GOD BLESS AMERICA : First Performance By Kate Smith, Armistice Day, 1938 : SHEET MUSIC (Voice, Piano)

Vintage 1939 sheet music. "God Bless America". Vocal & Piano for Medium range in F (C to D) in 5 pgs (NOTE: Pge #1 assigned to front cove, & pge #2 to front cover verso. Pge 2 has carries the seldom available first refrain: "While the storms clouds gather far across the sea, Let us swear allegiance to a land that is free, Let us all be grateful for a land so fair, As we raise our voices in solemn prayer". Near 65 year old, strong copy w/light soiling, faint surface creasings & edge nips sealed w/archival tape. A prayer & quintessential American patriotic song. First written 1918 by Russian born American musician Irving Berlin (1888-1989) during World War I, and revised, by him, in 1938 during World War II. This revised edition was first performed on Armistice Day, 1938, by contralto Kate Smith (1907 - 1986), to become her signature song and accepted for its message of cultural & religious tolerance. In the 1940 presidential campaign it was adopted as the official campaign song by both the Democrat candidate Franklin Delano Roosevelt as well as his Republican opponent, Wendell Willkie.…