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From television commercials to political rallies to sporting events, Lee Greenwood’s anthem “God Bless the U.S.A.” is recognizable on any stage. Nearly four decades after he wrote it, Greenwood still closes his shows with his most popular song. But what changes would he make to it if he could? And what inspired him then — and does now — about America? We spoke with Greenwood over the phone and asked.
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AARP: What was your inspiration for “God Bless the U.S.A.”?
Greenwood: It was the Vietnam era, and I was living in Las Vegas during the Vietnam crisis. I’m gonna call it a war because it was a war. My father had joined the Navy after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and I was just wondering if there was anything that I should be doing because I was not in the military. Even though things were really good for me, I never lost that feeling. One night I got the inspiration, and I remembered what I felt like as a kid playing in the American Legion Drum and Bugle Corps in Sacramento — and when I was the drum major of my high school marching band playing the national anthem. I just loved the pageantry; I love the feeling of unity; I love the feeling of bringing people to their feet as Americans and celebrating America. So I finally got to the point where I said, “I need to do something, and it feels good to do it now.”
AARP: Did you ever expect the reaction to the song to be as big as it was?
Greenwood: No. “God Bless the U.S.A.,” in my mind, was never going to be a single to be released, and that’s important in the old days. When I first sang it on stage, which was probably a month or so after I wrote it, and it was a little surprising to me that people came to their feet. We only had it in the middle of the show for a few more times before it became my closer because there was no way I could follow it.
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