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You ask me why I lover her?
Well, give me time and I'll explain.

Have you see a Kansas sunset or an Arizona rain?
Have you drifted on a bayou down Louisiana way?
Have you watched a cold fog drifting over San Francisco Bay?
Have you heard a bobwhite calling in the Carolina pines,
Or heard the bellow of a diesel at the Appalachia mines?

Does the call of Niagara thrill you when you hear her waters roar?
Do you look with awe and wonder at her Massachusetts shore,
Where men who braved a hard new world first stepped on Plymounth's rock?
And, do you think of them when you stroll along a new York City dock?

Have you seen a snowflake drifting in the Rockies, way up high?
Have you seen the sun come blazing down from a bright Nevada sky?
Do you hail to the Columbia as she rushes to the sea,
Or, bow your head at Gettysburg at our struggle to be free?

Have you seen the mighty Tetons? Have you watched an eagle soar?
Have you see the Mississippi roll along Missouri's shore?
Have you felt a chill at Michigan when on a winter's day,
Her waters rage along the shore in thunderous display?

Does the word "Aloha" make you warm? Do you stare in disbelief,
When you see the surf come roaring in at Waimea Reef?
From Alaska's cold to the Everglades, from the Rio Grande to Maine,
My heart cries out, my pulse runs fast, at the might of her domain.

You ask me why I love her? I've a million reasons why…
My Beautiful America, beneath God's wide, wide sky.


"America, Why I Love Her"
Author: John Newman Mitchum (1919-2001)
Recorded & Recited By: John Wayne (1973)

Available On CD, MP3s & Wavs
In 1973, This Album Sold 100,000 Copies Its First Week In Stores


What follows is the words of John Wayne originally attached to a current out of print or unavailave edition of this work.

"Folks: All of my life I've felt privileged to have had good friends around me, privileged to have been able to do the kind of work I know and love the best, and to have been born in a country whose immense beauty and grandeur are matched only by the greatness of her people.

For a number of years I have tried to express a deep and profound love for these things; to be able to say what I feel in my heart. And now, in this album, I've had the chance to do so. I know most of you feel the same as I do about our country. Now and then we gripe about some of her imperfections, but sometimes that's good. Especially if it gets us working together to make things better. it seems to me we often take too much for granted, and have a tendency to forget "The Good Things About America."

My hope and prayer is that everyone know and love our country for what she really is and what she stands for. May we nurture her strengths and strengthen her weaknesses so that she will always be a "Land Of The Free, and Home Of The Brave."
Sincerely,
John Wayne


John Mitchum was nominated for a Grammy in 1973 for his moving and heartfelt “America, Why I Love Her,” recited by universally recognized American Icon, John Wayne.

At the height of the conflict in and about VietNam, this LP sold around 100,000 copies in it’s first week. The LP was re-issued once more by RCA in 1979 when the Duke passed on.

On July 4th, 2001, Big John Records (named for “Big” John Mitchum) released a short run of digitally remastered CD versions of “America, Why I Love Her”, being careful to retain the warmth that the original recording imparted. Shortly after September 11, 2001, Michael Wayne of Batjac productions (the Duke’s son and production co.), in cooperation with Waleed Ali and Maleek Ali of MPI Media, released a newly-remastered CD nationally. Now, to give special recognition to the author, John Mitchum, who left us in November of 2001, and to bring particular attention to the National Poem Campaign, Big John Records is releasing a limited edition memorial version of this classic recording.