Lyr Add: I am An American

Subject: Lyr Add: I am An American
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 04 Feb 17 - 07:20 PM

3 May 1941: The United States Congress jointly approved Public Resolution No. 67, (54 Stat. 178) designating the third Sunday in May every year as Citizenship Day.

I am An American
(Shout! Wherever You May Be)
Lyric and Music Ira Schuster, Paul Cunningham and Leonard Whitcup

On the street, in the home
in a crowd or alone, shout!
Wherever you may be.
I am an American, I am,
from the heart of me.
Rich or liberty.

In the fact'ry, in the mill,
thru' each valley, from each hill,
raise your voice and give America a thrill!
On the farms, in the schools,
show the world we're no fools, shout!
Wherever you may be,
I am an American, I am
ev'ry part of me!

From Alaska's snowy peaks,
to the Southland's muddy creeks,
listen in, because America now speaks!

On the poor, young and old,
let this message be told, shout!
Wherever you may be.
I am an American,
I'm proud of my country!

In the fact'ry, in the mill,
thru' each valley, from each hill,
raise your voice and give America a thrill!
On the farms, in the schools,
let's have one set of rules, shout!
Wherever you may be,
I am an American, I am
ev'ry part of me!
From Alaska's snowy peaks,
to the Southland's muddy creeks,
listen in, because America now speaks!

©1940, 1968 Edwin H. Morris & Co.
The Greatest American Songbook (Milwaukee: Hal Leonard, 1991, p.42)

Note: The American writing team of Cunningham & Whitcup is the same as brought you From The Vine Came The Grapes &
Bible on the Table and the Flag upon the Wall. Here they hook up with Tin Pan Alley legend Ira Schuster.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I am An American
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 04 Feb 17 - 07:21 PM

"I Am An American Day" – 1941

Although this is a scientific journal, it is also an American Journal. Hence it is fitting and desirable that the following proclamation should appear in it.

By The President Of The United States of America
A Proclamation

Whereas Public Resolution No. 67, approved May 3, 1940 (54 Stat. 178), provides, in part:

That the third Sunday in May each year be, and hereby is set aside as Citizenship Day and that the President of the United States is hereby authorized and requested to issue annually a proclamation setting aside that day as a public occasion for the recognition of all who, by coming of age or naturalization, have attained the status of citizenship, and the day shall be designated as "I Am An American" Day.

That the civil and educational authorities of States, counties, cities and towns be, and they are hereby, urged to make plans for the proper observance of this day and for the full instruction of future citizens of the United States and of the States and localities in which they reside:

Now, Therefore, I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate Sunday, May 18, 1941, as "I Am An American" Day and urge that this day be observed as a public occasion in recognition of our citizens who have attained their majority or who have been naturalized within the past year. And I do call upon all Federal, State, and local officials, and all patriotic, civil and educational organizations to join in exercises calculated to impress upon all our citizens, both native-born and naturalized, the special significance of citizenship in the Nation.

In witness whereof, I have hereto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I am An American
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 04 Feb 17 - 07:26 PM

Note: The preceding post is from: Popular Astronomy, Vol. 49, October, 1941, p.284.

7 December 1941, Battle of Pearl Harbor. The "Day That Shall Live in Infamy."

19 February 1942: American President Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) issued Executive Order 9066 and approximately 90000 Americans (70000 Japanese; 11000 Germans and 3000 Italians went off to prison camps as a 'military necessity' of WWII.

The Stone (Supreme) Court, made up largely of 'progressive' Roosevelt appointees affirmed the legality of Order 9006 in 1944 (Korematsu v. U.S.) Lone 'conservative' Justice Roberts joined the dissent.

Ultra-conservative J. Edgar Hoover (FBI) had already done much the same but conservative California Governor and future Chief Justice Earl Warren (R) outflanked him using the freshly minted 1940 Federal Census data to track down Japanese-Americans living in his state.

Warren himself would be nominated to the Court by Eisenhower (R) yet the 'Warren Court' is mostly noted for its progressive decisions (Brown v. Board; Gideon; Miranda; &c.) and he couldn't get elected dog catcher or just speak at a public university in his home state today.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I am An American
From: Jack Campin
Date: 04 Feb 17 - 08:27 PM

Rich or liberty.

Is that a typo? It doesn't make sense.

Was it meant to be something newly naturalized immigrants could sing to celebrate their American-ness? Weird.

It's hard to see why anybody would have wanted to reprint that nonsense in 1968 or 1991.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I am An American
From: meself
Date: 04 Feb 17 - 09:01 PM

Probably is supposed to be 'rich IN liberty' ... ?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I am An American
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 04 Feb 17 - 09:57 PM

"Rich or liberty" &c.

That's how it reads in the songbook and the one piece of sheet music I've seen for it. I take it in the "camel through the eye of the needle" genre but never put much thought in it really. I just types 'em like I sees 'em.

I think H. Leonard would set the phone directory to music if it would sell and apparently this one did, esp. to the drum & bugle bunch. It was a fairly popular wartime civic anthem eventually supplanted by the Guthrie & Berlin stuff.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I am An American
From: Joe Offer
Date: 04 Feb 17 - 10:13 PM

Here's another version, quite different. I found it here:
http://www.usa-flag-site.org/forum/threads/i-am-an-american-song.901/. No "Shout!" in this version.

I AM AN AMERICAN
lyric and music by Ira Schuster, Paul Cunningham and Leonard Whiteup (1940)~

On the street, in the home,
In a crowd, or alone,
Wherever you may be,
I am an American,
I am, from the heart of me.

Rich or poor, young and old,
Let the message be told,
Wherever you may be,
I am an American,
I'm proud of my liberty.

In the fact'ry, in the mill,
Thru each valley, from each hill,
Raise your voice and give America a thrill,
On the farms, in the schools,
Let's have one set of rules,
Wherever you may be,

I am an American,
I am, ev'ry part of me.
From Alaska's snowy peaks,
To the Southland's muddy creeks,
Listen in because America now speaks,
America now speaks.

On the farms, in the schools,
Let's have one set of rules,
Wherever you may be,
I am an American,
I am, ev'ry part of me! ​

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I am An American
From: Joe Offer
Date: 04 Feb 17 - 10:44 PM

Here's a recorded version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMwUB3vaHVI

Despite the label billing of "Gray Gordon and his Tic-Toc Rhythm," Gordon set aside his usual gimmicky tick-tock sound effects for a more serious approach to this patriotic theme. Though it has a WW2 feel to it, the track was recorded more than a year prior to the Pearl Harbor attack.

Transferred from the original 78rpm: Bluebird 10783 - (Shout Wherever You May Be) I Am An American (Schuster-Cunningham-Whitcup) by Gray Gordon and his Tic-Toc Rhythm, vocal by Meredith Blake, Art Perry and Chorus, recorded June 21, 1940

I AM AN AMERICAN (Shout Wherever You May Be)
(Lyric and Music Ira Schuster, Paul Cunningham and Leonard Whitcup)

[fanfare, then spoken voice]
We present today a guest star
You'll forget who all the rest are
When you meet this man;
For now at last, you can
So prepare to do your cheering,
For the next voice you'll be hearing
Represents a truly great American.

[male singer]
On the street, in the home
in a crowd or alone,
Shout! wherever you may be.
I am an American,
I am, from the heart of me.

Rich or poor, young and old,
Let this message be told,
Shout! wherever you may be,
I am an American,
I'm proud of my liberty.

In the fact'ry, in the mill,
thru' each valley, from each hill,
raise your voice and give America a thrill!
On the farms, in the schools,
show the world we're no fools,
Shout! wherever you may be,
I am an American....
[cheers and voices from crowd: "So am I! I'm an American! Me too!"]

[female singer]
[spoken] I, too, am an American.
[sung] And although I'm no man,
I'm for you, Uncle Sam,
I'll shout! wherever I may be,
I am an American,
I am, from the heart of me.
And although I'm no lad,
Like my brother and my dad,
I'll shout! wherever I may be,
I am an American,
I'm proud of my liberty.


[all] In the fact'ry, in the mill,
thru' each valley, from each hill,
raise your voice and give America a thrill!
On the farms, in the schools,
show the world that we're no fools,
Shout! wherever you may be,
I am an American,
I am, every part of me.


[announcer - spoken]
Let us fervently hope that the spirit of this song will reach into the heart of all America.


Joe's opinion: It makes me a bit nervous to post this jingoistic crap when we have an idiot like Trump on the throne.

Subject: Lyr Add: I am An American
From: Joe Offer
Date: 04 Feb 17 - 11:20 PM

But there's a Vietnam-era version of this song, too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV5PMgqeWjg

by Paul Lavalle and the Band of America from the RCA Victor album, Salute to Our Fighting Men in Vietnam

SHOUT! WHEREVER YOU MAY BE]
I AM AN AMERICAN

From Alaska's snowy peaks,
to the Southland's muddy creeks,
listen in, because America now speaks!

On the street, in the home
in a crowd or alone,
Shout! wherever you may be.
I am an American,
I am, from the heart of me.

Rich or poor, young and old,
Let this message be told,
Shout! wherever you may be,
I am an American,
I'm proud of my liberty.

In the fact'ry, in the mill,
thru' each valley, from each hill,
raise your voice and give America a thrill!
On the farms, in the schools,
Let's have one set of rules:
Shout wherever you may be,
I am an American
I am, every part of me.

From Alaska's snowy peaks,
to the Southland's muddy creeks,
listen in, because America now speaks!
On the farms, in the schools,
Let's have one set of rules:
Shout wherever you may be,
I am an American
I am, every part of me.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I am An American
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 06 Feb 17 - 05:51 AM

Joe: "...that idiot..."
If you intend to defeat your own national leader at his own game (politics of power) please to update your insult glossary. IMO: Seems, you have a worthy and determined opponent on your hands there.

"...in office."
Never forget, most of the world can't even name your two major political parties. You are just… "American" to the rest of us.

And if I sound a tad bit bitter here well... we Conchs were the very first to experience your penchant for 'sending in the Marines' in the The Battle of Nassau and we didn't even get a bleeping line in your bleeping Hymn!

PS: The H. Leonard version, first verse: "we're no fools" second verse "same set of rules." Which is the line that stuck in my head reading the Flag on the Wall... thread. So I'm remembering your versions methinks.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I am An American
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 06 Feb 17 - 05:57 AM

Back on topic, in 1940 a lot of folks were wondering just what the "H" FDR was waiting for. Answer, partly: for the "jingoistic crap" to unite the various American political, ethnic and religious factions for what he wanted to do with them, war on fascism.

For those not familiar with the running theme of the Cunningham / Whitcup catalog, here and in the linked song threads, see Frederick Jackson Turner's Frontier Theory and his work on American sectionalism (1933 Pulitzer for history.)

"I regard the American people as a great embryo poet, now moody, now wild, but bringing out results of absolute good sense: restless and wayward in action, but with deep peace at his heart; exulting that he has caught the true aspect of things past, and the depth of futurity which lies before him, wherein to create something so magnificent as the world has scarcely begun to dream of. There is the strongest hope of a nation that is capable of being possessed with an idea."

Harriet Martineau, 1834, as quoted by Turner.

PS: Congrats to Boston's own Patriots.