A much-loved spiritual, it became even better known following Sidney Poitier's spirited rendition in the film Lilies Of the Field. Larnelle Harris reprised it some…
Julia Ward Howe heard the lyrics to "John Brown's Body" and could not get them out of her mind. So she wrote the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" lyrics to that tune.
Francis Scott Key wrote the lyrics to our national anthem when watching the British bombard Fort McHenry-when he saw Old Glory still waving, he knew the fort had…
Written by Samuel Francis Smith, this song served as a de facto national anthem before the Star-Spangled Banner was made the official national anthem in 1931.