{"id":8748,"date":"2010-10-20T16:12:59","date_gmt":"2010-10-20T23:12:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.seamheads.com\/?p=8748"},"modified":"2010-10-20T16:12:59","modified_gmt":"2010-10-20T23:12:59","slug":"the-song-doesnt-always-remain-the-same","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/2010\/10\/20\/the-song-doesnt-always-remain-the-same\/","title":{"rendered":"The Song Doesn’t Always Remain The Same"},"content":{"rendered":"

Baseball history, as far as I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m concerned, was made during Tuesday night\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 10-3 victory for the Texas Rangers over the New York Yankees in Game Four of the American League Championship Series.\u00c2\u00a0 In the bottom of the 7th<\/sup> inning actor Patrick Wilson came out to perform \u00e2\u20ac\u0153God Bless America,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the singing of which has become the norm at Yankee Stadium since September 11, 2001.\u00c2\u00a0 But what was different is that when Mr. Wilson was announced he began singing a song I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d never heard before:<\/p>\n

While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,
\nLet us swear allegiance to a land that’s free,
\nLet us all be grateful for a land so fair,
\nAs we raise our voices in a solemn prayer.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

My father and I turned to each other and both wondered aloud what was going on.\u00c2\u00a0 But then, our ears were hit with the ring of the familiar:<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

God Bless America,
\nLand that I love.
\nStand beside her, and guide her
\nThrough the night with a light from above.
\nFrom the mountains, to the prairies,
\nTo the oceans, white with foam
\nGod bless America, My home sweet home
\nGod bless America, My home sweet home.<\/em><\/p>\n

Now that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more like it.\u00c2\u00a0 I felt a little stupid that I never knew there was a whole other part to one of the most moving, patriotic and sporting songs ever sung.<\/p>\n

A little bit of research unearthed the fact Irving Berlin originally wrote \u00e2\u20ac\u0153God Bless America\u00e2\u20ac\u009d during World War I when he was serving in the U.S. Army but nothing really became of it.\u00c2\u00a0 Twenty years later, with World War II lurking, Berlin revived it and added the first part which Wilson sang at Yankee Stadium.\u00c2\u00a0 There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s even a great clip on YouTube of Kate Smith singing the long version, calling it a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153new song,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and then we see, who else?\u00c2\u00a0 Ronald Reagan, as among those appreciating it.\u00c2\u00a0 That clip is from the 1943 movie \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This is the Army\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which apparently has the songs revival as its core.<\/p>\n

Kate Smith is the one who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s always been most associated with the song and went on to sing it at sporting events including the 1974 Stanley Cup Finals and the 1976 Rose Bowl.\u00c2\u00a0 Wikipedia says Smith always sang the long version but the only clip I can find of that longer version is from the Reagan movie.\u00c2\u00a0 Before the hockey game she sang the traditional shorter version and likely did before the Rose Bowl, too.\u00c2\u00a0 If the singing of the longer version of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153God Bless America,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with the introductory lyrics, is common at ballparks or anywhere else it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s news to me.\u00c2\u00a0 I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a bit partial to the shorter, more common version but maybe that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m used to.<\/p>\n

Music at ballparks has been a part of the game for a long time.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 According to various sources, the first baseball song appeared back in 1858, \u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Base Ball Polka!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 Rockin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, no doubt.\u00c2\u00a0 Fifty years later Jack Norworth was riding a train to a ballgame in New York and jotted down the lyrics to a little song that became \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Take Me Out to the Ball Game\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which has caught on a little bit.\u00c2\u00a0 There are some doubters as to the veracity of Norworth\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s account of writing the song and, in any event, historians say the song was actually more popular at movie theatres in the early 20th<\/sup> Century than it was at ballgames.\u00c2\u00a0 After all, the song is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Take Me Out To The Ballgame\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which is sort of a silly thing to demand when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re already at a game.\u00c2\u00a0 Moviegoers used to sing it while reels were being changed.\u00c2\u00a0 They had to do something.<\/p>\n

Maybe it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a strange bit of foreshadowing, or musical justice, that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Take Me Out To The Ballgame\u00e2\u20ac\u009d appeared in 1908.\u00c2\u00a0 Baseball fans across the globe, and especially on Chicago\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s North Side, know that 1908 was the last time the Cubs won the World Series.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Take Me Out To The Ballgame\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is associated with the Cubs and Wrigley Field more so than any other team or ballpark.\u00c2\u00a0 The song was sang at ballgames, before ballgames and at various other times for decades at many parks but didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t become truly popular as a sing-a-long until Harry Caray grabbed a microphone and started singing it, and, at the behest of baseball bon vivant<\/em> Bill Veeck, who owned the White Sox, urged the Comiskey Park crowds on Chicago\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s South Side to sing along with him.\u00c2\u00a0 That was in the 1970\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s.\u00c2\u00a0 Then, in 1981, Caray went to the North Side to announce for the Cubs and with an improving team, a gentrifying neighborhood around Wrigley Field and the explosion of cable TV coverage, Caray\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s seventh inning stretch became a national attraction.\u00c2\u00a0 But it all started on the South Side, with Chicago\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s other <\/em>team and so maybe that song, which many people believe is the Cubs\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 signature, is actually their curse.<\/p>\n

When Caray started belting out \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Take Me Out To The Ballgame\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in the 1970\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s at old Comiskey Park he did so to the accompaniment of Nancy Faust on the organ.\u00c2\u00a0 Ms. Faust began playing the organ for the White Sox in 1970 and continued pounding the keys all the way through this season but is now hanging up the pedal board and it appears there will be pre-recorded music on the South Side from now on.\u00c2\u00a0 Faust\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s retirement comes just a few months after another great silence, the death of former Yankees public address announcer Bob Sheppard.\u00c2\u00a0 Sheppard was the man behind the player introductions in the Bronx from 1951 to 2007, an unimaginable reign of mellifluous grace, elocution and elegance.\u00c2\u00a0 Sheppard would have turned 100 today, October 20th<\/sup>.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 He was called the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Voice of God.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 He probably liked \u00e2\u20ac\u0153God Bless America\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in any version.\u00c2\u00a0 He probably liked any song that emanates from a ballpark on a crisp October night and carries out into the darkness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Baseball history, as far as I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m concerned, was made during Tuesday night\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 10-3 victory for the Texas Rangers over the New York Yankees in Game Four of the American League Championship Series.\u00c2\u00a0 In the bottom of the 7th inning actor Patrick Wilson came out to perform \u00e2\u20ac\u0153God Bless America,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the singing of which has become […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":768,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[11763,21225,11770,5915,11757,11756,11760,11764,11769,444,11767,11762,11761,11768,11755,11759,11771,891,11765,11758,2224,1320,1051,11766],"class_list":["post-8748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-american-league-championship-series","tag-baseball-history","tag-bob-sheppard","tag-god-bless-america","tag-home-god","tag-home-sweet-home","tag-irving-berlin","tag-kate-smith","tag-nancy-faust","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-patrick-wilson","tag-ronald-reagan","tag-september-11-2001","tag-singing-a-song","tag-solemn-prayer","tag-storm-clouds","tag-take-me-out-to-the-ballgame","tag-texas-rangers","tag-u-s-army","tag-white-with-foam","tag-world-war-ii","tag-yankee-stadium","tag-yankees","tag-youtube"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/768"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8748\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}