What better way to hear one of our country’s most patriotic tunes than stripped down to the bare voices of Americans saluting their “land of liberty?”
Country acapella group Home Free couldn’t think of one, so they released a rendition of “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.”
And the winners of the fourth season of NBC’s “The Sing-Off” know a thing or two about a crowd-pleasing performance.
The five-person ensemble started out as a show group touring about 200 shows a year in the U.S.
They won the “The Sing-Off” in 2013 by singing an arrangement of Hunter Hayes’ “I Want Crazy.”
That landed them $100,000 and a recording contract with Sony.
Their first album, “Crazy Life,” was released in 2014, and their most recent “Land of the Free” was put out in June 2021.
“My Country ‘Tis of Thee” is one of the tracks off their new album. And they went all out to record it.
“This one is a real beauty!” the band wrote on their YouTube page. “We arose at the crack of dawn to film ‘My Country ‘Tis of Thee’ in the beautiful meadowlands of Deadwood, SD! And don’t y’all think it was about time we did a version of this de facto national anthem anyways?”
More than 79,000 people who watched the video thought so.
And that scenery was well worth the early bird rise.
It’s absolutely breathtaking. Even if you’re not into country music or acapella or patriotism, this video is worth watching just for the incredible landscapes alone.
The lyrics for “America (My Country, ‘Tis of Thee)” were written by Samuel Francis Smith in 1831.
The song is set to the melody of the U.K.’s national anthem, “God Save the Queen.”
Smith came up with the lyrics for the song when he was at the Andover Theological Seminary in Andover, Massachusetts.
The use of the melody of “God Save the Queen” was meant to rework the symbol of the British monarchy to make a statement about American democracy.
“God Save the Queen” glorifies the monarchy and its defense of laws and influence over war and politics. It also asks God to save those dressed in green and the Queen and keep her happy and make sure she gets all the best gifts from the store.
“My Country ‘Tis of Thee” praises God, the beauty of creation, and the sacrifices made by Americans to “let freedom ring” for “all eternity.”
According to Wikipedia, “Well-known composer Lowell Mason had requested that Smith translate or provide new lyrics for a collection of German songs, among them one written to this melody (unrelated to its British use).”
Smith handed over his lyrics to Mason, and the song was performed for the first time in public on July 4, 1831, during a children’s Independence Day celebration at Park Street Church in Boston.
It was later published in 1832.
Check out Home Free’s beautiful rendition in the video below!
Check it out in the video below.
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