{"id":7005,"date":"2001-10-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2001-10-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2019-11-07T13:00:33","modified_gmt":"2019-11-07T17:00:33","slug":"america-for-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/?p=7005","title":{"rendered":"America For Me"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"audio\">\n<div class=\"alignright caption\"><a href=\"?page_id=6069\">How do I download this Mp3?<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"audio_link\">Mp3: <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden\/php\/images\/America.png\" width=\"400\/\"\/><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden\/php\/music\/America.mp3\">Click Here America For Me<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"about\">I first came across this poem in 1981, in San Francisco at my sister-in-law&#8217;s house.  My wife Camilla was looking through a poetry book that she&#8217;d owned in high school, and said, &#8216;wouldn&#8217;t this make a great song?&#8217; I got out my 12-string guitar and made up a melody on the spot. &#8216;America For Me&#8217; was written by Henry Van Dyke. Born November 10, 1852, in Germantown, Pennsylvania, and educated in theology at Brooklyn Polytechnic, Princeton, and Berlin, Henry Van Dyke worked twenty years as a minister, first in Newport, Rhode Island, from 1879 to 1883 and next in New York until 1899. His Christmas sermons, his essays, and his short stories made him a popular writer. His poems reveal a classical education as well as a common touch in matters of faith. He became Professor of English Literature at Princeton in 1900. During World War I he acted as American Minister to the Netherlands (1913- 1916) and then naval chaplain, for which he was awarded the Legion of Honor. He died April 10, 1933.<\/p>\n<p>I respectfully submit this song for the Folk Den, in honor of all Americans, in the face of this great tragedy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"lyrics-header\">Lyrics:<\/div>\n<div class=\"lyrics\">\n[Am] &#8216;Tis fine to see the [D] Old World, and [G] travel up and [Em] down<\/p>\n<p>Among the famous [C] palaces and [D] cities of [G] renown<\/p>\n<p>To [Am] admire the crumbly [D] castles and the [G] statues of the [Em] kings, &#8212;<\/p>\n<p>But [C] now I think I&#8217;ve had enough of [D] antiquated [D] things.<\/p>\n<p>So it&#8217;s [Am] home again, and home [D] again, [G] America for [Em] me!<\/p>\n<p>My [C] heart is turning [D] home again, and there I long to [G] be<\/p>\n<p>In the [Am] land of youth and [D] freedom [G] beyond the ocean [Em] bars<\/p>\n<p>Where the [C] air is full of [D] sunlight and the flag is full of [G] stars!<\/p>\n<p>Oh London is a man&#8217;s town, there&#8217;s power in the air<\/p>\n<p>And Paris is a woman&#8217;s town, with flowers in her hair;<\/p>\n<p>And it&#8217;s sweet to dream in Venice, and it&#8217;s great to study Rome;<\/p>\n<p>But when it comes to living there is no place like home.<\/p>\n<p>I like the German fir-woods, in green battalions drilled<\/p>\n<p>I like the gardens of Versailles with flashing fountains filled;<\/p>\n<p>But, oh, to take your hand, my dear, and ramble for a day<\/p>\n<p>In the friendly western woodland where Nature has her way!<\/p>\n<p>I know that Europe&#8217;s wonderful, yet something seems to lack:<\/p>\n<p>The Past is too much with her, and the people looking back.<\/p>\n<p>But the glory of the Present is to make the Future free, &#8212;<\/p>\n<p>We love our land for what she is and what she is to be.<\/p>\n<p>Oh, it&#8217;s home again, and home again, America for me!<\/p>\n<p>I want a ship that&#8217;s westward bound to plough the rolling sea,<\/p>\n<p>To the blessed Land of Room Enough beyond the ocean bars,<\/p>\n<p>Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of stars!<\/p>\n<p>~Words by Henry Van Dyke \/ Music by Roger McGuinn~<\/p>\n<p>\u00ef\u00bf\u00bd 1981 McGuinn Music \/ Roger McGuinn<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How do I download this Mp3? Mp3: Click Here America For Me I first came across this poem in 1981, in San Francisco at my sister-in-law&#8217;s house. My wife Camilla was looking through a poetry book that she&#8217;d owned in high school, and said, &#8216;wouldn&#8217;t this make a great song?&#8217; I got out my 12-string &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/?p=7005\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;America For Me&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-patriotic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7005"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8549,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7005\/revisions\/8549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}