Lee Greenwood on Music, Patriotism, and the Power of Lyrics | CLIP | Bay Area Innovators

[Music] I think your song, God Bless the USA, transcends in so many ways, transcends music, transcends entertainment. It really goes beyond u all of that. And I think a lot of it has to do with kind of the way you express it like you you kind of walk the talk, right? You you you really feel it. So tell us how did you come up with the words, you know, the process you went through to to to create the song and the music. I've heard it said several times that the words are indelible. Um I'm not extremely prophetic and and I would tell you that English was not a great subject for me. However, because in my early days I didn't make an awful lot of money and sometimes I had to write letters to people uh about expressing my sympathy for not paying bills on time or whatever. And I got pretty good at letterw writing and and I got better at English uh because every time I knew how didn't know how to spell a word, I'd get the dictionary and I look it up and so I'm actually pretty good spelling. And so the words and the and the dictionary and the encyclopedia brings me to a better understanding of geography. And when I wrote God Bless USA, you notice that I mentioned cities in God Bless, which which if you get out of Compass and you look at Nashville, Tennessee, where I now res reside and moved to uh in 1979, if you go from Nashville to St. Louis or Chicago or Virginia or Fort Lauderdale or Dallas, Texas, we're almost in the center of that hub. And so I'm I'm looking at the United States before I wrote God Bless USA to find out how I encompassed the entire country. And remember this that I USA is maybe an umbrella for my career because it's the best known song I've ever had, but it's not a parachute. And I say that because I have 11 country songs that that went number one [Music] more than life now more than ever. Somebody's going to love you. No matter what you do, I've lost her all the way this time. She's going and 36 stu studio albums as a country artist employed by five different record companies. So that's first some and as a singer musician and then a writer and when I say God Bless USA represent my entire career that may not be exactly true. I was a performer of a well-known performer in Nevada for 20 years. uh from Reno and Lake Tahoe to Las Vegas and beyond and moving to Nashville, Tennessee and become a touring country artist. Then I discovered a wider breadth of the country that I could relate to because I'm only from the West Coast at first. And so knowing that um God Bless the USA represented for me my love of the country and it certainly has taken on its own life. uh after um song of the year in 1985 for the country music association, the song that lifted America uh during the Gulf War presented by General Schwarzko before they went to war with Iraq. Um the attack on America in 2001, which seems everybody had forgotten. Uh, and I sang three times in New York City. And you can Google the performance at Yankee Stadium twice. Once for the Fireman's Memorial and then for the fourth game of the World Series and Lifting America back up again off its knees. I just watched that that performance, the game for the Arizona and the Yankees. And I have to say, you you know, you you look a little bit older, but not much older than you looked back then. And that's pretty amazing. But yeah, I I just watched that a few minutes ago and that was pretty pretty amazing. Yeah, please keep going. You know, as an interesting sidebar, I've just been nominated and elected uh to be a member of Horatio Alger, which is a society that supports young scholars who had very adverse beginnings. And one of my 12 uh recipients who are all honored at the same time is Ken Kendricks. Ken Kendricks is owning and managing partner of the Arizona Diamondbacks. And so we had conversation about that fourth game of the World Series that year between the Yankees and the Diamondbacks in New York City. And New York kept pulling it out until the seventh game, which went back to Arizona. And Arizona ended up winning in the seventh game. But but that moment, that defining moment of America getting off its knees and me purposely wearing the red, white, and blue jacket. And there was a lot of conversation about do you wear America's colors as clothes? Um, and of course I respected that. And then Congress and the Supreme Court basically said, you know, it's that's not a desecration of our colors to wear it as a piece of clothing. And then it was Katie bar the door. Everybody started wearing red, white, and blue of everything. It wasn't necessarily wearing and wrapping yourself in the flag as an Olympian might do once they win an Olympic med medal. But that performance defined, I think, how I felt about the country and how everybody else felt about the country after we were attacked by a terrorist organization, which was a country without a flag. I I want to ask you about the faith and the role faith plays in uh not just in your life, but in your in your artistic endeavors, in your music, and particularly in the in the God Bless the USA, and how you thought about faith when you when you wrote the song. Um, glad you asked that. That it's interesting about my personal life. Um, my grandparents who were my guardians made sure that they sent me to church and I went to the First Baptist church in North Sacramento when I sang in the choir since I was like 9, 10, 11 years old. I remember my first song that I ever sang in church was Oh Holy Night. And I was scared to death. Um because the pastor was all full of brim and fire and and and I was scared of him, you know, but but singing in the choir gave me a great deal of spirit and harmony and and I I had such a very high voice that I sang with the soprano section which is all girls and that was good for a young teenager. Uh I enjoyed having the faith and the spirit. Now, as I began to chase my career and I moved away from home at 17 and went to Nevada, I don't believe I had a lot of faith in Nevada. I was was chasing my career so very hard. I had a marriage and and a divorce, another marriage and a divorce. And it just I could not find the thing that would keep my feet on the ground. When I moved to Nashville, um, I finally met the woman who I fell in love with, uh, who was a former Miss Tennessee, uh, Kimberly Payne. And, uh, we remarried in 1992. And her family was wonderful Christians. And they brought me back to the faith that I had been missing. And so, I had already already written God Bless USA in a search for that faith. But when Kim came into my life in and uh I guess she was 89 1989 I'd already lived with my song for some years as you know for six years and it always already was heralded not just by the country but the world as an American anthem. Kim embraced that part of my career uh and let me know that she wanted me to have the strongest faith I probably possibly could have. And I believe she's the one that that brought me back to belief that I knew was there. I just was missing it. Yeah. The reason I asked that is because people of faith believe that um in in many ways praying or honoring God gives returns, right? And and I think most would agree that America is blessed in so many ways. I lived in a different country and and I know what it's like. And it's it's very different. It's it's you know, we we have it much better here. There's no question about it. So when you have this song and I have to say that because your song is so famous and and so well known, it tends to overlook your other aspect of the career, you know, that that that that just happens. But because of the title of the song and the way you express it, in a way it is honoring us or or thank thanking gods or or asking us to bless the USA. So that may actually have an effect in some way in some form on the country itself. Is that something you ever thought about? Um I thought it very very deeply when I wrote it. Um um can you imagine if I wrote the song that said um we believe in the USA, you know, and u but I put God first. I mean there's no it was a conscious thought. There's no no doubt about it. And I I remember the years that I did not and and and did not have faith in my life. Um, but I knew that it was missing and and when I got to that moment when I started writing USA, I'm sure there was a belief in the country, there was a belief in our military, there was a belief that I was a Christian and needed to express that. Um, so it played a very important part in me writing the lyrics of God Bless the USA. In your song again, you're talking about the people who gave their life for for this land and how so many of us forget this, right? And you know, it's been it's been so long since World War II ended. And you know, most people are either very old or I remember Romania obtained its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877. And they were trying for hundreds of years to become independent, to have, you know, their own land. Hundreds of years. And then they finally did in 1877. And in a way, I I realize how far we are from appreciating what we have because it's been peace for so long. And with your song, you're reminding us and and you know, you you're you're you're bringing some issues up that otherwise people, you know, would forget. So, how do you think we can change the culture more for people to appreciate more what we have instead of complaining u that we don't have? Well, I I I don't know that people complain a lot about the country. They may complain about taxes, um, unfair job practices, unfair unions, unfair freeways, too many too much traffic. I mean, they complain about a lot of things. I don't think people really complain a lot about the country to tell you the truth. They recognize freedom is an overall protection for all of us. And a lot of countries have still struggled uh for freedom such as Africa uh and and even people we consider our allies are enslaved by different kinds of things. Two weeks ago, we opened the Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington, Texas. It is a place where the highest military honor is awarded those who do extraordinary things under combat service uh circumstances. U it's a beautiful building and what everybody should go see if you want to be reminded. And they play God bless bless the USA in the building and I was there and I sang it live with a pageantry that was unbelievable. The United States Air Force marching band and the Colonial Marching Band as well. uh and and just star-studded from politicians to actors and actresses. But about 16 or 17 of the Medal of Honor recipients who were still alive were there as well, who are all my close friends. And uh if anybody wants to know about patriotism, go there, read the stories of the sacrifice the military has paid for our freedom. You were at the 2024 GOP convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and then you introduced President Trump. Um, and then as you're singing, he's walking on the stage with with his family as you're singing. Can you describe to us the feeling you have when he's walking towards the stage as you're singing? What did that feel like? I have an interesting backstory for you on that. The band that was uh hired to play the RNC in Milwaukee all used to work for me uh when I did my USO tours. They're called Sixwire. uh with the addition of one additional player who is was also a friend and a great singer, the guitar player. Um but they were the band when I met my wife Kim in 1989. So I hadn't worked with them in years, but because they worked for me for 10 years during the time when God Bless USA was just brand new, they knew how I would perform it and they knew if I wanted to make it go longer or shorter. There was versions of it. So as we begin to sing the entrance for the president, he always comes into the arena when the song begins. If I have been singing to the track, it would have been over in three and a half minutes and he would still be walking. So fortuitously for me, the band knew that I wanted to go longer. I didn't have to say it. And so when I finished the first verse, I'm looking at the president walking in, walking very slow, very deliber deliberately. I knew at that moment I'm going to have to make this go longer. And so um I waited waited until he and the band kept playing the music till he got into the box. Uh Vice President-elect Vance stood next to him and then I got eye contact with U. Trump Jr. and we we're friends and and I I I noticed he had a very solemn look about him. Not the jubilant look you would expect for the election now of his father. He was actually scanning the room looking for any possible threat and and I knew that that was the case. I too was a little nervous about that because he'd just been shot. Yes. And so, um, when I got eye contact with him and he gave me sort of a nod, I knew that was the moment to finish the song. So, before I did, I welcome the president from sea to shining sea. Ladies and gentlemen, the 45th president of the United States and soon to be the 47th president of the United States. Please welcome Donald J. Trump. So, there you have it, folks. And the place went crazy. And of course, I just these are all his people. These are all the people that, you know, want him to be the next president. And he's president-elect at this point. And so, I'm I'm just talking from my heart. And then I finish the song, which I often do when I work live with him on the campaign or sing any place where he is. And he allows me to sing the entire song while he stands next to me. And that's happened numerous times. And I suppose it might happen several times again, but we'll have to