How “God Bless the USA” became the most patriotic song in the USA

While the rest of America stocks up on hot dogs and hamburgers in the days leading up to Independence Day, Lee Greenwood is preparing for his busy season.

The singer-songwriter is celebrating the 40th anniversary of his legendary anthem “God Bless the USA” – a love letter to the country – and at 81, he has no plans to slow down.

“We always joked that if I’m not singing somewhere on the Fourth of July, you might as well take down the flag,” Greenwood told The Post from a recording studio in Nashville ahead of his summer tour.

Greenwood wrote his now ubiquitous tearjerker – considered “America’s most famous patriotic anthem” and including the lyrics “And I’m proud to be an American, when at least I know I’m free” – after “feeling inspired” in the back of a tour bus about 40 years ago.

But he never thought that things would take off like this.

With this heart-rending melody, which he sang before then-President Ronald Reagan at the Republican National Convention in 1984, he earned the admiration of millions of Americans.

But there may be one person who loves the song more than anyone else – Donald Trump.

There isn’t a rally of the former president where the country star’s signature song isn’t sung in an irrepressible southern accent.

Greenwood has sung the soulful hit at Trump rallies over the years, including at the campaign rally in Chattanooga in November 2018, where the pop singer greeted the then-president.

And the President has reciprocated this love in abundance: “Who doesn’t love his song ‘God Bless the USA’?”

For the “proud Christian,” the close involvement with Trump rallies is something of an honor.

“I feel good about it because I really like President Trump – he is an American patriot,” Greenwood said.

Earlier this year, Trump promoted the Bible based on the song, “God Bless the USA,” much to Greenwood’s delight.

“I think it’s great that he showed his trust in the country – that was fantastic,” Greenwood said. “He’s someone who will take care of our country – I just hope he gets re-elected.”

The Trump campaign team called Greenwood’s song “iconic.”

“Now, more than ever, as the deceitful Joe Biden and the Democrats seek to destroy this country, we proudly heed the words of the song to never forget the men who died for our freedoms and to stand proudly and defend our flag. God bless the USA!” said Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

A path into politics

Greenwood, who received the Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s National Patriot’s Award, has come a long way, growing up in California where he was indifferent to politics while his father was a World War II veteran and his mother was a jazz singer.

His first real encounter with politics came as a teenager, when then-Vice President Nixon attended Greenwood High School in Sacramento, where he was in the marching band.

“I was the first person he greeted when he got off the plane,” Greenwood said, recalling that he was stunned at the time but later voted for the Republican for president. “At that age, I almost ignored politics.”

It was only later in life that Greenwood began to pay attention to it.

At 16, he left school and went to the “green jungle” of Las Vegas, where he spent 20 years as a card dealer.

Greenwood, who is in his late 30s and has already released five albums, said he was sitting in the back of his tour bus “somewhere between Tennessee and Texas” when inspiration struck.

After a show, Greenwood took photos with a military flag guard and talked about multigenerational military families.

“It just inspired me,” said Greenwood, who saw the song climb to No. 7 on Billboard magazine’s Hot Country Singles chart in 1984.

The songwriter always had in mind to write a song that would unite and inspire Americans and remind them of the greatness of this country.

“It was something I’d wanted to do my whole life anyway,” said Greenwood, who had just signed with MCA Records at the time. “But I never intended ‘God Bless the USA’ to be a hit.”

In fact, the song was never planned to be released as a single – until the entire album was played to Irving Azoff, then head of MCA.

“If he hadn’t called and released the song as a single, no one would have heard of it – I guarantee you that,” said Greenwood, who later went on to be named Country Male Singer of the Year five times.

“It changed my life.”

It also changed the lives of a nation in need of healing – in the aftermath of the Gulf War and the national trauma of 9/11, when Greenwood was invited to the Big Apple to sing at Game 4 of the 2001 World Series and at the Firefighters Memorial at Yankee Stadium.

“It still touches me”

Despite having sung his iconic hit “at least a thousand times” over the course of four decades, Greenwood admits that his throat still tightens when he belts out lines like, “Because the flag still stands for freedom, and they can’t take that away from us.”

“It still affects me,” he said, especially when he meets Gold Star families and learns that a loved one was killed fighting for our country. “It tears me up. I’m still emotional about it.”

And today, on Independence Day, he will do it again: In Albany, Oregon, he will honor the nation’s homeland with a song – a rite of passage that he has practiced for decades.

“I probably have more red, white and blue clothes than anyone in the world,” said Greenwood, who is married to former Miss Tennessee Kimberly Payne and has two sons, ages 24 and 29.

But as much as his hit may be synonymous with Trump, he doesn’t want him to use it “as a weapon.”

“I don’t want to be politically exploited just because I’m an artist who believes in his country,” Greenwood said.

“When I advertise for Donald Trump, it’s different. But not at my shows. I’m an entertainer – I like to make people happy,” which is why he “definitely” ends his shows with his rousing song – similar to what he did with Billy Joel’s “Piano Man”.

“I am optimistic that we will survive despite the changing global environment,” he said. “Democracy has a chance of survival because we can elect new people.”