How Greenwood went ‘Fourth’
Behind writing of ‘God Bless USA’
While the rest of America stocks up on hot dogs and hamburgers in the days ahead of Independence Day, Lee Greenwood is prepping for his busy season.
The singer-songwriter will celebrate the 40th anniversary of his iconic anthem “God Bless the USA” and, at 81 years old, he has no plans to slow down.
“We always joked, if I’m not singing somewhere on the Fourth of July, you might as well take the flag down,” Greenwood told The Post from a recording studio in Nashville ahead of his summer tour.
Greenwood, who’s been honored with a Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s National Patriot’s Award, has come a long way from growing up in California indifferent to politics with a World War II veteran dad and jazz-singing mom.
He left school at 16 for the “greenfelt jungle” of Las Vegas dealing cards, where he spent 20 years.
The inspiring moment
In his late 30s and with five albums under his belt, Greenwood said he was sitting in the back of his tour bus “somewhere between Tennessee and Texas” when inspiration struck.
After a show, Greenwood took photos with a military color guard and discussed multigenerational military families.
“I was just inspired by it,” said Greenwood, who would see his tune climb to the No. 7 spot on Billboard magazine’s Hot Country Singles chart in 1984.
The song was never scheduled for a release as a single — until the entire album was played for Irving Azoff, then at the helm of MCA.
“If he hadn’t made the call to release the single of the song, nobody would have heard of it — I guarantee you,” said Greenwood. “It changed my life.”
It also changed the life of a nation in need of healing — such as when Greenwood was invited to sing at Game 4 of the World Series after 9/11.
Even though he’s performed his iconic hit “thousands of times, at least” over four decades, Greenwood admitted he still gets choked up when he belts out lyrics including, “Cause the flag still stands for freedom, and they can’t take that away.”
‘Still gets me’
“It still gets me,” he said, especially when he meets Gold Star families and learns about a loved one killed fighting for our country. “That will tear me up. I absolutely still get emotional about it.”
And he’ll do it again this Independence Day, saluting his country through song in Albany, Ore., a rite of passage that he’s enjoyed for decades.
“I have more red, white and blue clothing than probably anybody on the planet,” Greenwood said.