Song 41 in Easy Piano for Adults and Seniors

America the Beautiful

Also known as: O Beautiful for Spacious Skies, MATERNA

Every recording starts with four clicks to set the speed. Start with the slow one. Tap ▶ to play.

Piano

For Easy Piano for Adults and Seniors.

Slow (70% speed) (1:06)
Learn with this one first.

Normal speed (0:47)
The speed printed on the page.

Play-along (0:47)
Just the accompaniment, no tune: you play or sing the melody.

O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed his grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat Across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine every flaw
Confirm thy soul in self control, Thy liberty in law!
O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved, And mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine,
Till all success be nobleness, And every gain divine.
O beautiful for patriot dream That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam Undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God shed his grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea!

Music: Samuel Augustus Ward (1848–1903), tune MATERNA
Words: Katharine Lee Bates (1859–1929)
First published: Tune 1882 (MATERNA, as a hymn tune); poem 1895, final text 1911; joined 1910
Copyright: Public domain in the US, UK and EU. The arrangement and recordings belong to the book.