Hey, it's Amy! I thought it was interesting how one of the common reasons for switching out the "star-spangled banner" in both Star-Spangled Earache: What so Loudly We Wail and Star-Spangled Banter was the note range of the song, that most humans cannot hit all of the notes contained in the song. However, a lot of the songs that I sing (or listen to other people sing) in church have notes that not even dogs can hear, yet we don't change them. It's more about the message that's getting across, but "America the Beautiful" has a powerful message as well.
It also relates back to our discussion in class about how people cannot separate the thing symbolized from the symbol. Same with the songs. We have been singing the "star-spangled banner" for so long that it has become an American custom, we know it as the unification of all fans at a baseball game or the togetherness of all Americans on the Fourth of July. But another factor in people's unwillingness to change is probably that most people believe that it has been our nation's anthem for 200 years, and it would be "un-American" to change it. However, as Star-Spangled Earache brings up, it was named our anthem just fifty years ago. If the constitution can be changed and ammended as a living document and it is over 200 years old, we should be able to change a fifty year old anthem.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Hey, it's Erin.
In our discussion today, it was brought up that the lyrics to the Star-Spangled Banner were violent and war-like. In the part that we sing, I have to disagree. It is more about the flag and the only things related to war are rockets and bombs. I highly doubt that most people who hear this would want to go to war.
On a side note, Deirdre mentioned violent national anthems and included the national anthem of France, which reminded me of Casablanca (yes, I will continue to make references to random movies) when the Germans who are occupying French Morocco are singing their national anthem and there's a war of anthems when people start singing the French national anthem (which ends up winning). People were crying and screaming "vive France!" I know that is a movie, but is that what a national anthem should inspire in people? Pride and love of country? Does the Star-Spangled Banner fulfill that role? Or is that just a scene in a movie?
Hey, it's Amy again.
I was thinking about whether I would support our national anthem changing to "America the Beautiful," but now after comparing both lyrics, I would have to say that "A the B" is not a suitable anthem for the United States of America. We are a major WORLD POWER! To me it would be as if a sports team made their mascot the teddy bears and sang "I love you" to the crowd. How intimidating would that be? We have a reputation that needs to be upheld and we need to let the public know the kind of characteristics that American needs to portray to the rest of the world to appear as and be that dominating sports team.
The song does somewhat advocate violence, but without violence there would be no America and America would certainly not be a major power with influence around the globe. I believe that the song does provide that sense of patriotism and unity among many Americans, because we all know about the American Revolutionary War (most of us) and we have a general idea of how we separated from Great Britain. This song connects with many people because the ideas that it is trying to get across are familiar to many Americans. Whether we sing it at a baseball game or in school, the song is sung by a group of people, and even if your rolling your eyes with a friend while you sing it, at least the song connects you for that minute.
I combined a lot of thoughts into one post.
Post a Comment