"America The Beautiful" as performed by Ray Charles

Personally, I think this is the best version of this song.  Charles pours his whole soul into this song and you can tell he is passionate about it's meaning.

America The Beautiful as performed by Ray Charles:


Oh beautiful for heroes proved,
In liberating strife,
Who more than self, our country loved,
And mercy more than life,

America, America may God thy gold refine,
Til all success be nobleness
And every gain devined.

And you know when I was in school,
We used to sing it something like this, listen here:

Oh beautiful, for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple maountain majesties,
Above the fruited plain,

But now wait a minute, I'm talking about
America, sweet America
You know, God done shed his grace on thee,
He crowned thy good, yes he did, in brotherhood,
From sea to shining sea.

You know, I wish I had somebody to help me sing this
(America, America, God shed his grace on thee)
America, I love you America, you see,
My God he done shed his grace on thee,
And you oughta love him for it,
Cause he, he, he ,he crowned thy good,
He told me he would, with brotherhood,
(From sea to shining Sea).
Oh lord, oh lord, I thank you Lord
(Shining sea).