American patriotic music 1917, when he saw headlines announcing the U.S. had entered World War I. Cohan also is famous for penning "Yankee Doodle Dandy," an over-the-top parody of patriotic music. A 1918 Irving Berlin composition, "God Bless America", is sometimes considered an unofficial national anthem of the United States and is often performed at sporting events alongside (or, in some rare cases, such as Ronan Tynan, in place of) "The Star-Spangled Banner." In 1940, Woody Guthrie wrote "This Land Is Your Land" in response to his dislike of "God Bless America", calling it unrealistic and complacent. The World War II era produced
God Bless America Bless America" on the steps of the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. On July 21, 2011, Smith's version of the song was played as NASA's final wakeup call for the space shuttle "Atlantis" (STS-135), capping the 30-year shuttle program. "God Bless America" has been performed at home games of the National Hockey League's Philadelphia Flyers and those of the Ottawa Senators in which the visiting team is from the United States. (The NHL requires arenas in both the U.S. and Canada to perform both "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "O Canada," the Canadian national anthem, at games that involve teams from