American National Anthem

Subject: RE: American National Anthem
From: InOBU
Date: 03 Mar 01 - 01:41 PM

Well, as long as we are voting for a new national anthem... How bout the International?
Need I say... you all know it is from, Yours - very red and truly,
Larry
PS Maybe a highbrid between the origional and the Billy Bragg version - I am not as found of the Unites the world in song, line, I prefer, the International Working Class, shall be the human race. Has a sort of nice ring to it. No passaran! Salude!

Subject: RE: American National Anthem
From: Amergin
Date: 03 Mar 01 - 12:55 PM

Oh ok...maybe Busbiter is just off today because his pint costs a penny more than it used to....

Subject: RE: American National Anthem
From: Lepus Rex
Date: 03 Mar 01 - 12:33 PM

"Without us, you'd all be speaking German!" ---Otto, "A Fish Called Wanda"

Busbitter's from Scotland, home to black people with British surnames... How'd they get those again? ;)

---Lepus Rex

Subject: RE: American National Anthem
From: Amergin
Date: 03 Mar 01 - 11:52 AM

Oh and Busbiter, in World War 1, we should not have gotten involved with that family squabble at all. The only reason we did was because the Bossmen wanted in. In WW2, our government wanted an incident to happen to justify our presence in that war. So they permitted Pearl Harbour.

Besides there have been many many very courageous souls on this side of the pond, just as in any other country. The ones that history can name are but a few: Mother Jones, Harriet Tubman, Frank Little, and Pete Seeger are just a few names....So that part is right.

Now about the free....I figure we are freer than some parts of the world and yes there are many cases in which we can gain more and those details have been in the process of being ironed out since the day Jefferson and friends signed the Declaration of Independance.

I suggest though that before you just go ahead and piss on somebody else's country, you should piss on your own.

Have a nice day.

Subject: RE: American National Anthem
From: Amergin
Date: 03 Mar 01 - 11:26 AM

BusBitter, where are you from? I for one do not think proudly of our nation's history of slavery and such, but I am damn sure I can point out some of the flaws in your own country. The US did not invent slavery. That was an idea thousands of years old when the Greeks first thought of it.

Subject: RE: American National Anthem
From: The Crazy Bird
Date: 03 Mar 01 - 11:03 AM

My comment is a snippet from a poem/rant in progress.

I am an American,
        and proud of it!
At the same time,
        I am filled with deep shame...

My ancestors?

Some came over on the Mayflower,
        others huddled together on the bottom of not so famous boats.
One was a draft dodger during the civil war,
        another helped hang a man in the wild west a few years before
One owned half of what now is Chicago,
        most of them have been working class poor.

I am an American,
        and proud of it!

When I see our Flag defiled,
        burnt or spat upon,
as is it is with all of us,
                I feel great pain...

And yet, sometimes,
        I am filled with deep shame...
learning of things
        done in our country's name...

In other words, the home-of-the-brave-land-of-the-free bit, is, at worst, a dream, at best, something to be confirmed in each generation...

rgrds CrzyBrd

Subject: RE: American National Anthem
From: Fiolar
Date: 03 Mar 01 - 09:44 AM

I think we should look at the Crusades in the thinking of the times that they occurred. The idea behind them was to free the Holy Land from the grip of what was regarded as "the infidel." The fact that later participants behaved no better than gangsters should not for example denigrate shall we say The Childrens' Crusade. Conquest and the acquisition of land was the role for many so called civilised people, no matter what side of the religious divide they came from and later crusaders were not always in the game for the good of their souls.

Subject: RE: American National Anthem
From: Jeri
Date: 03 Mar 01 - 09:37 AM

Well, it's a trait of humans to be nasty to other humans. Governments concentrate the nastiness and make it more powerful. Find a government that hasn't done something bad or downright evil, and then let me use your time machine to bugger off into the future to have a look.

For me, patriotism is loyalty to an ideal. It's about working to make that ideal a reality, or as much of one as possible. It's about looking at all the warts of the past and present to see what to be on guard against, but not to point fingers at people for things they had no control over.

Let the person who's history doesn't include a bit of atrocity throw the first stone, and let those more concerned about what's happening now work to make the world a better place.

Subject: RE: American National Anthem
From: Snuffy
Date: 03 Mar 01 - 09:14 AM

Constructive criticism? from a Scot?

Don't worry, Amos, he's just having a little light-hearted practice to get warmed up for another go at us Sassenachs!

Subject: RE: American National Anthem
From: Amos
Date: 03 Mar 01 - 09:07 AM

Busbitter:

Lands don't kill people -- people kill people. I have no drum to beat for America's offenses against humanity, but I suggest you should weigh both the accomplishments and contributions the nation can claim, against its offenses. The Crusades, Inquisition, and invasions of Tartars, to name a few quick examples, were surely as bad. And lacked some of our saving graces. Are you offering constructive suggestions? We're all for 'em.

A

Subject: RE: American National Anthem
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 03 Mar 01 - 07:43 AM

Annimeterra, how about America should do something with The Battle Cry Of Freedom. That is a great singable tune.

Jon

Subject: RE: American National Anthem
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 03 Mar 01 - 07:40 AM

I've just been reading and playing the MIDI at http://www.contemplator.com/america/ssbanner.html. I hate that site - I always end up staying longer and looking at other things when I get there!

Jon

Subject: RE: American National Anthem
From: TamthebamfraeScotland
Date: 03 Mar 01 - 07:35 AM

The American national anthem I think is really terrible, because how can you sing 'LAND OF THE FREE AND HOME OF THE BRAVE' when America slaughtered and enslaved so many people. As some once said America went from being barbaric to being decadent without being a civilized nation. And then you go and tell other governments who to run their countries, when you lot had slavery, and you still in some parts of the ones who want to bring back slavery to your country. And also in the first world war you were 3 years late and in the second world war you were 2 years late, and yet when you went to war on your own you lost. So much for the 'LAND OF THE FREE AND THE HOME OF THE BRAVE'.

Subject: RE: American National Anthem
From: mkebenn
Date: 03 Mar 01 - 07:17 AM

Always loved "My Country 'tis of Thee", but there was that problem with the tune..LOL. Mike

Subject: RE: American National Anthem
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 03 Mar 01 - 07:04 AM

This thread gives the full words to "Anacreon in Heaven" which were the original words sung to this tune. Thanks for the history, Fiolar! (Now, if we could only get the national anthem changed to something singable, like "America the Beautiful"!)

Subject: American National Anthem
From: Fiolar
Date: 03 Mar 01 - 06:46 AM

Today March 3rd 2001 is the 70th anniversary of the designation of the poem "The Star Spangled Banner" written by Francis Scott Key on 14th September 1814 as being the American National Anthem by Act of Congress. Originally entitled "The Defence of Fort McHenry" it was set to a tune written by the English composer John Stafford Smith. Avid movie fans will recall Key was played by Donald Woods in the 1936 production "The Song of a Nation." Don't you just love history?