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The Star-Strangled Banner (NY Times Opinion Page Says the National Anthem is "Overrated")
NY Times ^ | 4/12/2006 | Lawrence Downes

Posted on 04/12/2006 11:20:33 AM PDT by Pyro7480

...Given its circumscribed ceremonial function, and the general shortage of non-sports public gatherings these days, "The Star-Spangled Banner" doesn't get around the way it used to.... A recent Harris poll found that nearly two-thirds of Americans don't even know the words.....

The enthusiasm of new Americans for the national anthem only underscores the indifference and ignorance of the rest of us. This gap between what the anthem could be and what it is has prompted the National Association for Music Education, a teachers' group, to create The National Anthem Project to try to reinvigorate "The Star-Spangled Banner."

There is, however, another point of view: Some of us feel that the current national anthem is not worth saving....

In "Angels in America," Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, an African-American character named Belize suggests that the difficulty was part of the composer's plan. "The white cracker who wrote the national anthem knew what he was doing," Belize insists. "He set the word 'free' to a note so high nobody can reach it."

Over the years, there have been numerous suggestions for songs that could replace "The Star-Spangled Banner." My suggestion, since I have a weakness for American popular songs, and a sentimental attachment to immigrant success stories, is "God Bless America,"....

There are two obvious objections to "God Bless America," of course: the first two words of the song, "God" and "bless." I'll admit this is a problem, although I feel sure that only the twitchiest atheists would object to the nonsectarian deity that "God Bless America" — and "In God We Trust," for that matter — evokes. The song is literally a prayer, but it's far gentler than one a crazed theocrat might concoct....

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: music; nationalanthem; newyorktimes; nytimes; starspangledbanner
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To: ZULU

The part about "And this be our motto 'In God is our Trust'"?

Yes. The whole verse is quite good.


161 posted on 04/12/2006 1:25:57 PM PDT by MayflowerMadam
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To: Pyro7480

O thus be it ever when free-men shall stand
Between their lov'd home and the war's desolation;
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust!”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!


162 posted on 04/12/2006 1:35:06 PM PDT by muleskinner
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To: Heyworth

I'm kinda partial to "Stonewall Jackson's Way" meself.


163 posted on 04/12/2006 1:52:24 PM PDT by 75thOVI ("Do not dare not to dare." Aslan)
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To: Pyro7480

I love the Star Spangled Banner, but if it were ever replaced, I vote for Chuck Berry's Back In the USA.


164 posted on 04/12/2006 1:55:21 PM PDT by GodBlessRonaldReagan (Count Petofi will not be denied!)
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To: siunevada

that "free" that's the climatic point of the song is by no means the highest note.. when its sung as written.


165 posted on 04/12/2006 1:55:48 PM PDT by absolootezer0 ("My God, why have you forsaken us.. no wait, its the liberals that have forsaken you... my bad")
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To: cyclotic
It gets a smile whenever and wherever it rings.

No doubt. If I ever figure out how to do it, it's gonna be my ringtone too.

166 posted on 04/12/2006 1:56:19 PM PDT by Sandy
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To: Pyro7480

Of course kids don't know the words anymmore. Civics is no longer taught.

But I'll bet all those kids know what "Si se puede" means....


167 posted on 04/12/2006 2:31:02 PM PDT by PsyOp (The commonwealth is theirs who hold the arms.... - Aristotle.)
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To: GSWarrior
Don't these folks have something better to write about?

He probably ran out of other things American to bash.

168 posted on 04/12/2006 2:32:53 PM PDT by PsyOp (The commonwealth is theirs who hold the arms.... - Aristotle.)
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To: Pyro7480

GREATEST NATIONAL ANTHEM EVER!

I guess the NY Times prefers this tune:

rise ye workers [starvelings] from your slumbers
Arise ye prisoners of want
For reason in revolt now thunders
And at last ends the age of cant.
Away with all your superstitions
Servile masses arise, arise
We'll change henceforth [forthwith] the old tradition [conditions]
And spurn the dust to win the prize.

So comrades, come rally
And the last fight let us face
The Internationale unites the human race.
So comrades, come rally
And the last fight let us face
The Internationale unites the human race.

No more deluded by reaction
On tyrants only we'll make war
The soldiers too will take strike action
They'll break ranks and fight no more
And if those cannibals keep trying
To sacrifice us to their pride
They soon shall hear the bullets flying
We'll shoot the generals on our own side.

No saviour from on high delivers
No faith have we in prince or peer
Our own right hand the chains must shiver
Chains of hatred, greed and fear
E'er the thieves will out with their booty [give up their booty]
And give to all a happier lot.
Each [those] at the forge must do their duty
And we'll strike while the iron is hot.


169 posted on 04/12/2006 2:34:44 PM PDT by Clemenza (Bayonne L.A.M.F.)
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To: absolootezer0

Right you are! That sneaky cracker!

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/images/vc29.1.jpg


170 posted on 04/12/2006 2:37:31 PM PDT by siunevada (If we learn nothing from history, what's the point of having one? - Peggy Hill)
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To: P-Marlowe
If we're going to pick a contemporary song for National Anthem, it has to be Charlie Daniels Band's In America

It's proud, defiant, and it mentions the Pittsburgh Steelers. :-)

SD

171 posted on 04/12/2006 2:40:55 PM PDT by SoothingDave
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To: SoothingDave
It's proud, defiant, and it mentions the Pittsburgh Steelers. :-)

Well we can always change the words to Oakland Raiders.

172 posted on 04/12/2006 2:54:16 PM PDT by P-Marlowe (((172 * 3.141592653589793238462) / 180) * 10 = 30.0196631)
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To: AnotherUnixGeek
Sends chills down my spine every time I hear it.

Me too. Of all the musical gifts Mr. Charles gave us, that is the best.
173 posted on 04/12/2006 10:38:57 PM PDT by kenth
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