The U.S. Space Force released its official theme song at the Air & Space Forces Association’s Air, Space and Cyber Conference Monday.
The song is titled “Semper Supra” which is also the newest U.S. military branch’s official motto, meaning “Always Above.”
The lyrics to the song are:
We’re the mighty watchful eye,
Guardians beyond the blue,
The invisible front line,
Warfighters brave and true.
Boldly reaching into space,
There’s no limit to our sky.
Standing guard both night and day,
We’re the Space Force from on high.
In an special video announcing the song’s release, Chief of Space Operations (CSO) Gen. Jon W. Raymond said “we wanted a song that spoke to our Guardians,” referring to the service’s name for its service members.
Raymond said the Space Force also sought a song that “brought to life our motto ‘Semper Supra,’ Always above.”
Raymond announced the service’s new song was written by Jaimie Teachenor, who is a multi-Platinum singer, songwriter and producer.
Teachenor had written songs for country music artists like Luke Bryan and Trace Adkins. In 2016, Teachenor took a slight change in career fields by joining the U.S. Air Force. He has since become the lead vocalist for the U.S. Air Force Academy’s Wild Blue Country band.
“He supported us when we were [the] Air Force Space Command,” Raymond said of Teachenor. “And he wrote this song.”
Teachenor said he wrote the song after reading white papers and talking to Space Force leaders like Raymond and Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force Roger A. Towberman.
“It was quite a long work in progress for a while because I wanted to make sure everything that was in the song would adequately represent all the capabilities that our Space Force is involved with and make sure I didn’t mess up on the mission or the vision of what the Space Force does,” Teachenor said.
Sean Nelson, the Chief Musician of the U.S. Coast Guard band, also contributed to the songwriting process. Nelson helped compose the song, giving it a “big musical score” like the songs of the other service branches.
“I went for it and did what I thought was going to be the most exciting kind of sounds,” Nelson said. “And it seemed to have worked.”
Raymond said when he heard Nelson’s work, he said “it was kind of the glue that brought all the three pieces, words, music and arrangement together.”
“And I thought we’ve got something that we can be proud of,” Raymond said.
The new song is just the latest move forward as the less-than-three-year-old military branch is still working to establish its traditions and sense of esprit de corps. The new branch unveiled its logo and motto in July of 2020.