Free Republic

By popular demand we are rebroadcasting a Steyn program first aired two years ago: In this special audio edition of Steyn's Song of the Week Mark celebrates the bicentennial of a beloved Christmas song first performed exactly two centuries ago - Christmas Eve 1818 - in a small church in Oberndorf, Austria - "Stille Nacht", or "Silent Night". For these birthday observances, Steyn welcomes the man who knows more about "Silent Night" and the men who created it than anybody on the planet - the Austrian actor and producer Hanno Schilf, who tells the story of the song, and the...

Today happens to be Oscar Hammerstein II's 125th birthday (he was born in New York City on July 12th 1895) and last week the US Supreme Court gave him a helluva present by chopping his song in half: We know we belong to the land And the land we belong to is grand! Except you've only got half as much land to feel grand about. When the wind comes sweepin' down the plain, the plain's a lot narrower to go sweepin' down. Thank you, Neil Gorsuch. But as the song and the license plate say: Oklahoma - OK! Oklahoma may...