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For more than four decades, Lee Greenwood's iconic anthem "God Bless the U.S.A." has been part of some of America's most meaningful moments. As the nation celebrates its 250th birthday, the country music legend sits down with Joann Butler In Studio With ... to reflect on the song's lasting legacy, the inspiration behind it, and why its message still resonates today. The country star shares the story behind writing the beloved classic, recalls unforgettable performances for U.S. troops and presidents, and opens up about the moments that have defined his remarkable career. He also talks about the importance of bringing Americans together, previews his upcoming gospel album, and reveals what the American flag means to him after a lifetime of representing it on stages around the world. From heartfelt memories to a few behind-the-scenes stories along the way, it's a conversation filled with history, gratitude, music, and optimism. Lee Greenwood looks back on an extraordinary career and the song that has become a timeless soundtrack for generations of Americans. This is a LifeMinute with Lee Greenwood.
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00:00God bless the USA four decades later.
00:04Did you ever imagine you'd still be performing it after all these years?
00:08Oh, I never thought I'd be alive this long. Are you kidding?
00:11Is there a particular performance that you've done that stands out as one of the most emotional or unforgettable?
00:17The Fireman's Memorial in Yankee Stadium, terribly moving. Hardly could choke it back.
00:21Why do you think it's important for Americans to come together for a moment like this?
00:26America needs to celebrate itself more often, not just for July 4th.
00:30Can you share a memorable behind-the-scenes story involving a president?
00:34President Trump said, Lee, I'd like to invite you to have a ride home.
00:37And I said, well, thanks, but I have to be in Indiana tomorrow.
00:40He said, you're turning me down.
00:42Lee, what does the American flag represent to you today?
00:46Pride in country, pride in self. Pride as an American.
00:48Does it mean anything different than it did to you years ago?
00:51I think I've grown to love it more.
00:54Hi, I'm Lee Greenwood, and you're watching us right now, Joanne Butler and I, in studio. Keep watching.
01:00Lee, thanks so much for joining us on Life Minute. It's such an honor to have you here.
01:05You're very kind. Thank you.
01:07So how are you doing, first off?
01:09I'm doing good. I do. It's been a full day of media so far.
01:12And we will be going to Alabama tomorrow and then on to Washington, D.C. the next day for the
01:20UFC fight at the White House.
01:22Very exciting. Yeah, lots of things going on.
01:26OK, the UFC fight, flag day, and it's also President Trump's birthday.
01:31It's my wife's birthday tomorrow.
01:32Is it really? Yeah.
01:34Wow. Yes. A big weekend for you, for sure.
01:37So tell us about that. Are you excited?
01:40You're going to be celebrating with the president.
01:42Oh, yeah.
01:43And we have an invitation to the reception inside the White House as well.
01:47But that's that's always kind of cool.
01:49I've never been to a real fight.
01:51So I know that a lot of the casinos I used to work, they used to have fights there at
01:55the casino.
01:56But I never really showed much interest in that.
01:58I do watch it on TV.
02:00And I find it interesting because I talked to somebody earlier today and he said, what do you think the
02:04fighters are like?
02:05I said, they're like gladiators.
02:07You know, they're like early gladiators.
02:09These these guys are their skill set is unbelievable.
02:13I mean, they're a human machine and a killing machine if they want to be really interesting.
02:19I'll be interested to see it live.
02:21And what else are you going to be doing?
02:22The visit to the White House tomorrow and Sunday will just be for that.
02:28I'll be celebrating my wife's birthday the next week.
02:31We go home for a moment.
02:33I want I wanted to take a chance to see her new grandson who's seven weeks old.
02:38And unfortunately, they'll be in Chicago and Michigan.
02:41So I won't I won't get there.
02:43But we'll go back to D.C. for the 24th, June 24th, which is the Great American Fair, Great American
02:50State Fair.
02:51And kind of take take it all in, you know, kind of visit some of the exhibitions of all the
02:57states that they're presenting.
02:58I will sing and I will introduce the president that that day to culminate the event with the United States
03:06Marine Band.
03:07What excites you most about that celebration?
03:09Well, it's kind of like a carbon a carnival on steroids.
03:13I hope we find some hot dogs.
03:15I'm sure you will.
03:18Maybe cheeseburgers with the president.
03:19I don't know.
03:20Why do you think it's important for Americans to come together for a moment like this?
03:25We need to do this more often, not just for July 4th.
03:29I would say, you know, two to three times a year.
03:32I mean, I've been a member of of organizations where I was on the NEA, the National Endowment of the
03:39Arts Council for like 12 years.
03:41I'm a trustee for the Kennedy Center.
03:43And when you meet only once a year, it just isn't enough.
03:47I mean, there's a human connection.
03:49You talk about A.I.
03:50That's that's taking the human connection out of out of us.
03:54That's not helpful and it's not healthy.
03:57So I think as America needs to celebrate itself more, we need to have New York and Texas talk more.
04:04California and Rhode Island talks more.
04:06You know, Seattle and Miami talk more because we have our own little areas.
04:10You know, like New York is a is a microcosm of the rest of the United States where each neighborhood
04:16is a different nationality and they protect that.
04:18That's what West Side Story was about.
04:20They protect their their individual territory.
04:23You know, that's not healthy.
04:25I mean, we need to be more together.
04:28And that's what integration was about in the early days.
04:31The fear of black and white and yellow and red.
04:34You know, the more we integrate, the more we're not afraid of each other.
04:37The more we make decisions that are good for all of us.
04:40So that's that would be my answer to you.
04:43It's a good one.
04:44God bless the USA four decades later.
04:47Did you ever imagine we'd still be, you know, talking about it?
04:51You'd still be performing it after all these years.
04:55Oh, I never thought I'd be alive this long.
04:57Are you kidding?
04:59I thought the song would long outlive me.
05:01And now I believe that's probably true.
05:03For sure.
05:04For sure.
05:05It's been a part of so many of our biggest moments.
05:08What made you write it?
05:09I don't know.
05:10I love patriotism from the very beginning, not because my father was in the Navy.
05:15I didn't know him.
05:16Well, I marched with my marching band.
05:17I was a drum major and I love the pageantry of the marches and then and the flags that are
05:23waving and the costumes that you wore and not being able to say the uniforms.
05:28I like the uniforms.
05:29I don't know.
05:30Somewhere along when my I was in Vegas 20 years.
05:33So, you know, there's there's no no of that none of that there.
05:38And then when I moved to Tennessee and I started touring the country, it was the first time that I
05:42was able to see all of it.
05:45And then I began to admire, you know, that's why I wrote about the lakes of Minnesota.
05:50I had no idea there was 10,000 lakes there.
05:52I was like, oh, my gosh.
05:54You know, I did recognize that during the years that I was first in Nashville, that Motown was still alive
06:02in Detroit.
06:02And Houston, there was no doubt.
06:05I knew that they were this oil import center.
06:08So that kind of gave me a perspective on the compass.
06:13But when it came to writing the song, I immediately settled on the words.
06:19I'm proud to be an American.
06:21Not since my father had served in the Navy, did I have people say they were proud to be an
06:25American.
06:26They were Italian American.
06:27They're French American.
06:28They're African American.
06:30They're Indian American.
06:31And maybe those last two are right.
06:34They can be that.
06:35But everybody else who come here, they drug their heritage with them.
06:41And in some ways, that's good.
06:42I mean, I go to New York and I go to some Italian restaurants.
06:45I don't think you could ever, ever find better Italian food in this.
06:50They are really from the old country.
06:52I'll give them that.
06:53But when they say they're Italian American, or they say they're Norwegian American, you know, or Norway American, Russian American,
07:01or whatever it is, I draw back a little bit.
07:04And that because I'm an American American.
07:07I was born here as a citizen.
07:09It is my birthright.
07:11And there's some kind of honor to that.
07:14And so I guess maybe that was my reason for writing it.
07:18You know, and then I mentioned, of course, all the things in the song that you would recognize that are
07:23important to family, career, military, and God.
07:29And I put God first.
07:31Why do you think it continues to connect with generation after generation of Americans?
07:36I got an answer for that.
07:38It's because parents teach it to their children.
07:42Grandparents teach it to their children.
07:43I get so many videos.
07:45I can't tell you how many videos I get from little kids that are nine or 10 years old, waving
07:49a flag, singing proud to be an American.
07:52I mean, that thrills me to know, because that's where you build patriotism.
07:57And so if you get a young child to understand that patriotism is important, they will support the red, white,
08:05and blue in their 20s.
08:06In their 30s, they will teach it to their children.
08:09And so I think that's why it's lasted.
08:12And to instill it and not let somebody take it away is, I think, important, too, in this time.
08:17Is there a particular performance of your song or any performance that you've done that stands out as one of
08:23the most emotional or unforgettable in your career?
08:26Probably half a dozen.
08:27And one that you would not even know why I thought it stood out.
08:31Of course, Yankee Stadium for the Firearms Memorial left a tank on America.
08:35That was important.
08:36I sang at two president's inaugurations, both at the Lincoln Memorial, one for President Bush 41 and one for President
08:44Trump in 2016.
08:46When I'm on the Nimitz aircraft carrier in the middle of the Persian Gulf singing for all these sailors who
08:52have been deployed for almost a year, that was moving.
08:55I was in Panama before the invasion and taking Noruega out.
09:00I'm in the jungle, you know, and we got shot at, you know, and by and took my driver's finger
09:06off.
09:06And so I'm right there in combat area.
09:10And the next day I have to sing to the troops.
09:12You know, so it's like you begin you get on the front line and I figured lots of ways I'm
09:17on the front line of patriotism.
09:18And so are you.
09:19You display that flag up there.
09:21That's beautiful.
09:22Oh, thank you.
09:23Your fans love the big hits.
09:25Is there a song of yours that you consider a hidden gem, one you wish that had gotten a little
09:31bit more, you know, play?
09:33I recorded an album when I was not on a major label.
09:37It was called Wounded Heart.
09:39And I wrote that song called Wounded Heart.
09:41I wish that would have been more played.
09:43It was never played on radio.
09:44They never got it.
09:45But I am doing a new gospel album, by the way, just FYI, for the Gaither Music Group.
09:52Yes.
09:52Tell us about that.
09:53Yeah, I'm excited about that because my wife's whole family were they loved gospel.
09:59They loved old gospel and hymns and stuff like that.
10:01And so for me to do a gospel album is really a departure, you know, from where even my roots
10:09are not gospel.
10:09They're rhythm and blues and jazz and rock from the years in Vegas.
10:15I played everything.
10:16And now country.
10:18But to move over to gospel, it's synonymous with country music.
10:23And so it'll be a nice thing to do.
10:25It's being produced by a guy named Gordon Mote, M-O-T-E.
10:29And I hired him to be my road piano player after he graduated Belmont University.
10:36I saw his piano recital and I hired him that night.
10:39Oh, wow.
10:40He is a white male from Alabama, southern Alabama.
10:45He and his brother both blind from birth.
10:47Wow.
10:48So after his years leaving me, started working with other bands, everybody recognized how talented he was.
10:54Piano player, singer and perfect pitch.
10:57And then he worked with the Gaither Vocal Group for a number of years.
11:01And now he works with everybody.
11:03He's actually a piano player for Alabama on the road.
11:06Oh, wow.
11:06Yeah.
11:07That's so exciting.
11:09You might look that up.
11:10M-O-T-E.
11:11Will do.
11:12All right.
11:13And you mentioned you've been on more than 30 USO tours, a lot of miles, a lot of faces.
11:19Is there one service member's story that stayed with you all these years?
11:24I think our first performance in the Philippines, I went from Nashville to Los Angeles and joined the Bob Hope
11:31Group.
11:32And then we went L.A. to Hawaii and picked up the Hawaii Orchestra.
11:36And then we threw straight to the Philippines.
11:38We had two C-141s aircraft carriers.
11:41We had Michelle Royal, who was Miss America.
11:45Barbara Eden, female actress.
11:47Dream of Jeannie.
11:49Yeah.
11:49And I was Bob Hope's straight man.
11:50But I also, I remember the first time I would sing God Bless USA with the orchestra was in the
11:56stadium at Clark Air Force Base.
11:59And we had 10,000 military in the arena.
12:03Yeah.
12:04I stepped up and as soon as they played the intro to my song, they all stood up, you know.
12:08Wow.
12:09But of course you got, you know, the fireman's memorial in Yankee Stadium, terribly moving.
12:13I mean, just hardly could choke it back.
12:15I don't even know how you sing in these moments.
12:19How do you do it?
12:19How do you pull it together and sing?
12:22Yeah, there's that, there's that second.
12:23It's like when Carrie Underwood, she was, she was singing at the signing in for the president.
12:28And if you remember watching that at the Capitol, the music didn't start.
12:32Oh, yes.
12:33Oh, yeah.
12:34Yes.
12:34It's like that.
12:35Where she didn't miss a beat.
12:37And you partnered with Allied Flag.
12:39Tell us about that.
12:41That's been really cool.
12:42In order to have a partnership with someone, you have to have a good marriage.
12:45I love the fact that they have asked me to endorse their flag.
12:49There's a couple of flag companies, but I think this group here really, Allied Flag, they really do a great
12:55job making sure that their flags are put in places that are important and they don't charge for a lot
13:01of them.
13:01I don't think, can you see this or not?
13:03This is a box.
13:04Yes, I sure can.
13:04Okay.
13:05So it slides out like that.
13:07Nice.
13:07So it's easy access to get, you don't have to tear it apart to get to it.
13:11It's made in the United States.
13:13That's important.
13:14And it's a weatherproof, it's nylon.
13:17And on the back of it, it has my picture and how I endorse it.
13:22That's so nice.
13:23And make sure that everyone can have access to it at Bass Pro Shops, which is Johnny Morris, my good
13:29friend.
13:29Aw.
13:30Nothing like an American company like Bass Pro Shops.
13:33Oh my gosh.
13:34Yeah.
13:35I mean, everybody goes there for everything.
13:37There's just no negative.
13:38And in the South, it's as big as Buc-ee's.
13:41Do you know what Buc-ee's is?
13:42No.
13:42No, you don't know what Buc-ee's is?
13:44No.
13:44The gas stations.
13:46Oh.
13:46No.
13:47They started in Texas.
13:48The biggest one is at Exit 407 going to the National Park in Sevierville.
13:53And it's like 60 pumps.
13:5660 pumps.
13:56And they sell so much food inside.
13:59They have barbecue and they have everything.
14:01And they have the cleanest restrooms and the largest restrooms you've ever seen.
14:05Wow.
14:06So it's a great tourist stop if you're driving on the road.
14:08You get gas, you get food, you go to the restroom and you get out of there pretty quick.
14:11Oh, that's great.
14:12So Buc-ee's anyway, but.
14:14Well, Bass is bigger than Buc-ee.
14:15I've heard of Bass, that's for sure.
14:17Yeah.
14:17So there's something for you.
14:18So Bass Pro.
14:19I don't know if Bass Pro are in New York.
14:21I don't think so.
14:22That's where you'll find this.
14:23Yeah.
14:23Allied Flags.
14:24Or if they order it online, it's AlliedFlag.com.
14:28That's easy.
14:29Awesome.
14:29But they have, I know, they have them in the stores now because I got this yesterday
14:34and they were shipped out three days ago.
14:36Nice.
14:37Lee, what does the American flag represent to you today and what should it mean to everyone?
14:42I have to line up the words.
14:44I think first pride, pride in country, pride in self, pride as an American.
14:48The second would be sacrifice, the Revolutionary War, the sacrifice in World War I, World War
14:56II, Korea, Vietnam, fighting for other people because that's what America stands for.
15:00And like Ronald Reagan said in 1984, we are the last stand for freedom.
15:06America is the last stand.
15:07I loved him.
15:08He came up with so many great quotes.
15:10You know, he just knew how to do that.
15:12And thirdly, the flag stands for my whole life.
15:17It's where I've lived.
15:18It's where I was born.
15:19It's where I'll die.
15:21Does it mean anything different than it did to you years ago or the same?
15:25I think I've grown to love it more.
15:27Wow.
15:27I mean, it used to be something of pageantry where you wave it when you play the national anthem.
15:33But now I have my own song.
15:35So it's interesting.
15:37You know, they wave the flag when I sing, too.
15:40And looking back on your incredible career, was there a moment you realized your music had become something larger than,
15:47you know, entertainment, that it had become, you know, an American culture, which it is?
15:52Well, my career realized all of the years, putting God bless USA aside, because that's an umbrella, you know, and
16:01it's not a parachute.
16:02So my career has always charged forward because I have a creative ability.
16:11I have an energetic ability.
16:13And I think I have a cunning ability to make a living.
16:17I think I know what it is that I need to survive and how to manipulate the river that comes
16:24to us when we have to negotiate a job or payment.
16:27I think I'm good about that.
16:29So I was never, never afraid of that.
16:32And you've had a front row seat to American history, obviously.
16:36Can you share a memorable behind the scenes story involving a president that you've never forgotten?
16:41I was recently in Qatar with President Trump.
16:45My wife went with me.
16:46He was visiting three countries, Bahrain, Qatar and the Emirates.
16:50So we joined them in Qatar because I've been there before.
16:53And and and it was an invitation by the prince, by the Emir.
16:57And I performed at the palace.
16:59And then I they asked me if I would sing at Ayodid, which is the military base.
17:05And so I said, yes, I would.
17:07And so we go there and they had American military and they also had the Qatarians military.
17:16Huge base.
17:17And recently there had been some missiles from Iran that went there.
17:20Of course, you know, I performed and I and I introduced the president and Pete Hegseth was standing next to
17:26me.
17:27And my wife is sitting with the military on my left.
17:31And so after I got through and he made his speech, it was funny because a lot of the I
17:37don't want to call them not the sheiks, but the people who wear the white hats and the robes, you
17:41know, they were all taking pictures and videos of me because I represent the president.
17:47It was really interesting that they treated me like a dignitary, like an ambassador.
17:51And so so backstage, we're getting ready to leave.
17:55And the president takes pictures with a couple of people and then with Kim and I.
17:58And he said, Lee, I'd like to invite you to have a ride home.
18:02And I said, well, thanks, but I have to be in Indiana tomorrow and I can't go on to the
18:07Emirates.
18:07He said, you're turning me down.
18:10Yeah.
18:10My wife said, I don't have to be there tomorrow.
18:15Oh, there's your story.
18:17That's a good one.
18:17That's a good one.
18:18What gives you the most hope about America's future?
18:22Productivity, creativity and our youth.
18:25I love it.
18:25Can you share a special 250th birthday message for America for us?
18:30I can't wait till 300.
18:32I love it.
18:32I love it.
18:33That was great.
18:34Thank you so much.
18:36Gotta go.
18:36God bless you.
18:38Happy birthday to your wife.
18:39Have a good weekend.
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