“No! No! The time has come, When we must not be dumb, We must awake. We must now ‘Eight Millions Strong,’ Must strike sweet freedom’s song, And please ourselves, our wrong—Our chains must break.”
— Joshua Simpson, from Song of the Aliened American, 1854
America (or My Country ‘Tis of Thee, as many knew it growing up) is one of those songs that has a vibrant and fascinating history that reaches back to a time before America was America and extends into the present. For American music curricula that aims to support a specific type of character-building ideology, centered around the concept of a national identity, this is a staple—it would be difficult to name a more ubiquitous patriotic song. The reach of the song has also made it a popular tool of (frequently conflicting) propagandistic agendas over the years. But first a note on its place in music education.
The argument often made for the importance of teaching patriotic songs in public schools centers on civic engagement, formation of a cohesive national identity, citizenship, shared values, and community-building. This rationale suggests an inherent unity and inclusion developed through learning and singing these songs.
“There is an emerging literature that is suggesting in a very overt way that singing together actually does make a difference. And I would say, too, we know, simply from our own experience, that to sing can be transformative.”
— Kay Kaufman Shelemay, ethnomusicologist at Harvard, on NPR in 2016
America (My Country ‘Tis of Thee) is included in songbooks aimed at very young children and, while other easy-to-sing patriotic selections get replaced in higher level music textbooks by more challenging songs (like the Star-Spangled Banner), this one remains. This most American of songs, however, has a longer history than this country—it appeared in England and other places at least as early as 1744. The words to My Country ‘Tis of Thee as we generally know it were penned by Samuel Francis Smith in 1831 for use by Lowell Mason. A children’s choir under Mason’s direction was the first to perform the song. Before that, the tune accompanied God Save the King, God Save the Queen, and the national anthem of several nations.
America is an interesting case because it is itself a contrafactum, even as subsequent versions are a contrafactum of it. This layering of new lyrics over existing popular music is an effective propaganda tactic because it builds on the positive associations that people already have with the familiar tune. With My Country ‘Tis of Thee, the song has generally been viewed as unifying, especially when its varied history is largely invisible to contemporary society.
Leveraging a complicated history to reflect on contemporary themes
America: A Hymnal was created by artist Bethany Collins in 2017. The book draws on the complicated history of America, both the song and the nation, by layering 100 different and often conflicting versions. The book begins with God Save the Queen (1745) and ends with a 1939 version of My Country ‘Tis of Thee as performed by Marian Anderson.
In between, the chronologically arranged contrafacta communicate messages about causes ranging from abolition to temperance, Civil War to suffrage. The notes that form the backbone of the unifying song have been burned away, leaving only charred remains and the divisiveness of the lyrics.
1831:
My country, ’tis of thee,
Sweet Land of Liberty
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims’ pride,
From every mountain side
Let freedom ring.
1839:
My country! ’tis of thee,
Stronghold of Slavery,
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Where men man’s rights deride,
From every mountainside,
Thy deeds shall ring.
With the unifying familiar melody gone the different versions of what it means to be an American highlight the stark differences in American history, culture, and values. The use of the song during the Civil War as a hymn for both the Union and Confederate armies is probably the most overt example.
Just as the burned away music strips away connections, the structure reinforces that sense of isolation. Each interaction with the book changes it. Turning a page, however carefully, causes the fragile edges of the absent notes to catch. This too has meaning. Every interaction with the book alters it slightly, so the experience can never be the same for any two viewers. Just as the words convey dissonance through time, our interaction with the object implicates us in its destruction. Taken to together, these songs show the historically complex and divisive realities of America.
To hear the dissonance that you can see on the burned and layered pages, listen to a short clip of overlaid versions of the song, as performed for an installation of the book (with audio) at the Seattle Art Museum.
America: A Hymnal and the historical music textbooks referenced in this post can be viewed in the Special Collections Reading Room.
