O're the land of the free and the home of the brave.” This, if you don’t already know, is the last line in the “Star-Spangled Banner” our national anthem. Looking at this line, you can feel the pride and excitement that Francis Scott Key must have felt while penning these words. Now many Americans want to change our national anthem to a different song.
I believe our anthem should remain the same, because it tells a story about our past that should never be forgotten. One of the most common arguments is that “it is too hard to sing.” The Star-Spangled Banner has a one and one half octave range, that many people could not clearly hit. Most of the time though, someone else is singing it, and the song is not in their key.
They say we should change it to “God Bless America” or “America the Beautiful.” Both songs are patriotic, but neither have the impact that the words of the “Star-Spangled Banner” have. Take, for instance, verse two and the last few stanzas. “Now it catches the gleam of the mornings first beam, In full glory reflected now shines in the stream, Tis the Star-Spangled Banner! O long may it wave, Ore the land of the free and the home of the brave.”
When you think of what Francis S. Key was looking at when writing these verses, does it really matter if you can sing the song without faults? Others have said it is “gibberish with a bunch of question marks.” I don’t agree! If you look at the words and read them knowing what Francis Scott Key was going through, watching, and thinking about, you would come to appreciate this song.
When Francis S. Key penned these words it was after the twenty-four hour bombardment of Fort McHenry in the war of 1812. All day the battle raged and at twilight the flag was still there. Could you imagine how you would have felt, watching the battle from a ship, wondering of your country’s flag would still be raised above all others in the morning?
The second verse tells of his anticipation and hope that the flag would still be there when dawn broke the darkness. You see, the song is not “gibberish” if you read it from the beginning to the end, it is a story. A great one at that!
One more argument that people have is the “lyrics are too war-like.” War-like?!?! I can’t believe someone would have the nerve to even say that. America exists because of war! If the early Americans had not declared their independence form England, and had not been willing to go to war, America would not be here today. I ask you, if you think the words of this song are to war-like, tell it to the “families” who lost their loved ones in Pearl Harbor, Omaha Beach, Iwo Jima, and Vietnam. Tell it to the people who have lost family members at “9-11’, say it to the faces of our soldiers in Iraq who couldn’t come home for Christmas and will not be able to come home for months!
America has fought for “her” freedom and now people want to change the United States National Anthem because it is too war-like. What is this country coming to?!?!
I stated only a few reasons of why we should keep the Star-Spangled Banner as our national anthem. I am sure that with a little more research I could and would find even more things and reasons of why we should keep our national anthem the same. I couldn’t imagine telling someone who had lost a loved one to a battle overseas or even our own country that our national anthem has been changed because it had too many war-like terms in it.
As for it being too hard to sing, forget about how you sound, let your pride and vanity go for a second, and sing the words with the respect they deserve. The last few lines, in the fourth verse of the Star-Spangled Banner, sum up my feelings on this subject better that anything I could say or write. “ Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, And this be out motto “In God is out trust.” And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave, Ore the land of the free and the home of the brave.”
I firmly believe that the Star-Spangled Banner should remain our National Anthem because it reminds us of our history as Americans! May we never forget what made us a nation to be proud of, and let our memories from past defeat and triumph direct us toward out future. A future where the Star-Spangled Banner remains Americas National Anthem!
This is not her fault it is the posters fault. :-)