The Duke offers inspiration for Independence Day.
In 1973, John Wayne released America, Why I Love Her, an album that showcased him reciting patriotic poems written by actor John Mitchum — brother of actor Robert Mitchum — with backing from a choir and orchestra. Wayne would later say that one of his favorite cuts on the LP — which was nominated for a 1974 Grammy Award as Best Spoken Word Album — was the stirring “Why I Love Her,” which expresses timeless sentiments especially appropriate for a July 4th celebration.
The sentiments expressed:
“You ask me why I love her? Well, give me time, and I'll explain...
Have you seen a Kansas sunset or an Arizona rain?
Have you drifted on a bayou down Louisiana way?
Have you watched the cold fog drifting over San Francisco Bay?
“Have you heard a Bobwhite calling in the Carolina pines?
Or heard the bellow of a diesel in the Appalachia mines?
Does the call of Niagara thrill you when you hear her waters roar?
Do you look with awe and wonder at a Massachusetts shore...
Where men who braved a hard new world, first stepped on Plymouth Rock?
And do you think of them when you stroll along a New York City dock ?
“Have you seen a snowflake drifting in the Rockies...way up high?
Have you seen the sun come blazing down from a bright Nevada sky?
Do you hail to the Columbia as she rushes to the sea...
Or bow your head at Gettysburg... in our struggle to be free?”
“Have you seen the mighty Tetons? Have you watched an eagle soar?
Have you seen the Mississippi roll along Missouri's shore?
Have you felt a chill at Michigan, when on a winters day,
Her waters rage along the shore in a thunderous display?
Does the word ‘Aloha’ make you warm?
Do you stare in disbelief when you see the surf come roaring in at Waimea reef?
“From Alaska's gold to the Everglades... from the Rio Grande to Maine...
My heart cries out... my pulse runs fast at the might of her domain.
You ask me why I love her? I’ve a million reasons why.
My beautiful America... beneath God’s wide, wide sky.”
The C&I crew would like to join The Duke in wishing you: Happy Independence Day!
