Joseph R. Biden jr. Held his inaugural address today after being sworn in as the 46th President of the United States. Towards the end of his speech, President Biden quotes lyrics from the Gene Scheer composition “American Anthem”, which he calls his “favorite song:”.
“American Anthem”, written by Scheer in 1998, was first performed by Denyce Graves at the Smithsonian Institution this year during an event to launch Bill and Hillary Clinton’s Save America’s Treasures initiative. Graves performed the song again for George W. Bush’s second inauguration in 2005. Later, Norah Jones further popularized ‘American Anthem’ by covering it for Ken Burns’ documentary series from World War II. The war.
Earlier during the inauguration ceremony, Lady Gaga performed the national anthem while Jennifer Lopez came out to sing a medley of ‘This Land Is Your Land’ and ‘America the Beautiful’.