I've been wondering about the national anthem lately. (Not "Dixie", I'm talking about the yankee one.)
I would support a move to replace The Star Spangled Banner with America, The Beautiful as the United States' national anthem. The Star Spangled Banner is more about the flag, and it's somewhat difficult to sing. America, the Beautiful, on the other hand, is more easily ranged and the lyrics are more patriotic to the land as opposed to the State, such as in The Star Spangled Banner.
The only compromise I would make to my proposition is if we only had to sing the final stanza of the current anthem; that I like:
"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!"
4 comments:
Great idea!
I had forgotten about the last verse of the yankee anthem. Have you ever heard the Scottish National Anthem, Flower of Scotland? It's not necessarily Christian but it's ten times better than the yankee one!
Flower of Scotland...I thought Scotland the Brave was their anthem, so I looked it up and you're right--Flower of Scotland is de facto.
I listened to the Flower of Scotland, and I think, for a national anthem, I like the lyrics better than the tune. It certainly makes a powerful folk song though. Yeah, better than the yankee one.
I love Scotland the Brave! It's one of my favourite songs of all time. Also, Scots Wha Hae...quite powerful.
Are you familiar with Fanfare for the Common Man?
No I'm not. What's it about?
I'll have to agree....the lyrics are much better than the tune and as you probably read, Scotland has no official national anthem, the three you mentioned were the top three chosen in a poll.
Scotland the Brave is awesome, especially when sung by Charlie Zahm!
It was written by Aaron Copland to honor ordinary Americans.
I have it set as my audio clip on my blogger profile, if you want to hear it.
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