KATE SMITH'S 'GOD BLESS AMERICA'-HOW I LEARNED TO LOVE THIS SONG

This might sound a bit blasphemous on July 4th but back in the mid 70s I really hated Kate Smith-especially when she sang God Bless America.

This had nothing to do with a burning anti-American sentiment or a deeply rooted hatred of popular singers from the 1930s.

It had everything to do with the "Broad Street Bullies"- the 1974 and 75 Stanley Cup winning Philadelphia Flyers. I was a typical Canadian kid-frothing at the mouth over hockey. It was brutal to watch these thugs on skates beat the liver out of every team on the way to two championships.

I hated the Flyers. 

I hated the Flyers so much that I can't remember who I cheered for when Philadelphia played the Soviet Union Red Army team-and I loathed the Russians with every fiber of my Canuck soul. 

But the thing I remember most was how pumped up the fans at the Philadelphia Spectrum got when the Flyers played Kate's version of God Bless America-and the team...it was like a shot of pure adrenaline pumped right into the heart of these monsters on skates.

That was bad enough.

But when the Flyers brought in Kate to do a live version of God Bless America before a critical playoff game-that was rulebook changing. Kate put the team on a pure mood altering, jacked up natural steroid high. The kind of high that you can't test for but one that was clearly performance enhancing.

So Kate won the big one for the Flyers and nobody got caught. Years later I finally got it-this is a powerful song done by one of the most powerful female singers of the 20th Century-an homage to a country founded on the principles of freedom.

How could you not get pumped up by Kate doing God Bless America? It was simple collateral damage. I got caught up in it myself-that song is brilliant and Kate was unsurpassed in taking a note to another level. You can't teach that...

So here's my birthday gift to the United States on July 4th-a link to Kate's version of God Bless America as she did it back then live... for the Flyers.

I love hearing Kate belt out that song now-I get the magic behind the performance and the song...just don't ask me to love the 1974 and 75 Stanley Cup Champs.

Jerry Sutherland

COMMENTS:

DENNIS:"No matter who sings it, I still prefer "God BLESS America" to "God DAMN America".

SHELLEY""Right on  Jerry....didn't know what you would have written here...loved it..."