After "Yaphank", Irving put the score back in his desk drawer. Nearly 20 years later, Kate Smith approached him and asked if he had anything for her. He pulled "God Bless America" out of that drawer, and the rest was history.
Kate sang it that way, but nowadays it's rare to hear the intro.
62 posted on 06/03/2014 7:04:22 PM PDT by Publius
("Who is John Galt?" by Billthedrill and Publius now available at Amazon.)