AMERICA: 250 Years Young

Coming May 21, 2026

Celebrate the spirit of a nation with AMERICA: 250 Years Young, a vibrant collection of patriotic classics in honor of the nation’s Semiquincentennial. From the brassy confidence of a Cohan march to the wistful echoes of the frontier, come celebrate the music that has shaped the American spirit for over 250 years.

AMERICA: 250 Years Young will be available on all major streaming services May 21, 2026

Credits

Vocals, arrangements, and programming by Michael DeLuca.
All instruments rendered using MuseSounds, except:

Track Listing

1. I Want to Hear a Yankee Doodle Tune

George M. Cohan wrote I Want to Hear a Yankee Doodle Tune in 1911, seven years after he established himself as the original Yankee Doodle Boy. Written as a bit of a musical protest against the “pretentious, complicated” music coming from Europe at the time, it captures the brash, patriotic, and fast-paced style of the early American Musical – and is a perfect opening for this patriotic celebration.

I Want to Hear a Yankee Doodle Tune Lyrics 
I've always hated this overrated, pretentious music, complicated
And compositions that have conditions
And intermissions that please musicians
It's hard to hear it, or just be near it
upon my word I always fear it
For I'm the original cranky Yankee popular melody fool

Give me a tune that's worth a-listening
Give me a tune that's worth a-whistleing
I want a Sousa strain Instead of a Wagner pain
Give the trombones a chance to blow in it
Give me a dash of rag to go in it
What I'm stating is advocating the popular melody school

I want to hear a Yankee Doodle tune played by a military band
I want to hear a Yankee Doodle tune the only music I can understand
Oh! Sousa won't you write another march
Yours is just the melody divine
You can have your William Tell your Faust and Lohengrin as well but
I'll take a Yankee Doodle tune for mine

Give me the fellow who writes the mellow contagious strain that's rather yellow
It may be hashy and may be trashy but still it's dashy and gets the cashy
It's really clever and lasts forever, you hear it once, forget it never
For now we are coming to hanky panky popular melody days

That it's the music, there's no doubt of it
Cut all the cheap cadenzas out of it
Music to please the gang with plenty of biff and bang
Music that all the children hum a bit
All the composer's glories come of it
It's so ringing, That's what is bringing the popular melody craze

I want to hear a Yankee Doodle tune played by a military band
I want to hear a Yankee Doodle tune the only music I can understand
Oh! Sousa won't you write another march
Yours is just the melody divine
You can have your William Tell your Faust and Lohengrin as well but
I'll take a Yankee Doodle tune for mine

2. What’s More American

What’s More American, written by Kadish Millet for Bing Crosby’s 1968 album Thoroughly Modern Bing, focuses on the small, everyday things that make us part of this country. It reminds us that national pride isn’t only found in history books but also in our everyday traditions – from baseball to bubble gum.

What’s More American Lyrics 
What's more American than corn flakes
The fourth of July and Uncle Sam
What's more American than baseball
I am, I am, I am

What's more American than toothpaste
Rock and Roll, peanut butter, toast and jam
What's more American than O.K.
I am, I am, I am

The Stars and Stripes, George Washington
The Capital Dome and Bubble Gum
There's General Grant, and Robert E. Lee
But most of all you can count on little old Me, Me, Me

What's more American than ice cream
Chow mein, pizza pie, Virginia Ham
What's more American than Bingo
I am, I am, I am

Ours is a heritage second to none
We are a nation united as one
Our Founding Fathers gave us that start
And their love for our country lives on in ev'ry heart

What's more American than Football
And T. V., and mighty Superman
What's more American than Swanee
I am, I am, I am

The Bill of Rights, and Betsy Ross
The Liberty Bell, and Paul Revere's horse
Ole Santa Claus, and a Christmas tree
But most of all you can count on little old Me, Me, Me

What's more American than praying
In a church of your choice across the land
What's more American than saying
I am, I am, I am
What's more American than saying
I am, I am, I am

3. Pecos Bill

Pecos Bill is one of the definitive “Tall Tale” songs in American Music. Written for the 1948 Walt Disney animated feature Melody Time, it blends the folklore of the Old West with the polished Western sound made famous by Roy Rogers & The Sons of the Pioneers. It’s a humble tribute to the man who dug out the Rio Grande just because he needed a place to water his horse.

Pecos Bill Lyrics 
Oh! Pecos Bill was quite a cowboy down in Texas
And a Western superman, to say the least
He was the roughest, toughest critter
Never known to be a quitter
'Cuz he never had no fear of man nor beast

So Yipee-i-ay Yipee-i-oh for the toughest critter west of the Alamo
Yipee-i-ay Yipee-i-oh for the toughest critter west of the Alamo

Once a band of rustlers stole a herd of cattle
But they didn't know the herd they stole was Bill's
And when he caught them crooked villains
Pecos knocked out all their filin's
That's the reason why there's gold in them thar hills

[Chorus]

Oh, Pecos lost his way while travelin' on the desert
It was ninety miles across the burnin' sand
He knew he'd never reach the boarder
If he didn't get some water
So he got a stick and dug the Rio Grande

[Chorus]

While reclinin' on a cloud high over Texas
With his gun he made the stars evaporate
Then Pecos saw the stars declinin'
So he left one brightly shinin'
As the emblem of the Lone star Texas State

[Chorus]

4. Shenandoah

While Shenandoah is a pillar of American folk music, the song has gone through numerous changes since it was first sung by fur traders paddling down the the Missouri River in the early 1800’s. The original lyrics are believed to refer to the daughter of the Oneida chief Skenandoa (“O Shenandoah, I love your daughter”). It was then adopted by pioneers traveling the Oregon Trail, who reflected on their longing for the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia and their journey “across the wide Missouri”. But whether a song about a river, a lost love, or a rugged journey, it has come to represent the vast, searching spirit of the American frontier, and remains a simple, aching prayer for home.

Shanandoah Lyrics 
Oh Shenandoah, I long to hear you
Away, you rolling river
Oh, Shenandoah, I long to hear you
Away, I'm bound away 'cross the wide Missouri

'Tis seven long years since I last saw you
Away, you rolling river
'Tis seven long years since I last saw you
Away, we're bound away 'cross the wide Missouri

Oh Shenandoah, I long to see you
Away, you rolling river
Oh, Shenandoah, I long to see you
Away, I'm bound away 'cross the wide Missouri

5. Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Take Me Out to the Ballgame , the most famous song ever composed about our national pastime, was actually written by two men who had never seen a baseball game. While the chorus is one of the most recognizable songs in the US, the verse – telling the story of young Katie Casey and her love of the game – unfortunately is less well known. It is enthusiastically included here to shine a new light on this American classic.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game Lyrics 
Katie Casey was baseball mad
Had the fever and had it bad
Just to root for the home town crew
Ev'ry sou Katie blew

On one Saturday, her young beau
Called to see if she'd like to go to see a show
But Miss Kate said "No –
I'll tell you what you can do:"

Take me out to the ball game
Take me out with the crowd
Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack
I don't care if I never get back
Let me root, root, root for the home team
If they don't win it's a shame
For it's one, two, three strikes you're out at the old ball game

Katie Casey saw all the games
Knew the players by their first names
Told the umpire he was wrong
All along good and strong

When the score was just two to two
Katie Casey knew what to do
Just to cheer up the boys she knew
She made the gang sing this song:

Take me out to the ball game
Take me out with the crowd
Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack
I don't care if I never get back
Let me root, root, root for the home team
If they don't win it's a shame
For it's one, two, three strikes you're out at the old ball game
At the old ball game

6. You’re a Grand Old Flag

The inspiration for Your a Grand Old Flag came from a chance encounter George M. Cohan had with a Civil War veteran on a park bench. While the soldier held a faded, tattered American flag, he turned to Cohan and said “She’s a grand old rag.” A quick change of word and an American classic was born. First published in 1908, this was the first piece of sheet music from a Broadway show to sell over a million copies, and has been a symbol of American pride ever since.

You’re a Grand Old Flag Lyrics 
There's a feeling come a-stealing and it sets my brain a-reeling
When I'm listn'ing to the music of a military band
Any tune like "Yankee Doodle" simply sets me off my noodle
It's that patriotic something that no one can understand
"Way down South in the land of cotton,"
Melody untiring, Ain't that inspiring
Hurrah! Hurrah! We'll join the jubilee
And that's going some for the Yankees, by gum
Red, White and Blue, I am for you
Honest, you're a grand old flag

You're a grand old flag, you're a high flying flag
And forever in peace may you wave
You're the emblem of the land I love
The home of the free and the brave
Ev'ry heart beats true under Red, White and Blue
Where there's never a boast or brag
But should auld acquaintance be forgot
Keep your eye on the grand old flag

I'm no cranky hanky panky I’m a dead square honest Yankee
And I'm mighty proud of that old flag that flies for Uncle Sam
Though I don't believe in raving ev'ry time I see it waving
There's a chill runs up my back that make me glad I'm what I am
Here's a land with a million soldiers
That's if we should need 'em, We'll fight for freedom
Hurrah! Hurrah! For ev'ry Yankee Tar 
And old G. A. R; ev'ry stripe, ev'ry star
Red, White and Blue, Hats off to you
Honest you're a grand old flag

You're a grand old flag, you're a high flying flag
And forever in peace may you wave
You're the emblem of the land I love
The home of the free and the brave
Ev'ry heart beats true under Red, White and Blue
Where there's never a boast or brag
But should auld acquaintance be forgot
Keep your eye on the grand old flag

7. Take Care of This House

Take Care of This House comes from the 1976 musical 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Leonard Bernstein (his last original score for Broadway). While today the show is considered a legendary flop (it closed after only seven performances), this song – an allegory about the need for us all to take responsibility for our nation – still rings true. I first sang this in a musical review at the Lancaster Opera House in the 1980’s, and it was a pleasure revisiting it again for this album.

Take Care of This House Lyrics 
Take care of this house
Keep it from harm
If bandits break in sound the alarm
Care for this house
Shine it by hand
And keep it so clean the glow can be seen all over the land
Be careful at night, check all the doors
If someone makes off with a dream, the dream will be yours
Take care of this house, be always on call
For this house is the hope of us all

8. America the Beautiful

As one of the most significant patriotic songs in American history, it is surprising that the composer and lyricist of America the Beautiful never met. Katharine Lee Bates wrote the lyrics in 1893 after a trip to the summit of Pikes Peak in Colorado, where she was so moved by the “sea-like expanse” of the landscape that she immediately wrote a poem about “purple mountain majesties”.

The melody was written about ten years earlier by the organist Samuel Ward. As he crossed New York Harbor, a melody to accompany the 16th-century hymn O Mother Dear, Jerusalem come to him so suddenly that he jotted the notes on his shirt cuff so he wouldn’t forget them before reaching home.

It wasn’t until 1910 that these were combined to create the song we know today. While most of us are familiar with the first verse, the complete work stands as a testament to the diverse landscape and spirit of a nation, blending two independent inspirations into a timeless American anthem.

America the Beautiful Lyrics 
O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain
For purple mountains 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 ev'ry 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 ev'ry 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

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