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 ...
Hmm. I'm torn on this one. I love what the Star Bangled Banner stands for. But I can't actually stand the song itself. I've always preferred both God Bless America and America the Beautiful. Maybe its from hearing the National Anthem butchered by so many performers.
The only industry that insults and lies to its customers on a daily basis.
Antique Media Bump.
They would be very happy if The Star Spangled Banner was replaced with The Internationale.
Why is that a problem? The National Anthem is sung to the tune of an old English beer drinking song?
As I'm reading this, I'm sitting about a half mile from Fort McHenry.
I wonder how people can NOT know enough American history to know what could have happened when Francis Scott Key wrote those inspiring words.
"America the Beautiful" is what I meant. And, Pyro, are you sure that tune is the same as God Save the Queen?
For anyone still buying this lie-rag, another reason to cancel it.
"Musically speaking, I'm not really a big fan of Francis Scott Key's Star-Spangled Banner with its awkward prosody and melisma-clogged penultimate line, but the lyric does contain one big idea - that a "land of the free" has to be also, at some level, a "home of the brave". - Mark Steyn
It works for me.
Maybe one third knows the first verse. But there's no way one third knows the whole thing. (Admission: I am not even sure the second through fourth verses count as part of the "national anthem," though they are certainly part of the composition.)
The only problem with "America" is the tune is exactly the same as "God Save the Queen."
And the Star-Spangled Banner is exactly the same tune as "To Anacreon In Heaven."
America and My Country 'tis of thee are the same song.
"America" is the alternate title.
At least he didn't suggest the socialist anthem, "This Land is Your Land".
NY Times stock is over valued.
My favorite movie scene is from "Tora, Tora, Tora," where at morning raising of the colors, the band of the USS Arizona continues to play the National Anthem as Japanese bombers zoom by.
"America" is the alternative title for "My Country Tis of Thee"
My personal preference would be for "America, the Beautiful" (...from sea to shining sea). Reference version by Ray Charles. Sends chills down my spine every time I hear it.
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