![]() The War of 1812…Seriously?įrancis Scott Key’s poem “The Star-Spangled Banner” commemorates the siege of Fort McHenry during that most heart-poundingly memorable of our national military conflicts, the War of 1812. That’s why ballpark wise guys do a falsetto yodel up to double-high B-flat on “land of the freeee” – to give the impression that they really could have held that F without cracking, but they’re just, you know, messin’ around. The range is too wide – an octave and a fifth, from middle B-flat (on “say”) to very-high F (on “glare” and “free”). So it’s not as militaristic as La Marseillaise, which is like not being as rude as Stalin. Ours celebrates surviving an assault, not slaughtering the foe, I’ll give it that. While it’s musically magnifique, the French anthem is a festival of rage and gore, including throat-cutting, watering the furrows of the Homeland with the impure blood of enemies, and the children of France yearning to join their ancestors in their coffins. Granted, the militarism of the SSB pales in comparison to the most bloodthirsty national anthem on Earth, “La Marseillaise” (shudder). ![]() Why sing about rockets and bombs when we could celebrate spacious skies and amber waves? Not that I have any particular replacement in mind. Here are nine reasons to be all-done with The Star-Spangled Banner. By the end of this post, I hope you’ll join me in writing your representatives so the bill can be raised and defeated yet again. The case against the Star-Spangled Banner starts there, but there’s much more wrong with our national song. ![]() The rest are proper marches or noble hymns, not prancy little dance ditties.Įvery once in a while, someone in Congress introduces a bill to replace the current US national anthem, usually based on its militarism or unsingability. Okay, there’s “God Save the Queen,” but that’s it. ![]() Nobody else has a national anthem that’s a waltz. ![]()
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