We all know the U.S. national anthem. Personally, I think it should be replaced with “America the Beautiful.”
And then there’s the Pledge of Allegiance. From Madison, Wisconsin…
No more Pledge of Allegiance? Dane County official wants ‘divisive’ oath axed from meetings
https://madison.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/no-more-ple…
DB2
No more Pledge of Allegiance? Dane County official wants ‘divisive’ oath axed from meetings
The “God” thing, inserted during the 50s, violates the establishment clause. The SCOTUS has, for decades, found one excuse after another to avoid hearing a case about it, because the issue of state mandated religious exercise in the US is so divisive.
Steve
I have never liked the Star Spangled Banner, and find America the Beautiful a bit too saccharine for my tastes. My favorite is Left Every Voice and Sing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-wrj97dVVg
which is gorgeous, singable, harmonizable, profoundly inspiring, and provides a patriotic read on actual rather than censored USAian history.
We sing it in my Los Angeles church a few times a year, and one of my godsons in the youth choir was stunned when informed at age nine that it is also called the Black National Anthem: “Well, that’s weird because it’s my anthem too!”
david fb
We all know the U.S. national anthem. Personally, I think it should be replaced with “America the Beautiful.”
My main complaint with the US anthem is how often it gets butchered before ball games. Seems everyone tries to put their stamp on it by jazzing it up or turning it into some soul R&B performance. More often than not sounds like a choir of long tailed cats in a rocking chair factory. I partially blame Marvin Gaye for his 1983 rendition.
Outside of that, I like it. Tells the story of how we fought and won our independence. It was not freely given to us.
I’ve heard O Canada plenty of times before hockey games and I like it. Simple and straight forward, easy to sing.
JLC
Between WWI and WWII the US had a military plan “Plan Red” to invade Canada that they constantly updated. We will never know if it was serious or just somebody Joshing us.
Tim, as an ex-military guy I’m sure you know many (most?) countries have (and constantly update) plans for war with other countries.
I wouldn’t be surprised to learn Canada as some secret plans to invade a few of the USA’s northern states under certain circumstances.
Methinks y’all have been eyeing Alaska a little too closely of late;-)
My main complaint with the US anthem is how often it gets butchered before ball games. Seems everyone tries to put their stamp on it by jazzing it up or turning it into some soul R&B performance. More often than not sounds like a choir of long tailed cats in a rocking chair factory. I partially blame Marvin Gaye for his 1983 rendition.
Or like Bleeding Gums Murphy:
My main complaint with the US anthem is how often it gets butchered before ball games.
That’s not my only complaint, but it’s one of them. The performers have a limited time on stage so by golly they’re going to make the most of it. Unfortunately.
I was sorry to see the Mavericks’ attempt to stop playing the anthem fail because of the backlash. I would have preferred to see a rotation of songs, including “America the Beautiful” and “God Bless America” (and others, probably.) That assumes they have to do any at all, of course.
… and “God Bless America”
Nopenopenopenope…I got so sick of it being played during the 7th inning stretch, instead of “Take Me Out To The Ball Game”. After several years, the Commissioner repealed his edict that it be performed in every game, but it’s still “recommended”.
Published: Aug. 11, 2011
Decade after 9/11, ‘God Bless America’ still part of baseball experience
NEW YORK — Six days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Major League Baseball returned to the field with a new ritual. During the seventh-inning stretch, a moment typically reserved for “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” another song played at parks around the country: “God Bless America.”
All the teams, at the request of the commissioner, swapped out “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” for “God Bless America.”
https://www.syracuse.com/sports/2011/08/decade_after_911_god…
For those who have forgotten, on the evening of 9/11 Congresspeople assembled on the steps of the Capital building and sang that song. To my ear, every time it’s sung it’s a whine about how USians are “victims of Muslims”, keeping the hate alive. We don’t keep singing a song every day about how we were “victims” of the Japanese on December 7th. Give it a rest.
/rant
Steve
To my ear, every time it’s sung it’s a whine about how USians are “victims of Muslims”, keeping the hate alive. We don’t keep singing a song every day about how we were “victims”…
It’s so interesting how certain music conjures different images and meanings for different people. I do not have this memory set at all.
When I think of ‘God Bless America’ (and as a rather unreligious person), this is what I hear in my mind’s eye:
Pete
My dear old Dad of Loyalist American stock whose family ended up in New Brunswick (Free Land) with the majority of the Loyalists could never resist when hearing the US anthem played at the baseball game saying “Isn’t it nice that they ask the little Mexican boy Jose if he can see before they get started”? I think my French Canadian mother wanted to strangle him due to the inevitability.
}};-@
the song brings up memories of Zion, Yosemite, Glacier, Olympic,and Grand Tetons NP’s, as well
the Great Lakes, and the Pacific coast. God bless Teddy Roosevelt.
To my ear, every time it’s sung it’s a whine about how USians are “victims of Muslims”, keeping the hate alive.
You might want to try and let go of the 20-year old meme…
DB2
I do not have this memory set at all.
When I think of ‘God Bless America’ (and as a rather unreligious person), this is what I hear in my mind’s eye:
However pleasant the song may be, it has been co-opted to stoke Islamophobia.
This is the video of that evening. The singing starts around the 4:30 mark.
9/11 News Coverage: 7:45 PM: Congress Sings “God Bless America”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH_6EUCILew
Steve
However pleasant the song may be, it has been co-opted to stoke Islamophobia.
This is the video of that evening. The singing starts around the 4:30 mark.
9/11 News Coverage: 7:45 PM: Congress Sings “God Bless America”
Steve, I think you are projecting. There was absolutely no mention of Islam or Moslems in that video.
DB2
Steve, I think you are projecting. There was absolutely no mention of Islam or Moslems in that video.
The pols in that clip say they aren’t sure who did it, but we know who it was pinned on within days, and the years of media hyped Islamophobia that followed.
Steve
Steve, I think you are projecting. There was absolutely no mention of Islam or Moslems in that video.
—
The pols in that clip say they aren’t sure who did it, but we know who it was pinned on within days, and the years of media hyped Islamophobia that followed.
And in your mind, 20 years later, that is binned with God Bless America?
OK.
DB2