore in Boogie Nights.
Lynn Sherr's 2001 book America the Beautiful: The Stirring True Story Behind Our Nation's Favorite Song discusses the origins of the song and the backgrounds of its authors in depth. The book points out that the poem has the same meter as that of "Auld Lang Syne"; the songs can be sung interchangeably. Additionally, Sherr discusses the evolution of the lyrics, for instance, changes to the original third verse written by Bates.[16]
Melinda M. Ponder, in her 2017 biography Katharine Lee Bates: From Sea to Shining Sea,[8] draws heavily on Bates's diaries and letters to trace the history of the poem and its place in American culture.
^McKim, LindaJo (1993). The Presbyterian Hymnal Companion. Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox Press. p. 379. ISBN978-0664251802. Retrieved June 22, 2012. (McKim notes that Ward once mentioned in a postcard that the hymn had been composed in 1882, however).
^Estrella, Espie (September 2, 2018). "Who Wrote "America the Beautiful"? The History of America's Unofficial National Anthem". thoughtco.com. ThoughtCo. Archived from the original on November 14, 2018. Retrieved November 14, 2018. Many consider "America the Beautiful" to be the unofficial national anthem of the United States. In fact, it was one of the songs being considered as a U.S. national anthem before "Star Spangled Banner" was officially chosen. The song is often played during formal ceremonies or at the opening of important events...Many artists have recorded their own renditions of this patriotic song, including Elvis Presley and Mariah Carey. In September 1972, Ray Charles appeared on The Dick Cavett Show singing his version of "America the Beautiful."
^Bates, Katherine Lee (1897). "America. A Poem for July 4". The American Kitchen Magazine. 7: 151. Retrieved May 13, 2016.
