Re: How to sing a National Anthem
- From: Sacqueboutier <nospam@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 5 Jun 2008 08:32:44 -0400
On 2008-06-03 22:59:56 -0400, "Matthew B. Tepper" <oyþ@earthlink.net> said:
number_six <cyberiade@xxxxxxxxxxx> appears to have caused the following
letters to be typed in news:5fd3b681-dc75-4afa-bbc0-007278b61d61
@j33g2000pri.googlegroups.com:
On Jun 3, 3:03 pm, ansermetniac <ansermetn...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA734I6l9b0
Why must WE have a drinking song with war lyrics?
Re the US national anthem, on the "war lyrics" issue, we were not
given our independence, we took it.
On the "drinking song" issue, Anacreon says that it's cool with him.
So, what would you rather have instead?
(a) Columbia the Gem of the Ocean
(b) God Bless America
(c) This Land Is Your Land
(d) Who Let the Dogs Out
(e) anything Ansermet recorded
(f) none of the above
As a moderate liberal, my pick would be (c). I do think (b) is a splendid
and heartfelt song, but as a firm believer in separation of religion and
state I would rather not have it as my national anthem. About "America the
Beautiful," an even more praiseworthy song, I have the same objection. (I
have no problem with "God Save the Queen," but then I am not a Briton.)
Song (a) is a nifty national and/or patriotic tune, and I melt when Charles
Ives brings it into the general mess of things in his Symphony #2, but I
just don't see it as anthem material.
Somebody once pointed out that there are are some general themes, not of
the musical kind, which run through national anthems of the world:
Our king is a great guy.
We had this king in historic times who was a great guy.
I love my country.
My country is beautiful.
My country has a wonderful history.
My country is strong.
My country is stronger than your country, so WATCH OUT! (Godwin!)
That takes care of a lot of them. Then there are the more rousing ones:
Today's the glory day, so get ready to march!
Figurative sons of a particular historical general, let's join together!
We hope to have, and to keep, our country.
And then there are some pretty specific, if not downright odd, ones:
There was a bombardment but our flag miraculously continued to survive.
There was this tramp who drowned himself rather than submit to authority.
This Conservative agrees with everything you wrote.
However, I love our National Anthem and the words
that go with it. It think it a rousing tune no matter
where it's played. Yeah, it's not that easy to sing,
but I've never had much trouble with. Seems the
griping about the difficulty is a recent thing. Perhaps
if people would bother to learn how to sing...?
The words aren't warmongering. The describe a
specific event in American history and the tenacity
of those soldiers defending Baltimore. In that
instance, the Americans weren't the aggressors.
How are these words warmongering?
--
Kindest regards,
Don Patterson
.
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