posted on September 20, 2007 09:40:39 PM new
Patt Morrison:
A flag-singing amendment
Want to protect Old Glory? Stop people from butchering the national anthem.
September 13, 2007
When a politician starts beating the drum for an anti-flag-burning amendment to the Constitution, watch out -- he needs it to hide behind.
Future felon Randy Cunningham, the "Duke" of California's 50th congressional district, proposed such an amendment not long before he went antique shopping with another future felon, a defense contractor who paid for the $12,000 worth of armoires and nightstands that Duke picked out as part of his fabulous bribe package.
In 2006, as Iraq was going speedily to pot, the Senate came up one vote short of passing a flag amendment.
Just a couple of weeks ago, as Iraq still swirled around the drain of history, President Bush was plumping for a flag amendment as a way to show "respect for the symbol" that American troops are fighting for. Not better gear, not better pay, not shorter deployments or a shorter war.
The Stars and Stripes is in fine shape -- as long as the product behind it, U.S.A. Inc., is in good standing. Protect the nation's reputation, and you protect the flag. Damage it, and you could pass 10 flag amendments, weave it out of asbestos and still not save it.
If politicians want to protect a national symbol that gets mangled and beaten up nearly every day, how about that song about the flag?
The national anthem is almost as abused as one of Michael Vick's dogs. Baseball games from now through the World Series will begin with someone mutilating "The Star-Spangled Banner." An anthem-protection amendment? It practically needs a restraining order.
"Banner's" music is an old English club's drinking tune that was named for an ancient Greek poet who wrote about wine and women. Its octave-and-a-half range is so difficult, and its Francis Scott Key lyrics so uber-poetic, that you practically have to be drunk to sing it. Even Whitney Houston was savvy enough to lip-sync it at the 1991 Super Bowl.
I spent the evening of Bastille Day 2005 on the rooftop of a French friend's Paris apartment, watching 360-degree fireworks light up the City of Light. As the French sang "La Marseillaise," I joined in, thanks to having watched the bar scene in "Casablanca" at least 9,000 times. They returned the favor by taking an awkward stab at "The Star-Spangled Banner." I was touched. I reassured them that nearly 200 million Americans don't know all the words either, among them a lot of the people invited to sing it at sporting events.
What kind of national anthem is it if its people don't know the words and can't carry the tune?
The very wise Nat King Cole once warned, "If you do nothing else in your life, don't ever sing the national anthem at a ballgame." But there's always someone who's willing, with results that generally make me want to put my fingers in my ears, not my hand to my heart.
"The Star-Spangled Banner" is not some Beatles song to be covered, delivered ballad- or gospel- or funk- or torch-song- or jazz-style, as the mood suits. But, oh, the liberties taken in a song about liberty. Roseanne Barr's crotch-grabbing yowl in San Diego; Marvin Gaye's two-minute, 35-second-long R&B version at the Inglewood Forum that was way cool but wasn't recognizably the national anthem; Carl Lewis' version that sounded like cats being strangled. He also didn't know the words. The man won nine Olympic gold medals -- you'd think he'd know the song by now.
Combine all the miscues and missed words, even from pros like Robert Goulet and Johnny Paycheck, and the lyrics would read:
"Oh, say can you see, by the dawn's early night/What so loudly we sang, at the daylight's last cleaning/Whose bright stripes and broad stars/Through the per-u-lis fight/For the rampants we watched/Were so gallantly screaming."
If that sounds right to you, there's the problem.
All I'm saying is that we have to have some standards. If singers get it wrong, if Simon Cowell would wrinkle his nose, their fee is forfeited to pay for mandatory middle-school music classes. Let the ACLU scream -- the anthem deserves protection; we deserve better singing.
Or we could dump "The Star Spangled Banner" and pick a new national song. It's not like George Washington used to sing it at Mount Vernon. It's only been the national anthem since President Hoover made it so on March 3, 1931, the same day Cab Calloway recorded "Minnie the Moocher." If Hoover flipped a coin to decide between them, he should have held out for two out of three.
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_____________________
There is more to life than increasing its speed. --Mahatma Gandhi
posted on September 21, 2007 01:35:55 AM new
Rather than even think of changing our National Anthem, because some 'supposed singers' aren't capable of learning it's words, just let them continue to embarrass themselves. It tells a story about our National history and they should be proud enough of that same history, to at least get it 'right'.
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On the flag burning amendment.....as someone once said...."IF you want to burn our flag, be sure you're wrapped in it."
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The Star-Spangled Banner
—Francis Scott Key, 1814
O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
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On the shore dimly seen thro' the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner: O, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
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And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
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O thus be it ever when free-men shall stand
Between their lov'd home and the war's desolation;
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust!”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
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On Sept. 13, 1814, Francis Scott Key visited the British fleet in Chesapeake Bay to secure the release of Dr. William Beanes, who had been captured after the burning of Washington, DC. The release was secured, but Key was detained on ship overnight during the shelling of Fort McHenry, one of the forts defending Baltimore. In the morning, he was so delighted to see the American flag still flying over the fort that he began a poem to commemorate the occasion. First published under the title “Defense of Fort M'Henry,” the poem soon attained wide popularity as sung to the tune “To Anacreon in Heaven.” The origin of this tune is obscure, but it may have been written by John Stafford Smith, a British composer born in 1750. “The Star-Spangled Banner” was officially made the national anthem by Congress in 1931, although it already had been adopted as such by the army and the navy.
posted on September 21, 2007 04:11:24 AM new
"Future felon Randy Cunningham, the "Duke" of California's 50th congressional district, proposed such an amendment not long before he went antique shopping with another future felon, a defense contractor who paid for the $12,000 worth of armoires and nightstands that Duke picked out as part of his fabulous bribe package."
I thought this a-hole was in jail.
"Or we could dump "The Star Spangled Banner" and pick a new national song. It's not like George Washington used to sing it at Mount Vernon. It's only been the national anthem since President Hoover made it so on March 3, 1931, the same day Cab Calloway recorded "Minnie the Moocher." If Hoover flipped a coin to decide between them, he should have held out for two out of three."
I never liked the Star Spangled Banner.I think "America the Beautiful" is a lot better choice.I cant even remember the last time I sang The Star Spangled Banner-grade school?
I think those facist grade school teachers made me sing it-along with the pledge of allegiance and the "school prayer" When I was in grade school,I liked the school prayer while everyone was praying,"classic" would be throwing spit balls,and they could never tell who did it because everyone had their head down.
When I was in 4th grade,I loved pulling on the pigtails of the girl in front of me.
She had very long pigtails,and one day I tied the ends of them together.It looked ridiculous and the other kids were laughing at her,she was pissed when she found out what happened.She didnt like me....
[ edited by classicrock000 on Sep 21, 2007 04:34 AM ]
posted on September 21, 2007 06:34:29 AM new
"""On the flag burning amendment.....as someone once said...."IF you want to burn our flag, be sure you're wrapped in it."""
How awful! Sounds like a terrorist! Burning people to death over a piece of cloth !!???
What an extremist! Next she'll want to plant roadside bombs!!!.....
Oh, that's right, Fascist are real hung up on symbols...helps steer people down the chute......
posted on September 21, 2007 09:27:51 AM new
Our current national anthem is celebrating war and a victory. "America the Beautiful" has been described by some as "too soft." Isn't that a shame! We prefer to portray our nation as war-like. (In that, we're like France.)
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There is more to life than increasing its speed. --Mahatma Gandhi
posted on September 21, 2007 09:39:01 AM new
You want to see ingetrity... watch how Maurice Cheeks, former Portland Blazers coach and a horrible singer comes off the bench to the rescue of this young girl (she won a contest to lead the national anthem at a Blazers game) who forgot the song... It is quite amazing.
posted on September 24, 2007 01:57:43 PM new
Nothing beats Roseanne Barr's rendition. That should be the official way the "Star Spangled Banner" should be sung.
"In my experience, those who do not like you fall into two categories: the stupid, and the envious. - John Wilmot, the Second Earl of Rochester
