This Is My Country

"This Is My Country" is an American patriotic song composed in 1940. The lyrics are by Don Raye and the music is by Al Jacobs. Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians were the first to record the song, in 1942. The song has played at the end of Walt Disney World and Disneyland fireworks shows.

Lyrics
The song begins slowly, opening with this introductory verse:


 * What difference if I hail from North or South
 * Or from the East or West?
 * My heart is filled with love
 * For all of these.
 * I only know I swell with pride
 * And deep within my breast
 * I thrill to see Old Glory
 * Paint the breeze.

A second, rarely performed, verse reads,


 * With hand upon my heart, I thank the Lord for this, my native land, for all I love is here within her gates
 * My soul is rooted deeply in the soil on which I stand, for these are mine, my own United States!

It then swings into a march tempo for the chorus.

The song is made notable by the fact that it honors both Americans by birth and choice. The first chorus reads:


 * This is my country
 * Land of my birth
 * This is my country
 * Grandest on Earth

While the second chorus (sung on a repeat, as the introduction is usually not repeated) instead reads:


 * This is my country
 * Land of my choice
 * This is my country
 * Hear my proud voice.

Both versions join together at the ending:


 * I pledge thee my allegiance
 * America the bold
 * For this is my country
 * To have and to hold