America the Beautiful
As I was driving home from market last week on the home stretch to the farm I passed several miles of mature wheat stands that would be combined and then the stalks baled into straw in the coming week. As the wind blew through the valley the strips of gold rippled between the alternating fields of knee-high corn. And before I knew it I was humming amber waves of grain to the tune of its associated song and getting a bit misty-eyed with immense gratitude because I get to live and farm between the purple mountain majesties (North and South Mountains) and on the fruited plain (the mid-Atlantic fruit belt) which like the wheat is heavy with ripening peaches, cherries, apricots, strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries.
Sure, the song is an Independence Day staple for orchestras. Fireworks are set off as it plays with marching bands in small town high school stadiums as families gather in small towns. And no one can sing it better than Ray Charles, but he didn’t write the song. Where did it come from?
It turns out that like many enduring songs America the Beautiful began as a poem. Published on Independence Day in 1895 by Katherine Lee Bates, an English professor at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, the words were quickly set to music with over 75 different tunes. The melody that we now know was composed by Samuel Ward, a choir director at Grace Episcopal Church in New Jersey.
Bates was inspired by the landscape of the country during her 1893 train ride when she traveled to teach a summer class in Colorado Springs. Crossing the plains of Kansas she would have seen miles upon miles of wheat fields. Pikes Peak is the purple mountain. I have a couple paintings from a renown landscape artist from the 1930’s who summered in Estes Park for plein air. The foothills of the Rocky Mountains evoke a similar view from my front porch. Purple mountains galore.
The song has been covered by many notable celebrities throughout the years including Elvis Presley, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin, Kenny Rogers, Barbara Streisand, Whitney Houston, and Jennifer Lopez. During the Kennedy administration it was even considered for replacing the Star Spangled Banner as the national anthem because it was easier to sing and has less reference to war.
While the United States gears up for a bitterly divided election season it’s easy to forget about the beauty and opportunities this country has to offer. Each week I’m reminded of this as both customers and vendors come from all over the world to gather together in the tradition of market, of bazaar, of souk. Recently, one of our beloved vendors took their oath of citizenship and will celebrate Fourth of July this year as a naturalized American. America really is beautiful and it’s up to all of us to keep it that way.