ABC News recently did a piece on "The Star Spangled Banner." The story hit the network a week or so after a Brit recorded the anthem in Spanish, changed some of the words, and a furor (created by the news media?) hit Congress.
Wonder what that Brit would have had to say if an American changed the words to "God Save the Queen," and recorded it in Farsi.
ABC's point was that most people can't sing our anthem - in English or Spanish. The story described the words as "archaic. Wonder if the works of Aristotle, Milton and Ben Franklin are "archaic" too.
I waited through the entire report for someone to say it's time to re-write the anthem - make it more hip, trendier. Add a little rap, maybe.
Most people I know can sing Francis Scott Key's hymn to our country. What I can't sing is songs like
Busta Rhymes' "Touch It," or "Getting' Some" by Shawnna. Better yet, I can't think of any good reason why I should want to.
If we can sing "The Star Spangled Banner" maybe it's because we grew with it. We sang it at Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts. We sang it in school and we sang along while bands played it in Fourth of July parades, with the flag passing by.
Kids today don't often have that privilege. Like the Pledge of Allegiance, our anthem is seldom heard in classrooms. Children don't learn - and parents aren't teaching them - that hats should come off when the anthem is played and they should sing and stand, straight and respectfully.
ABC probably has a point, though. How many times have you heard the words and music mutilated? Probably many more times than you've heard them sung in a way that sends chills up your spine and makes your heart feel fuller.
It must be the thing singers do to make their performances more unforgettable - jazz up lyrics, turn the melody into a hip-hop or country parody of the real thing. They want to make the song their own, I guess, so adding a twang or screeching the words must make them feel better.
The most memorable version of "The Star Spangled Banner" I can recall was sung by a New York police officer not long after terrorists struck the World Trade Center. From my addled memory, he sang it at a Yankees baseball game. I remember seeing an eagle fly to home plate from somewhere in centerfield. I remember thinking, "Now that's 'The Star Spangled Banner!' "
Lee Raynor is editor of KinstonPress.com. She can be reached at
leeraynor@kinstonpress.com, or at 252-361-7530.
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