Friday Night Hoop-la

Many Americans desire that "America, the Beautiful" should be their National Anthem, rather than the "The Star Spangled Banner. The lyrics were written sometime in the 1890's by a Wellesley College English professor named Katharine Lee Bates, who wrote it as a poem. In 1926, the poem was combined with the music of a hymn written by Samuel Ward.

A lot of artists have recorded this, including Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley, but Charles' version is the most famous. Frank Sinatra once said Ray Charles was the only true musical genius in the business.