American Patriotic Music

Here's a collection of traditional American patriotic songs, early American music, and classical music selections that quote patriotic tunes.

Irving Berlin's most famous patriotic song is “God Bless America,” but he wrote many others, including “When I Get Back to the USA” from 1915. The chorus includes “America” (“My Country 'Tis of Thee”) in counterpoint with Berlin's tune.

Sometimes called the first American song, “My Days Have Been So Wondrous Free” was written by Francis Hopkinson, an early American composer and a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

This setting of Yankee Doodle with Variations was composed by James Hewitt (1770-1827), an early American composer and music publisher.

Francis Scott Key's famous poem “The Star-Spangled Banner” was sung to dozens of different tunes. This simple arrangement, published in 1816 by Carr's Music Store in Baltimore, is the earliest appearance in print of “The Star-Spangled Banner” set to the tune “To Anacreon in Heaven,” which is now our national anthem.

Until “The Star-Spangled Banner” was designated the official national anthem in 1931, the United States had a second national anthem called “Hail Columbia.” The music for “Hail Columbia” came from The President's March, written by Philip Pfeil (or Phile) to commemorate Washington's inauguration. The words were written by Joseph Hopkinson (the son of Frances Hopkinson, mentioned above).

The Stars and Stripes Forever is Sousa's best-known march and serves as the official march of the United States. We've included an arrangement for piano six-hands adapted from Sousa's published six-hand version.

American Patriotic Music files	MP3	MIDI	Lyrics
The Star-Spangled Banner	mp3		lyrics
When I Get Back to the USA	mp3		lyrics
My Days Have Been So Wondrous Free	mp3		lyrics
Yankee Doodle with Variations	mp3		lyrics
Hail Columbia	mp3		lyrics
The Stars and Stripes Forever	mp3		lyrics
America the Beautiful			lyrics

Patriotic Music Online is a service of the USAF Heritage of America band. Download free MP3s of "God Bless America" and many more.

The First Brigade Band performs Civil-War era music on historic instruments. They offer several CDs and tapes, and their site has some mp3 clips, including many versions of The Star-Spangled Banner.

Patriotic Melodies, a site from the Library of Congress, has sheet music and sound clips for the Star-Spangled Banner, Stars and Stripes Forever, America the Beautiful, and many other patriotic favorites.

The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music has information on a wide variety of American sheet music, patriotic and otherwise. Scanned images are available of many public domain songs.