I went to an MLB game yesterday

[Burning Petard]

Well, I AM a cranky old man. That wonderful, old (official since 1931) national anthem is full of all the things that make America great--references to blowing things up, killing our foes, doing it all with God's support, and most of all, general ignorance of the actual text.

snailgate

[Big RR]

Indeed; I recall when I was in grade school we had to sing the first verse and recite the third (Oh thus be it ever when free men shall stand...) every morning. The third has the perfect manifest destiny justification--the conquer we must, when our cause it is just, and this be our motto, in god is our trust".

Ray Thom--were all the verses written by Francis Scott Key or were they added at a later time? My guess is that the anthem acquired the other verses over the years; as I recall, only the first verse was written by Key while watching the bombardment of Fort McHenry.

[oldr_n_wsr]

I contend that the National Anthem — ANY country's National Anthem — should be sung precisely as was written.

I guess Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock is out.

[Guinevere]

Indeed; I recall when I was in grade school we had to sing the first verse and recite the third (Oh thus be it ever when free men shall stand...) every morning. The third has the perfect manifest destiny justification--the conquer we must, when our cause it is just, and this be our motto, in god is our trust".

Ray Thom--were all the verses written by Francis Scott Key or were they added at a later time? My guess is that the anthem acquired the other verses over the years; as I recall, only the first verse was written by Key while watching the bombardment of Fort McHenry.

Key wrote four verses on that night and morning in Baltimore harbor. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., wrote verse five.

[Big RR]

thanks; I did not know that.

[Guinevere]

Just ask a Baltimorean

[Big RR]

Actually, if I am not mistaken, wasn't the Holmes verse written for the Civil War. I seem to recall reading it once years ago, but I am pretty certain I've never seen it performed (or even heard a recording of it).

[Scooter]

Yes

[Big RR]

Thanks Scooter.

One question arises though--according to Wiki this was written in 1861--well before the Emancipation Proclamation and well before Lincoln decided to move toward the end of slavery as a goal of the war, who were the "millions unchained, who our birthright have gained"?

As I recall, Homes was an avowed abolitionist, but did not embrace the methods of John Brown and wanted to end slavery peacefully. Once the war started, did he immediately see it as a fight to end slavery?

[MajGenl.Meade]

You remember correctly. Both he and his son were on the abolition side, altho' the latter slid into social Darwinism after the war. The song was popular at the start of the Civil War but Holmes wanted to make it "more Northern", to reflect the present conflict rather than the prior. He picked up the two obvious themes; that of traitorous rebellion and the cause of that rebellion. He had no doubt that a Union victory would mean the end of slavery - in that, he and the stronger abolitionists agreed with the predictions of partisans of the South!

Fifty years later, in 1861, poet Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. would write a fifth verse to the National Anthem, reflecting the nation’s strife and looking toward a more peaceable future.

Here, Wendell, unlike Key, foresaw not only the inevitable emancipation of the nation’s slaves, but also the freed African Americans gaining full citizen rights and ensuring the country’s preservation. Today, this verse is not considered an official part of the National Anthem, but during the Civil War, it was printed in song books throughout the northern United States as an extension of Key’s lyrics. In this way, Francis Scott Key and the War of 1812 bequeathed to the nation not just a song, but a step toward the perpetuating of liberty—just as the Revolutionary War and Civil War did.

https://uschs.wordpress.com/tag/oliver-wendell-holmes/

[Bicycle Bill]

I contend that the National Anthem — ANY country's National Anthem — should be sung precisely as was written.

I guess Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock is out.

I can take it or leave it, but in fairness, he wasn't trying to sing it like that...

-"BB"-

[RayThom]

...Key wrote four verses on that night and morning in Baltimore harbor. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., wrote verse five.

Yes, we mustn't forget that all powerful Holmes' addendum. What a snooze fest that would be if the entire anthem had to be sung before game time.

It's the lyrics that kill this yawner. A mandatory hologram performance by Jimi Hendrix should be legislated.

God bless Maurice James.

[Scooter]

It's also notoriously difficult to sing, in large part due to requiring a vocal span of an octave plus a fifth.

[TPFKA@W]

In all fairness I am no singer but can do an adequate rendition of the SSB. The key is lots and lots of practice-and keeping it in the acoustical confines of the shower.

[Big RR]

If a singer has a reasonable vocal range, (s)he can sing the SSB. It can get high for some, but the trick then is to bring the beginning down an octave. I've sung it at many sporting events (including football and basketball games of my alma mater as well as at state and regional finals gymnastics competitions when my daughter competed), and it doesn't take a Pavarotti to do it justice.

[Joe Guy]

Any singer that can't sing the SSB doesn't have much vocal range. Take Leonard Cohen (please )... How come he has never been invited to sing it at the Superbowl?

[rubato]

Any singer that can't sing the SSB doesn't have much vocal range. Take Leonard Cohen (please )... How come he has never been invited to sing it at the Superbowl?

Because his emphysematic croak is kind of a downer compared to Beyonce's pneumatic ebullience? Because football is about wanting to kill other people, not yourself?

I dunno, you try and explain it.

yrs,
rubato

[Big RR]

I'm sure there are far more nationally recognized singers who haven't been invited to sing than those who have. I've never heard Dylan or Tom Waits sing the anthem either (although I did have a recording of Waits singing Waltzing Matilda, which is kind of an unofficial national anthem of Australia)--come to think of it, I never heard Pavarotti sing it either. Indeed, I would imagine that there are only a very few sporting events that (like the Super Bowl, World Series, Indy 500, major college bowl games) will pay an even modest fee someone to sing the anthem, the rest relying on free or cheap talent (like alumni who got a couple of free tickets and a buffet lunch in exchange for singing at a football game).

[dales]

It's also notoriously difficult to sing, in large part due to requiring a vocal span of an octave plus a fifth.

I'll drink to that!

[rubato]

It's also notoriously difficult to sing, in large part due to requiring a vocal span of an octave plus a fifth.

I'll drink to that!

oh! Now that is a high bar!

yrs,
rubato