[shove_it]

Pluckiness??? Any list of synonyms for bravery ranks pluckiness way down toward the bottom. A large part of the problems with our society today is due to our education system not teaching American history any more.

Thanks for your BARFY article, Michael - bite me.

[Tennessee Nana]

the Marines’ Hymn: “To the shores of Tripoli”).
___________________________________________

Nope its not called that...

[bayliving]

I for one would like to see our National Anthem changed to “God Bless America” but I know that would never happen.

[DoughtyOne]

What the education system can’t destroy, Pravda on the Pacific is willing and able to.

[Steely Tom]

'Star-Spangled Banner': Anthem was once a song of drinking and sex.

In that case, Los Angeles should immediately adopt it as its theme song. A position currently held, IIRC, by Randy Newman's I Love L.A.

[COBOL2Java]

Pluckiness??? Any list of synonyms for bravery ranks pluckiness way down toward the bottom. A large part of the problems with our society today is due to our education system not teaching American history any more.

Thanks for your BARFY article, Michael - bite me.

---

From the Online Etymology Dictionary:

---

pluck (n.)
c.1400, "act of plucking," from pluck (v.). Meaning "courage, boldness" (1785), originally in pugilism slang, is a figurative use from earlier meaning "heart, viscera" (1610s) as that which is "plucked" from slaughtered livestock. Perhaps influenced by figurative use of the verb in pluck up (one's courage, etc.), attested from c.1300.

Language evolves. It meant something more in the early 1800's than today. Just FYI.

[GeronL]

The US National Anthem was never a song about drinking and sex.

The music that the Star-Spangled Banner was set to might have been taken from such, but that other song was never our national anthem.

[mkmensinger]

A similar story ran in Politico. I think I see a pattern here. I wonder who will chime in next.

[Publius]

Smith: The Anachreotic Song"

This is the original version. You'll notice that the accidentals (sharps and flats) in the modern version do not exist, and neither do the dotted notes. It's still in 3/4 time, but it's not three straight beats to the bar. It's in minuet tempo: one-and-two-and-three-and... It's for tenor solo and TTBB male chorus.

It sounds like something that Handel might have written after one too many pots of ale.

[FlingWingFlyer]

If we absolutely have to change the anthem to cut down on all the drinking and sex involved, I guess I could live with “God Bless The U.S.A.” by Lee Greenwood.

[Jonty30]

Lots of songs that are part of our historical culture had bawdy origins.

What I want to know, with the original song, what was happening when the singer was hitting those high notes. It sounds very personal.

[Steve Van Doorn]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l-n64NWHS4
Not a bad song

[lightman]

The pertinent section:

Most elementary school classes note that the music for "The Star-Spangled Banner" came from a British drinking song. But in his well-received book, historian Marc Ferris, author of “Star-Spangled Banner: The Unlikely Story of America's National Anthem” (Johns Hopkins University Press, August 2014) gives a more sophisticated reading.

“The words of ‘To Anacreon in Heaven,’ the song that Francis Scott Key borrowed for the melody of 'The Star-Spangled Banner,' is a sly 1700’s paean to drinking and sex. Though understated, the line 'I’ll instruct you, like me to entwine; The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus’s vine' is unambiguous,” he wrote.

For the record, Venus is the goddess of love and Bacchus, the god of wine, and "entwine" is defined in any dictionary.

[Steve Van Doorn]

Note: The LAslimes will never talk about where Martin Luther King got the idea for his famous speech.

[bobo1]

It must be true cuz a progressive is writing it.

Amazing Grace was written to the tune of an old drinking song

The Islamic State is not Islamic

The National Socialist Party was not socialist.

[MCF]

We had this same suggestion 45-50 years ago or so.
It looks like the US is reliving he 60’s again only st a lower intensity like a has been athlete trying to make a come back. Race riots, a never ending war, Russia invading it's neighbors, an egotistical President who thinks he is the second coming of FDR, and now changing the National Anthem.

[Fiji Hill]

No on "America the Beautiful. Just what the heck are alabaster cities?

I like "God Bless America", but I've never heard anyone sing it as well as Katherine Smith.

I say, keep "The Star-Spangled Banner," but let's sing all four verses.

[Politicalkiddo]

This was one of my favorite subjects to study in music class. My grandpa even gave me a book on the origins of the “Star-Spangled Banner”. Francis Scott Key was being held captive on a boat. He was watching the Brits bombard Ft. McHenry. There was no way that he was thinking such thoughts while watching these events. People are total idiots.

[McGruff]

Another commie disguised as an American.

[Ronald_Magnus]

Memorable 'Star-Spangled Banner' moments 'Star-Spangled Banner': The good & the bad Sept. 14 is the 200th anniversary of the writing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" by Francis Scott Key. To mark the occasion, we look at memorable moments involving the American national anthem.

[Ronald_Magnus]

Here’s the link:

http://news.msn.com/pop-culture/memorable-star-spangled-banner-moments#image=1