An Anthem Switch?

Inside Catholic ^ | July 2, 2009 | George Weigel

[pogo101]

Absolutely true. Much of poetry is risking “high falutin’” language. If it “works” with a given reader, it’s poetry. If it falls flat, it’s just laughable.

[AnAmericanMother]

Nope.

1. Just because this guy thinks nobody knows all 4 verses but Commies and Birchers (I'm neither and I know them all) doesn't make it true. Moreover, it doesn't make it grounds for changing it (who knows all the verses to "God Save the Queen"? I do, including the one they dropped which prayed God to "arise/Scatter thine enemies/and make them fall./Confound their politics;/Frustrate their knavish tricks/ On Thee our hopes we fix / God save us all!")

2. It's NOT an octave and a half, it's an octave and four, and all except a couple of notes is within the octave.

This guy must be parroting an article that came out a couple weeks ago agitating to change the anthem, because that writer made the same obvious error. This looks like a concerted campaign rather than a groundswell.

3. It's not hard to sing, but there's a trick to it. The third note, not the first note, is the lowest note in the whole tune. If you start in the middle of your range, you'll wind up topping out early (naturally). Just start low.

I wonder who's behind this campaign, and why?

[Billthedrill]

Good catch. I’d missed that entirely.

[SOLTC]

I’ve read and heard these arguments for changing the anthem many times.

Here are my reasons why it should stay.

1. Go to Fort McHenry and hear the NPS guides tell the story. It’s about a free people defending their home.

2. If you are at a ceremony where several anthems are played, you will realize how majestic ours is.

3. Those words are a challenge to us from all who created, built, and defended the country. Does it still wave?

4. Have you ever heard of Capt. Humbert Roque “Rocky” Versace, 5th SFGA? He was awarded the MOH on 12/21/01.
He was executed by the Viet Cong in 1965. He sang the Anthem when ever he could, even when they beat him into the ground.

Our Anthem is special!

[NTHockey]

Or 0bambi’s favorite:
Born in the USA,
(How I wish) I were born in the USA

[AnAmericanMother]

Thanks.

I thought it "sounded Biblical" but had never run down the quotation. Neat.

Also John 10:12-13 indicates that hirelings were not well thought of.

Holman Hunt, "The Hireling Shepherd". Packed with symbolism as only Hunt could pack it in . . . .

[Churchillspirit]

It has always puzzled me why countries choose national anthems that are difficult for average folks to sing.

As well as The Star Spangled Banner, The Marseillaise; O Canada and God Save The Queen can put quite a strain on the vocal chords.

[utahagen]

I agree: no. Sometimes conservatives need to say, “No” to change simply because change begets and justifies change. If we can change the National Anthem in 2009, we lose the “we can’t change the anthem ever” argument is people want to change it again in ten or twenty years...and God only knows if the song proposed a decade from now would even be in English.

[annalex]

I think, today, with President Obama at the national helm, more than ever it is fully appropriate to sing the Anthem off key and end it with a question.

[ConorMacNessa]

With this administration in place we’ll be lucky if we don’t get stuck with the Internationale!

[Cheburashka]

It has always puzzled me why countries choose national anthems that are difficult for average folks to sing.

As well as The Star Spangled Banner, The Marseillaise; O Canada and God Save The Queen can put quite a strain on the vocal chords.

---

I suspect it was because before Edison's invention of the phonograph cylinder if you wanted music you either produced it yourself or (a lot less often) paid someone to do it. I believe the average person had a lot more experience singing, and the didn't find these songs difficult, unlike people today, who just turn on a radio, cd/mp3 player, or whatever, and rarely ever sing themselves. Once upon a time it was one of the marks of a well-brought-up woman to be able to sing and play the piano.

Yeah, I'm sure some of you ladies out there in FReeperland can still do both. My point is how few of you there are.

[onedoug]

I can sing the “Star Spangled Banner”, but it is a tricky tune. Yet, that’s the point. It should be difficult to sing.

[Ultra Sonic 007]

I suggest either Guile's theme or Ken's theme.

*has to admit that Capcom made rockin' tunes for the two American characters in SFII*

In all seriousness, what's wrong with the current one?

[livius]

I think it should stay because of its history ... and because of the fact that liberals have always hated it and felt it too “militant.”

It’s not very singable, but everybody knows the tune, and you just drop out on the high notes. Or the low notes, depending on your voice.

[pogo101]

I already answered that (”what’s wrong”) and also pointed out that I don’t lose any sleep over keeping the current one. It just wouldn’t be what I’d pick if I were starting from scratch, for the reasons noted.

[ArrogantBustard]

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation! "War's desolation" can be awfully damned desolate ... I agree ... this is the verse that everybody should know.

[Slings and Arrows]

If there is an anthem change under Zer0, I know exactly what the new one will be.

[ArrogantBustard]

3. It's not hard to sing,

It's a bloody drinking song, for pity's sake! OF COURSE it's not hard to sing.

[pogo101]

If you don’t think TSSB is hard to sing (in the sense of “for a typical Joe at a ballgame”), what DO you consider “hard”?

[ArrogantBustard]

That's a good question ... I can't say that I've ever found any of the traditional "Patriotic Songs" hard ... nor very many traditional hymns. And unlike AAM, I'm not a trained singer.

I did grow up in a "singing family", which may have helped