Smith Street, Brooklyn — © Brian Rose

I always knew there was a problem with Kate Smith and her campy version of “God Bless America” imposed upon us during the 7th inning stretch at every Yankee home game. I always knew that it was George Steinbrenner, the former Yankee owner, who demanded that it be played after the 911 attacks. Kate Smith’s recording of it had, for him, the desired jingoistic flavor. And I also knew that Woody Guthrie wrote “This Land is Your Land” as a reaction to the patriotic treacle of Irving Berlin’s song. Berlin, of course, was a Jewish Russian immigrant, and the song was written in 1918 during World War I, and it was revived by Kate Smith in 1938 as war loomed once again in Europe.

Mount Vernon, Virginia — © Brian Rose

It all gets complicated, really. Berlin wrote numerous enduring Broadway classics, and Guthrie wrote as many enduring songs of protest and social commentary. But there’s something about the way Kate Smith sang “God Bless America” that epitomized a certain kind of patriotism — the sort of patriotism that reeked of an uncritical sense of cultural superiority. So, I was not surprised when it was revealed that Kate Smith had also recorded the racist classics “That’s Why Darkies were Born” and “Pickaninny Heaven.”

Wiliamsburg, Virginia — © Brian Rose

There’s a video on YouTube of Irving Berlin himself singing “God Bless America.” It starts off with him alone on the stage, his wavering voice just barely able to reach the high notes, and I thought, okay, I can live with this. But then the curtains behind him open, the music swells, and a uniformed choir of boy scouts and girl scouts takes over in full-throated fervor, turning what started as a sentimental hymn to America into a bombastic, almost militaristic anthem. This performance was on the Ed Sullivan Show in May of 1968, the year of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, the Prague Spring uprising in Czechoslovakia, the assassination of Robert Kennedy,  and the wave of riots that swept across American cities after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

So, let us just say that “God Bless America” has a certain history, and it is not a safe, uncontroversial, paean to mountains and prairies. Kate Smith’s contralto, after 18 years of residence, is no longer welcome at Yankee Stadium. Good riddance.

Coney Island, New York — © Brian Rose