Americans celebrate Independence Day in many ways -- with fireworks, parades and barbecues. And from sea to shining sea, music has defined how Americans see themselves -- and their country.
Here are 10 songs that have captured the essence of the United States, as Americans celebrate the 249th anniversary of independence.
‘The Star-Spangled Banner’
Many singers have performed the national anthem, but Whitney Houston’s version in January 1991 before Super Bowl XXV in Tampa, Florida, remains the gold standard.
The lyrics to “The Star-Spangled Banner” were written by Francis Scott Key and were originally titled “Defence of Fort M’Henry.” The music was composed by John Stafford Smith and Ralph Tomlinson as the theme song for the Anacreontic Society, a London gentlemen’s society that met monthly between 1766 and 1791 to discuss music.
The song officially became the U.S. national anthem on March 3, 1931.
Houston’s rendition on Jan. 27, 1991, came 10 days into the Persian Gulf War, and Tampa Stadium was under high security alert as the New York Giants and Buffalo Bills prepared to play in the NFL’s marquee game.
In 2001, Kathryn Holm McManus, former executive director of the orchestra, told the St. Petersburg Times that “everyone was playing, and Whitney was singing, but there were no live microphones. Everyone was lip-synching or finger-synching.” That observation was confirmed in 2012 by Rickey Minor, who was Houston’s musical director in 1991. He said that while Houston sang the anthem live, the audience heard a prerecording version.
Within weeks, Arista Records released a single of Houston’s performance, with proceeds donated to the American Red Cross Gulf Crisis Fund. The song was rereleased after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Honorable mention goes to Marvin Gaye, who sang a soulful, funky version of the song at the 1983 NBA All-Star Game.
‘God Bless the U.S.A.’
Lee Greenwood released his signature song on May 21, 1984. It appeared on his third album, “You’ve Got a Good Love Comin’.”
The song is a favorite during the Fourth of July, whether it is played during fireworks shows or at family gatherings -- from the lakes of Minnesota, to the hills of Tennessee, or across the plains of Texas, from sea to shining sea.
The chorus -- “And I’m proud to be an American/Where at least I know I’m free” -- is timeless. Greenwood performed the song live at the 2017 and 2025 presidential inaugurations of Donald Trump.
‘This Land is Your Land’
Woody Guthrie wrote this song to make a statement against unrealistic and romanticized views of the United States. Simple and powerful, the song would earn a spot in the National Recording Registry.
The song was a reaction to Irving Berlin’s composition, “God Bless America.” While emphasizing his love for America, Guthrie also did not mince words as he sang that the Great Depression did not make many Americans feel as if they were blessed.
At Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration celebration in January 2009, Bruce Springsteen and folk legend Pete Seeger performed the song from start to finish.
‘Party in the U.S.A.’
When they’re playing your song, you have to put your hands up -- and that is what Miley Cyrus does in this 2009 classic.
Cyrus has admitted that when she recorded Party in the U.S.A.," she had never listened to a song by Jay-Z, the rapper/songwriter who is referenced in the song. Nevertheless, the song about a coming-of-age singer traveling to Los Angeles from Nashville rose to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August and September 2009.
The song was featured on Cyrus’ “The Time of Our Lives” EP, which reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200.
‘America the Beautiful’
Ray Charles’ 1972 version of “America the Beautiful” might be the best version of the poem written by Katharine Lee Bates in 1893. Bates said she was inspired to write her poem after visiting Pike’s Peak that year; she published it two years later, and the song was set to the music of S. A. Ward’s “Materna.”
She had traveled west from Wellesley College in Massachusetts to teach a summer course in Colorado Springs.
Charles memorably sang “America the Beautiful” on Oct. 28, 2001, before Game 2 of the World Series. His performance came less than two months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
‘Born in the U.S.A.’
Bruce Springsteen intended “Born in the U.S.A. to call attention to the negative effects of the Vietnam War and the treatment veterans received after they returned home. Instead, the soaring music has become a nationalistic anthem.
“Nowhere to run/ain’t got nowhere to go,” the Boss sang.
The song was the third single from Springsteen’s seventh studio album and the second album to top the Billboard 200. The song peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1985 and was nominated for a Grammy Award.
‘Living in America’
James Brown is at his exuberant best in this 1985 song, which reached No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot 100 in March 1986.
“Eye to eye, station to station,“ Soul Brother No. 1 sings. ”Hand in hand, across the nation.”
The song was taken from the “Rocky IV” soundtrack and from “Gravity,” his 53rd studio album. It also landed Brown a Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a male.
‘American Pie (Parts I and II)’
The day the music died. In 1972, Americans drove their Chevys to the levees, but the levees were dry.
Don McLean’s “American Pie” -- a rock ‘n’ roll timeline from the death of Buddy Holly in 1959 until the early 1970s -- topped Billboard’s Hot 100 for four weeks in early 1972 and received four Grammy nominations, including for record and song of the year. The song would be inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2003, and McLean would be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame the following year.
“American Pie” was selected as one of the five greatest songs of the 20th century in a poll by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Recording Industry Association of America. The other four songs: “This Land is Your Land,” “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” “Respect” and “White Christmas.”
“God’s Country”
Blake Shelton said his 2019 hit, “God’s Country,” felt like “a combination of ‘Ole Red’ and ‘A Country Boy Can Survive’ to me, which definitely has a place in country music. Those songs are rare.”
The hit single won best song honors in 2019 in the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Awards balloting.
‘God Bless America’
Kate Smith belted out this song for the first time on Nov. 11, 1938. The tune was started 20 years earlier by Irving Berlin, who finished it in 1938 and handed the song to Smith.
The singer performed it on her CBS radio show, “The Kate Smith Hour,” to coincide with the 20th anniversary of Armistice Day.
The song with the stirring patriotic theme was among the first songs added to the Library of Congress’ National Recorded Sound Registry.
Smith also performed the song on film for the 1943 movie “This Is the Army,” with the unforgettable lyrics, “God bless America, my home sweet home.”
© 2025 Cox Media Group
Sign Up
