"The Things Our Fathers Loved" is the 43rd song in Ives's song collection 114 Songs. The song is subtitled "And the greatest of these was Liberty." The song is based on music written by Ives in 1905.
Popular tunes and hymns that can be heard during this song include: "The Battle Cry of Freedom," "My Old Kentucky Home," "On the Banks of the Wabash," "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing," and "In the Sweet By and By."
The Things Our Fathers Loved
by Charles Ives
I think there must be a place in the soul
all made of tunes, of tunes of long ago;
I hear the organ on the Main Street corner,
Aunt Sarah humming Gospels; Summer evenings,
The village cornet band, playing in the square.
The town’s Red, White and Blue,
all Red, White and Blue; Now! Hear the words
But they sing in my soul of the things our Fathers loved.
