"Does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave o'er the Land of the Free..."

[Dragonbreathp9d]

The sad and sobering answer is simply: no.

I was watching Game two of the World Series today, the first game I have been able to catch the beginning of, and when they sang the National Anthem, I quite litterally came to tears, because She no longer flies "o'er Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave." She is flying over a very different place now, and there were no rocket's red glare nor bombs bursting in air. No, instead, She was forced to another allegiance without so much as a peep.

So, I cried.

How did it come to this?

Something must be done.

Not only is the song no longer valid, but neither is our nation.

Oh say, will that Star Spangled Banner ever fly o'er the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave again?

[JeffR]

1. It will

Take heart. It will.

[AlamoDemoc]

2. My sentiment EXACTLY....I no longer view America as the "Land of the Free"

[achtung_circus]

3. Wiith all due respect

your national anthem sucks.

Kurt Vonnegut said something like "there are 14 quadrillion nationa; anthems in the known universe and only one is composed of gibberish interspersed with question marks".

There are better choices, although I recognise the change will never be made. I am especially fond of "America The Beautiful".

Selected quotes follow:


And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!

Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee!

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!

And the best version I've ever heard is and remains

[Dragonbreathp9d]

5. The full poem is much better than the verses that are sung

[Ken Burch]

6. This song has always been MY nominee for new national anthem

POWER AND THE GLORY-Phil Ochs

1)Come on and take a walk with me
Through this green and growing land
Walk through the meadows and the mountains
and the sand
Walk in the valleys and the rivers and the plains
Wali in the sun and walk in the rain

CHORUS:

HERE IS A LAND FULL OF POWER AND GLORY
BEAUTY THAT WORDS CANNOT RECALL
OH, HER POWER SHALL REST ON THE STRENGTH OF OUR FREEDOM
HER GLORY SHALL REST ON US ALL

2)From Colorado, Kansas, and the Carolinas too,
Virginia and Alaska, from the old and to the new,
Texas and Ohio to the California shore,
Tell me, who could ask for more?

CHORUS:

3)Yet she's only as rich as the poorest of the poor,
Only as free as a padlocked prison door,
Only as strong as our love for this land
Only as tall as we stand.

(CHORUS AND REPEAT FIRST VERSE)

(Copyright Barricade Music, 1963.)

[mmonk]

4. No, not any more. Even Francis Scott Key's descendants

decided to leave.

[Stockholm]

7. I believe in the words of Churchill

"You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else.”