Plan B Forum

and watched the Milwaukee Brewers hand the Cincinnati Reds a 5-4 loss (hooray for the home team!).

However, just before the opening pitch, a color guard with the American flag (flanked by the Wisconsin flag, natch) marched out onto center field.  The stadium announcer asked all present standing to rise, remove their hats, and join in the singing of the National Anthem.  He also directed all members of the military present, active or retired, to render a hand salute.  Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought a hand salute to the flag was to be given *only* if a member of a uniformed service (military, police, firefighters, that sort of thing) and then only when in uniform.  When did that change?

And secondly — how are we supposed to sing along with the National Anthem if we have no clue to how the singer is going to perform it?  When the female singer delivered her rendition of the National Anthem, she added a few froo-froos during the "rockets' red glare/bombs bursting in air" section, and of course she rendered the phrase "land of the free" as "land of the free-HEE" by jumping from the note to the same note one octave above it.  I will, however, credit her with jumping cleanly to it rather than 'sliding' up to it like so many others.

I contend that the National Anthem — ANY country's National Anthem — should be sung precisely as was written.  Imagine the furor if some hip-hop artist turned 'La Marseillaise' into a rap, or some Tex-Mex band did a salsafied version of 'Oh Canada'!  An anthem is not an appropriate song for any performer to put his or her own 'style' on it like they were remaking a version of "American Pie".

-"BB"-

So what is it 'as written'? Did John Phillip Sousa receive it in sacred notation from some National Devine? I certainly would not trust the musicianship of any congressional committee. I would be in favor of printing all the words of all verses of this anthem in the program for events where it is performed.

". . . . O thus be it ever when free men shall stand Between their loved homes and a war's desolation . . . .then conquer we must when our cause it is just; And this be our motto 'In God is our trust'. . . . "

As to the salute, when I was actually given a uniform to wear at the expense of the American taxpayer, it included instructions to not salute if out of uniform.

Individuals with a microphone at the beginning of a MLB game, are rarely expert on military traditions and etiquette, but the microphone grants them peculiar authority.

snailgate

I agree with Bicycle Bill. The Star Spangled Banner should be sung as written. I don't see any oooohhh ooooh oooh weeeeeeeeee notes or ad lib vocal gymnastic interjections on the sheet music...

Musically, the Star Spangled Banner leaves a lot to be desired. Many singers are unable to capture the range of the piece and add their own "signatures" which in my opinion add nothing to the original score.

"America The Beautiful" is a far better choice.

The SF Giants will win the world series this even year!

Huh? The poem was written back during the war of 1812, for a melody long used by an English drinking club, and it is copyright 2011?

Since the Star Spangled Banner is in the public domain, maybe that version of sheet music is copyrighted?

I don't know. I'm sure someone here knows or will find out...

Burning Petard wrote:Huh? The poem was written back during the war of 1812, for a melody long used by an English drinking club, and it is copyright 2011?

This particular edition/arrangement was copyrighted that date.
Like with almost all music, there's the original arrangement, simplified versions, arrangements for various individual instruments, arrangements for vocal performance with varying styles of harmony, arrangements in a transposed key, and so on.

-"BB"-

Burning Petard wrote:a melody long used by an English drinking club

And if that alone doesn't elevate it to a hallowed status that should make it absolutely immutable to any variation in performance, then nothing should.

A former professional singer I know, who was once my home state's candidate in the Miss America pageant, says that she would never embellish the National Anthem with those ridiculous high notes. She still has talent, and has been tapped to sing the anthem at various sporting events and other gatherings. Even singing it as written is difficult enough, requiring a greater range than most of us have, to sing well.

I'm not sure it was written for the old bar tune, or if it was discovered to "fit" it some time later. Does anyone have any evidence either way?

Scooter wrote:

Burning Petard wrote:a melody long used by an English drinking club

And if that alone doesn't elevate it to a hallowed status that should make it absolutely immutable to any variation in performance, then nothing should.

The melody of the song "America" ('My country 'tis of thee...') is lifted from the English anthem "God Save The King", "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" shares its melody with a 1761 French song, and someone once noticed that you can take almost anything ever written by Emily Dickinson and sing it to the tune of "The Yellow Rose of Texas".

So what's wrong with setting a poem to an existing piece of music?  It's what they did with the finished result — making it the National Anthem of the United States of America — that elevates it to what I would call 'privileged' if not 'inviolable' status.

As for the occasional suggestions that another song be named the National Anthem in its place — most common recommendations are either "God Bless America" or "America the Beautiful" — it will never happen.  The Irving Berlin song would require serious modification to eliminate references to the Deity (mustn't piss off the Muslims, or the Jews, or the Druids, or the atheists!), and "America the Beautiful" would also fail to pass muster with these same groups as well as the feminists, given the existing refrain about how "God shed his grace on thee".

And MG, my understanding of the history of the song is that the poem was published as just that — a memorial ode to an epic battle. It was shortly thereafter that someone determined that it could be sung to the song "To Anacreon in Heaven"; someone published it, others started singing it, and the rest, as they say, is history. While it was informally regarded as the national anthem by this country's military throughout the 19th and early 20th century (and then-President Woodrow Wilson signed an executive order to that effect in 1916), it wasn't until 1931 — over 115 years after the bombardment of Fort McHenry — that Congress passed an act giving the song its 'official' status as the country's National Anthem.  Surely if it was good enough for all this time, it should still be good enough today.

-"BB"-
  

fuck off

Jarlaxle wrote:The National Anthem should be Neil Diamond's America.

Good choice.  The country was founded in 1776; the song's been around since 1980.
Oh well, better late than never, right?

-"BB"-

Better anthem for you;

MLB is so boring. I have been dragged to St. Louis a couple of times and did not enjoy the game much. Now our Indianapolis Indians, a very minor league team, can put on a show worth going to. Dat I loves.

It's our National Anthem, for Christ's sake. To give our anthem its full due all four verses must be sung... or none at all. This will bring back the awe and reverence the song fully deserves.

You all sound like cranky old people, just saying....

Guinevere wrote:You all sound like cranky old people, just saying....

I will be 62 this coming November.  What do YOU consider 'old'?

-"BB"-

It's not the number it's the attitude (my Swede is almost 60 and he isn't close to being "old"). Loosen up and live a little. Be open to new ideas and new experiences

...that's what I told the judge.