2010 Soap Box Archives

This week as we celebrate the 234th anniversary of the independence of the United States of America I wanted to write something special about the birthday of the nation that I love with all my heart.

Several years ago I wrote and recorded a recitation I called "My Beautiful America" and I don't think I could say happy birthday to our country any better.

Happy Independence Day!

My Beautiful America

Have you ever spent the late afternoon watching the purple shadows deepen in the Arizona desert, or seen a herd of elk plow their way through waist deep snow on a cold Colorado dawn?

Did you ever see the sun go down in Hawaii or see the stormy waves break over the rock bound coast of Maine, or have you ever seen an eagle fly up out of the mists of Alaska or a big October moon hanging full over the still Dakota Badlands?

Have you ever tasted the gumbo in New Orleans, the barbecue in Carolina or the chicken wings in Buffalo? Have you ever had Brunswick stew in Macon or cornbread in Birmingham or brisket slow cooked over hill country mesquite wood?

Did you ever drink water from a gurgling branch in Utah or stand on the mountain above El Paso Del Norte and see the lights twinkling clear over into Mexico?

Did you ever jingle horses in the predawn stillness of a perfect Texas day and watch their shod hooves kicking up sparks on the volcanic rock or tended a trotline on a foggy Carolina morning, or heard the distant song of a lovesick whippoorwill in the pristine Tennessee late night?

Have you seen the faces on Mount Rushmore or stood at the Vietnam monument? Have you ever crossed the mighty Mississippi or been to the Daddy of 'Em All in Cheyenne, Wyoming or seen the mighty Vols run out on the football field on a chilly autumn afternoon?

Did you ever see the Chicago skyline from Lakeshore Drive at night or the New England foliage in the fall or the summer beauty of the Shenandoah Valley or Indiana covered with new snow?

Did you ever see a herd of wild horses running free across the empty spaces of Nevada or caught a walleyed pike out of a cold Wisconsin stream, or marveled at the tall ships docked in the harbor at Baltimore?

Did you ever see the early morning dew sparkling on the bluegrass or the wind stir the wheat fields on a hot Kansas afternoon or drove the lonely stretches of old Route 66?

Have you ever heard the church bells peal their call to worship on a early Sunday in some small town in the Deep South, or passed through the redwood forests as the sun was going down?

Have you ever been to Boise or Baxley or Beaufort or Billings? Have you ever passed through Sanford or Suffolk or San Angelo? Have you seen the falls at Niagara, the Ice Palace in St. Paul or the gateway to the west?

This then is America, the land God blesses with everything and no Eiffel Tower, no Taj Mahal, no Alps, nor Andes, no native hut, nor royal palace can rival her awesome beauty, her diverse population, her monolithic majesty. America the free, America the mighty, America the beautiful.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
and to the republic, for which it stands
one nation
under God
indivisible
with liberty and justice for all.

What do you think?

Pray for our troops, and for our country.

God Bless America.

Charlie Daniels

©Copyright The Charlie Daniels Band