September 13, 2006
Happy birthday to ...
... the Star Spangled Banner!
by Percy Moran
There's Francis Scott Key ... catching a glimpse ... seeing that "our flag was still there" ...
I love this, too - here is one of the original broadsides of the lyrics - which was called "The Defense of Fort McHenry" at the time.
I can't help but think of Eddie Izzard's very funny bit about the singing of the national anthem - and that if you can't remember the lyrics - just be firm, use "big mouths", and keep "confirming and denying" with your hand gestures. hahaha
UPDATE Thanks to Doug, in the comments section, I must link to this - a speech Isaac Asimov made about the national anthem. Seriously: do not miss it. I've been a weepy raw nerve for 2 days now so the fact that it made me cry is no surprise - but regardless: POWERFUL stuff. Read it!!!
And yes, like wikipedia mentions, it is one of the more difficult songs to sing - and most anthems are notoriously EASY to sing, because - duh - they are for the MASSES, not for opera singers. But Star Spangled Banner starts low and goes way up high - and it takes a really good singer to pull it off (uhm, Whitney Houston?? Before she became a rickety crack ho? Her live version, for me, is the best.)
So happy birthday, dear national anthem.
O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming! And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through 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?
On the shore, dimly seen thro' the mist 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. Oh! long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
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 washed out their foul footstep's 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.
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes 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 preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, for our cause 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.
There's a story (apocryphal and possibly false) of American troops picking up someone during WWII that they suspected was a German spy. They couldn't get from any accent - he spoke perfect English. And he knew things, like for example about the Yankees.
But then they asked him if he could sing the second verse of the Star Spangled Banner.
He could, and that was what busted him.
very few Americans know beyond the first verse (I don't.)
Posted by: ricki at September 13, 2006 11:51 AMricki - wow, never heard that!
Posted by: red at September 13, 2006 12:00 PMHer live version, for me, is the best
I thought it turned out she was lip syncing... Still a great moment though
Posted by: JFH at September 13, 2006 12:32 PMJFH - Was she lip synching???? I never heard that!! I remember seeing it live on TV - damn fine lip synching job if it was!!
Full orchestra behind her - that little white sweat suit thing she was wearing - little beads of sweat (not induced by crack cocaine) across her face - It was a truly goosebump moment watching her sing that song at the time.
Posted by: red at September 13, 2006 12:34 PMBecause it's hard to sing, every once in a while someone will grumble that it ought to be replaced with something like "America the Beautiful," which, while a fine song, just isn't the same thing. Nothing beats the moment when, after rising and doffing one's cap, you hear that little intro - ba-ba BUMMMM.... ba BA bummm...
(I think, BTW, that someone may have been unknowingly tapping into that moment, so ingrained into sports fans' subconscious, when writing the Sports Center theme - na-na na! na-na na! It's pretty close. That's just my speculation, though.)
Posted by: Nightfly at September 13, 2006 12:53 PMAmerica the Beautiful is a lovely song but I prefer our current anthem. I love the fact that it's moored to a very specific point in history - a point where there was fear we might cease to exist as a nation.
"The flag was still there." That line gives me goosebumps every time. I can imagine the feelings of the people, looking across the harbor, in hope and fear - and seeing that their greatest hope has been fulfilled, that the flag is still there.
Posted by: ricki at September 13, 2006 12:57 PMricki - I feel the same way - I like that it is specific, about a specific moment. And - I don't know - the whole story itself has, at times, been encouragement to me - to go on, to not give up the faith. Because our flag was still there.
I never heard that!! I remember seeing it live on TV - damn fine lip synching job if it was!!
Apparently, it is STILL a big controversy, see the comments at YouTube:
Posted by: JFH at September 13, 2006 1:36 PMHave you seen the Isaac Asimov tribute to the Star Spangled Banner? IIRC, I first saw it as an editorial in the SF/F magazine that bears his name some years ago, though he might have been recycling the piece from somewhere else.
You can find it here:
http://www.purewatergazette.net/asimov.htm
I strongly recommend it.
Posted by: Doug Sundseth at September 13, 2006 1:38 PMDoug - I cannot thank you enough for that link. Woah.
Posted by: red at September 13, 2006 1:42 PMIt is difficult to sing because people sing it sober, when the tune is an old drinking song. I always try to sing it whilst inebriated, and it flows so much better.
Posted by: Mr. Bingley at September 13, 2006 1:44 PMDoug - just added that fantastic link to my post. Thanks!!
Posted by: red at September 13, 2006 1:45 PMWow, that is a great link.
Asimov was great.
Thank you for the reminder Sheila.
Consider this a manual trackback as well.
http://www.babalublog.com/archives/003970.html
Posted by: Val Prieto at September 13, 2006 1:55 PMBingley - same thing with Danny Boy, another really hard song with, like, 2 octaves in it. But if you're drunk? And in a pub with 20 drunk Irish people? It sounds awesome.
Posted by: red at September 13, 2006 1:55 PMHoly Petunia, Doug--that's brilliant. Thank you. Thank you.
Posted by: Ken at September 13, 2006 1:56 PMBlind girl question: Whats the top part of the graphic say? I can't make out any of it. Is it important? :(
Posted by: alli at September 13, 2006 3:10 PMAlli - the top part of the broadside? It says:
The annexed song was composed under the following circumstances - A gentleman had left Baltimore, in a flag of truce for the purpose of getting released from the British fleet, a friend of his who had been captured at Marlborough. -- He went as far as the mouth of the Patuxent, and was not permitted to return lest the intended attack on Baltimore should be disclosed. -- He was therefore brought up the bay to the mouth of the Patapsco, where the flag vessel was kept under the guns of a frigate, and he was compelled to witness the bombardment of Fort McHenry, which the Admiral had boasted that he would carry in a few hours, and that the city must fall. He watched the flag at the Fort through the whole day with an anxiety that can be better felt than described, until the night prevented him from seeing it. In the night he watched the Bomb Shells, and at early dawn his eye was again greeted by the proudly waving flag of his country.
Posted by: red at September 13, 2006 3:16 PMthank you! :)
Posted by: alli at September 13, 2006 3:28 PMThank you, Doug. I had never seen that piece before. It's really good. It made me well up a little and I'm not generally given to that sort of thing.
THIS is why I love Sheila's blog - you learn so much neat stuff. And not just from "red," but from her commenters, too.
Posted by: ricki at September 13, 2006 3:33 PMGeeky note: That Ft. McHenry flag hangs in the Smithsonian Museum (The American History one, obviously). and it was huge (30' x 42') although the right part has been frayed away.
(Almost pulled a "Nigel" and used the inch symbol rather than the foot symbol)
Posted by: JFH at September 13, 2006 4:16 PM~~...and a fiiish in the sky...and a big....monkey pie...??~~
Posted by: w at September 13, 2006 5:18 PMhahahahaha.
i love that someone else quotes eddie izzard. finally. my roommate and i were beginning to believe that we were alone...
Posted by: alli at September 13, 2006 5:20 PMOh, no - you are TOTALLY among friends here, alli!!
"Hitler never played Risk when he was a kid....."
Posted by: red at September 13, 2006 5:22 PMAs the squirrel: "Did I leave the gas on? Of course not! I'm a fuckin' squirrel!!"
Posted by: red at September 13, 2006 5:24 PM"damn i can't get the fuckin' trees.... i will everyone in the world"
hahahahaha
Posted by: alli at September 13, 2006 5:54 PM~~...and a fiiish in the sky...and a big....monkey pie...??~~
Hey, it's Enrico Palazzo!
Posted by: Nightfly at September 13, 2006 6:51 PMalli - hahahahah that is one of my favorite moments!!
Posted by: red at September 13, 2006 11:51 PMmine too.. especially when one day my roomie who is the most passive/non-swearing person i've ever met, in the year and a half we lived together i never even saw her kill a fly or say anythign worse than crap! was trying to write an essay for her russian class and she said "dang i cannot get the stupid verb right... i will kill everyone in the WORLD"...
hahahaha...
um. maybe you just had to be there. seriously. still hilarious.
Posted by: alli at September 14, 2006 4:11 AM
Can you check aviability of my new site http://www.ourmed.org.uk/ ?