America

The images here (taken from royalty-free sites, my own photographs and from the wonderful work of Keith Henty of Ashland, Oregon) are just impressions of what the song means to me and do not exactly track the lyrics. I feel conflicted about putting other media to my lyrics as it might dilute the original work. But, on the other hand, images can enhance the impact. I’m not a good judge.
(youtube cuts off the final end of song; I give up on trying to fix it)
To hear just the audio you can go to shorturl.at/sjP4D (soundcloud).
America
4th of July, in the middle of America
We played in the band
My brother and I, cornet and clarinet
Echoed across the land
We marched to the park, speeches were made
On how we came to be free
hands on our hearts, voices raised
“Oh say can you see?”
America
Sun went down on the middle of America
We looked to the sky
Fireworks filled the air above
And we began to cry
I was going off to college
My brother would remain
And so we watched our grand finale
Over amber waves of grain
In America
With beautiful and gracious eyes
We stayed up till the dawn
Such beautiful and graceful lives
How could we not go on?
4th of July in the middle of America
There’s no marching band
My brother and I, there’s nothing there and
It echoes across the land
We sit and watch,our daughters and sons
Run wild and free
It’s getting dark, the day is done
Oh say can you see?
America