An American Medley

Happy 4th of July!

In only a few hours the family and I will head 'up north der eh' to Northern Wisconsin to visit a friend who moved away last year. I expect I'll be out of touch for a few days but wanted to leave you with a tribute to this great country on our 232nd birthday. Credit Deslily's journal for giving me the idea.

Here's two clips of the incomparable Kate Smith. I remember listening as a kid to WOKY every 4th of July as they played 24 hours of patriotic music. Because of that I quickly became a fan of Ms. Smith. The second clip, from a NHL finals game played in 1976, features the 69 year old receiving a moving ovation as she takes the ice to belt out her signature tune.

Also from my memories of AM 620, John Wayne's moving spoken word piece on the country he loved and represented onscreen.

 

Here's a few clips of the great Jimmy Cagney. My Dad's always been a fan of Yankee Doodle Dandy and I can't say I fault his taste. Some parts of the film still bring tears of pride to my eyes. Check out the great tap down the stairs in this clip of 'Over There'.

 

 

Here's a black and white clip from the movie, this time of "It's a Grand Ol' Flag'

 

And the title song of the film. I'm not overly fond of the scene, but I include it in part because I think I detect Cagney doing some toe-tapping during the song, a tap-dance niche that my wife was researching recently.

And if you really want to see t the sacrifices that were necessary to obtain and keep our freedom, go rent Gettysburg. The famous battle was fought at this time 145 years ago. Some of the scenes in that movie reduce me to tears (as Lisa will tell you, patriotic movies and baseball are about the only things that manage to do that).

In particular the end of Pickett's charge, when the Union holds the line and the flag flies free, the South checked for the moment (and forever, as it turns out), or Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain's heroic stand, preserving the Union flank even as his men ran out of ammunition and fixed bayonets to charge into history  . .wow.

Wow.

God bless everyone who contributed to this great land, and Happy Birthday America!