The Star Spangled Banner

I much prefer the late Kate Smith's song, God Bless America, but I am not American, so it is not for me to say.

Cheers,

Jim

 

I think "America, the Beautiful" is the most appropriate.

 

Amazing Grace and The Star-Spangled Banner are my two favorite songs.

I believe the lyrics was written by Francis Scott Key and the music I believe was wrote by John Stafford Smith. I know little of music or care little about music till the last 15 years or so.

 

Attending many sporting events when I was younger helped me learn the words.

 

Yup. The Play Ball song and our civil religion song because it might be the only tune that sounds acceptable when played by a pipe band at a formal funeral. "Amazing" has probably been sung by more atheists than Christians.

 

Agreed. Not to mention it is much easier to sing than SSB.

 

This Land Was Made For You And Me

This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island,
From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf stream waters,
[God blessed America for me.]
As I went walking that ribbon of highway
And saw above me that endless skyway,
And saw below me the golden valley, I said:
[God blessed America for me.]

I roamed and rambled and followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts,
And all around me , a voice was sounding:
[God blessed America for me.]

Was a high wall there that tried to stop me
A sign was painted said: Private Property,
But on the back side it didn't say nothing --
[God blessed America for me.]

When the sun come shining, then I was strolling
In wheat fields waving and dust clouds rolling;
The voice was chanting as the fog was lifting:
[God blessed America for me.]

One bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple
By the Relief Office I saw my people --
As they stood hungry, I stood there wondering if
[God blessed America for me.]

Woody Guthrie

*********************
I really like this song!
Both patriotic and rebellious at the same time
SOooo American!

Rob

 

America the Beautiful
Words by Katharine Lee Bates,
Melody by Samuel Ward

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare of freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for halcyon skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the enameled plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till souls wax fair as earth and air
And music-hearted sea!

O beautiful for pilgrims feet,
Whose stem impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till paths be wrought through
wilds of thought
By pilgrim foot and knee!

O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife
When once and twice,
for man's avail
Men lavished precious life!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee!

 

I believe this is not only the superior song, but about the only patriotic text that may possibly be appropriate for Christians to sing in Church. It is a prayer hymn with a beautiful text and cautious lyrics.

We don't need a national anthem that is overtly and blatantly about war.

 

Well I served, my son served, and my grandfathers all the way back served. But SSB is still hard to sing. A national anthem isn't much good if nobody sings it.

 

Hard to sing? We sing a ton of hymns that are much harder to sing than the SSB. It's a pretty simple tune.

Are you folks going to tell me you don't get chills when it gets to the "and the rockets red glare" part? Come on, the national anthem is great. I like those other songs, but SSB is better for a national anthem.

 

I can't think of any hymns off the top of my head that are more difficult than the SSB.

It has a range of over an octave and a half. It requires a low Bb and a high F if sung in the normal key. Move it up or down even a half step and it makes it nearly impossible for untrained voices. This should be obvious by how often it is butchered when sung at sporting events and alike. I'm still not certain why that has to happen.

America the Beautiful has a much more melodic line that is, not easy, but much easier than the SSB. Plus, it's a prayer hymn and not overtly militaristic, which makes it more appropriate for any type of Christian gathering.

 

Francis Scott Key graduated from St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland. St. John's in Annapolis, not to be confused with the basketball school, St. John's University in New York, was founded in 1699 and is the 3rd oldest college/university in the US.

 

I'm going to have to disagree on that. I can flip through a hymnal and find many more difficult songs to sing than that one.

 

Try me. You can probably find a few that are comparable, but very, very few that are more difficult for the common singer.

 

O-oh say can't you see by the tall referee
That he's holding the ball, and the game's about to start?
And the teams gang around their own sidelines and coach
Who then tries to inspire, and the game plan to impart!
Now they trot on the field, having been thus appealed
To stomp the big foe, and to slam without yield.
Oh say don't i-it make sense to sing o-of this so-ong
As you stroke your ego's end and wish death to the throng?

 

That is true. But it does sound very nice when played by a marching band or an orchestra IMO.