Ten Favorite Soldier Songs: There's a Star-Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere (#2)

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Whoo, what a scorcher yesterday! We have a good turnout despite the heat and humidity. My playing was as cold as the icepack I had on my back, finishing tied for last. But I had fun, and I sweated off a couple of pounds. I'm down to fat-butt from lard-butt! I'm going to take the night to catch up on reading here, but first here's another song on my list of favorite songs about soldiers, inspired by @TRBRocks420 listing his favorite "American" and "patriotic" songs. Here's the penultimate song. #2: There's a Star-Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere - Elton Britt So you think country music just got popular in the last two decades? This was the first gold record award in country music history....from 1942. And this wasn't even the first million-selling record in country music (that distinction goes back to 1925). And this is a little different from the others. The protagonist in this song isn't a soldier. But he wants to be. In the immediate aftermath of the bombing of Pearl Harbor the lines at the induction centers were long. It happened again in recent history, following 9/11. In this song we have a man who is begging to enlist. He's willing to lay down his life to "bring the axis down a peg" and defeat the Nazis and the Imperial Japanese. He proudly proclaims, "God gave me the right to be a free American, for that precious right I'd gladly die." But there's a problem with this youngster: he's disabled. "Please don't judge my courage by my twisted leg," he tells the recruiter. "Let me show my Uncle Sam what I can do, sir." This was the biggest hit in the career of should-be Hall of Famer Elton Britt, whose career spanned the 40s through the 60s. As I said, it was the first song awarded a "gold record" for over a million records sold. This was awarded by the record company: "official" record sales weren't tallied and awarded by the RIAA until 1958. But that song certainly sold enough copies, striking a chord in patriotic Americans. Many patriotic and "war songs" followed, from "Smoke on the Water" (no, not the Deep Purple song, this was by Red Foley) to the comical "Der Führer's Face" by Spike Jones, but this was the first...and the best. There's a Star-Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere Written by Paul Roberts and Shelby Darnell Recorded by Elton Britt Released as a single, 1942 Only Uncle Sam's great heroes get to go there: