The right wing sure does love themselves freedom and liberty and avoiding oppression from an overbearing government, don’t they:
Sen. Vaneta Becker, R-Evansville, has introduced a bill that would set specific “performance standards” for singing and playing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at any event sponsored by public schools and state universities.
The law also would cover private schools receiving state or local scholarship funds, including vouchers.
Performers would have to sign a contract agreeing to follow the guidelines. Musicians — whether amateur or professional — would be fined $25 if it were deemed they failed to meet the appropriate standards.
***The bill calls for schools to maintain audio recordings of all performances for two years and develop a procedure for dealing with complaints if a musician is alleged to have strayed from the approved lyrical or melodic guidelines.
Idiots. Godwin aside, this is the kind of sheer idiocy you see in totalitarian regimes like North Korea. These fascists really have no problem with a minister of culture rapping people on the knuckles for insufficient or inadequate gestures of jingoism.
Nicole
I see the Right still hasn’t gotten over Roseanne.
ssmug
Man, Carl Lewis would be executed post haste…
Never have I had such douche chills…I still can’t bring myself to watch again since the first time I saw it.
Brutal. Just brutal.
cathyx
Everything must be quite perfect in Indiana if they have time to work on this degree of minutia.
Hungry Joe
I dunno — I might be able to get behind this one if includes mandatory incarceration for holding/trilling/warbling and otherwise showboating ” … eeeeEEEEEEEEEEE!” in “the la-annd of the freeeeEEEEEEEEE … “
MikeJ
I’d like to prohibit the singing of god bless america during baseball games.
jl
Will people be breaking the law in IL if they listen to the Stravinsky or the Hendrix versions?
Edit: OK, I was unfair. Can schools play them in music classes? Or concerts?
Redshift
No joke. BBC had a story recently about how only certain designated artists were allowed to paint Kim Jong Il. They talked to one unauthorized artist who described how he had done a painting of him, just to see if he could, and then immediately burned it because he would have been imprisoned if anyone had found out. (I’m assuming he was an expat by the time they talked to him, but I missed the beginning.)
jl
Stravinsky Star Spangled Banner
http://youtu.be/xHYCqFfpNGQ
I suppose some kind BJ soul will post a good version of the Hendrix version.
shortstop
@jl: Stravinsky, no. Hendrix, yes. Guess why — and it doesn’t have to do with musical genres.
Here you go.
Redshift
If this could be construed to prohibit the singing of the national anthem American Idol style, I could get behind it. That show has ruined the national anthem. At hockey games, any time they have a guest singer now (which mercifully is not often), they sing it with the whole Idol “woooeeeiaaaaoouu” riff, and it’s impossible for normal people to sing along with.
Knowing wingnuts, though, they’d probably deem that to be just fine.
jl
This version is probably out.
Donal Fox: Star-Spangled Banner Fractured, Merkin Hall, New York
http://youtu.be/uSZorF8d91E
Edit: I posted this as I was listening. Was looking for a Charlie Ives stand alone version, but can’t find one. But disrespectful splinters of Banner are in a lot of his music. I guess Ives is out too.
This piece has a lot of Ives in it, so this will be a good stand in.
shortstop
@shortstop: I never noticed before how beautiful his hands were.
MikeJ
@shortstop: It’s not the genre, it’s the genes.
Amir Khalid
This is the national anthem. Shouldn’t a law specifying a minimum standard of competence in public performances go through the federal legislative process?
Darkrose
I’d support this legislation if and only if every legislator voting in favor is required to demonstrate their facility with Our National
Drinking SongAnthem. No fudging on those high notes!shortstop
@MikeJ: Indeed, that was my point.
@Amir Khalid: Amir, Amir, Amir. “Competence” means different things in Alabama than it does in Oregon. The heavy hand of the feds is not needed here.
BO_Bill
A more elegant small government solution to this folly would be to simply repeal the 19th Amendment.
Easy as pie.
lamh35
So would this version of the “Star Bangled Banner” ever have seen the light of day. It would be a sacrilege! Marvin Gaye – Star Bangled Banner
Keith G
Where the tables turned and a Democrat of equal status was trying a similar thing, there would be at least half a dozen Republicans of national importance using this example as a commentary about how fringe and unserious the Democratic Party is.
That may seem like a minor thing but it helps set a narrative that can be referred to again and again. These little chips of information add to a wider mosaic of political impression that can be used repeatedly.
cokane
Is this all because of the Zooey Deschanel version of the song? wtf?
Calouste
Playing the national anthem before high school football games and concerts is already Godwin level by European standards, never mind enforcing the quality of the performance.
sophronia
I wonder if this law would make it illegal for kids to read the Beverly Cleary book in which 5-year-old Ramona mishears the lyrics and thinks the anthem is about “the dawnzer lee light.”
Not to mention many other books I have read where kids believe they are singing “Jose, can you see…”
Next on the Republican agenda: Prison sentences for anyone who makes the “Sadly, the Cross-Eyed Bear” joke.
jl
@shortstop:
Thanks. Very nice Hendrix clip with German introduction.
This gospel version probably get people in trouble too.
Star Spangled Banner Gospel Style
http://youtu.be/JauawMB5WEg
How will this law go down in Pentecostal churches? Not too well, I imagine.
Culture of Truth
Speaking of such regimes, I recently saw this exhibit, in which artists were instructed to correctly refer to the leader, political parties, religions and people properly, in other words, censor their work to show due patriotism…
http://www.newmuseum.org/exhibitions/451
AA+ Bonds
Aaahh ! ! ! Real Fascists!
shortstop
@sophronia: Ramona! “Why don’t you sit by the dawnzer? It gives a lee light.” And that was when she wasn’t “sitting here for the present.” Good memories.
AA+ Bonds
The real issue here is that the Star-Spangled Banner is a terrible piece of music that should be replaced by the Battle Hymn of the Republic
A.J.
I’m going to disagree.
Every year I cringe when I hear the anthem sung at the opening of the Superbowl because the Backstreet Boys, or Christine Aguilera has to put their “interpretation” of an anthem that has has a specific time, cadence, and wording.
I don’t know why the Superbowl does this year after year (probably just to piss me off), but for the price of a ticket to the game and a hot dog they could get one of the terrific baritones from one of the military services who would do it right.
lamh35
This isn’t exactly classic style either…but isn’t it the best selling version of the anthem…like ever?
Whitney Houston – Star Bangled Banner
shortstop
@AA+ Bonds: Yeah, because what we need for a national anthem is something totally religious. Please.
Wannabe Speechwriter
How long till Sen. Vaneta Becker projects her artifice on us?
jl
Oh shit, not you, Louie, not disrespect from you? OMIGOD!
Louie Armstrong SSB starts around 4 minutes in
Louis Armstrong and the All Stars 1960 After You’ve Gone / The Saints PLUS … (Live)
http://youtu.be/p04uOxCyYGU
AA+ Bonds
@Hungry Joe:
People do that because the note is so awkward and high, throwing the entire composition off as a popularly sung melody. Nothing wrong with them, it just demonstrates how shitty the Star Spangled Banner is as a song
MikeJ
@sophronia: Fuck it. I’m moving to the Republic of Witchistan.
jl
Why is the Louis Armstrong version of the Star Spangled Banner in moderation?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p04uOxCyYGU&feature=youtu.be
elftx
I like the part where they want to keep it on record for two years.
Back in the day..would love hitting the descant at the old Chicago Stadium before hockey games..could hear the note traveling around the arena and just got such a kick out of the people that would start looking around…lol good times !!!
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Nicole:
FIFY
jl
Looks like some one got to Cole and he is supporting the crackdown. I can’t post the Louis Armstrong version. It goes to moderation.
shortstop
@A.J.: I’m not fond of many versions of it, either, but I’m able to struggle on without legislation specifying how people are allowed to sing their own national anthem.
AA+ Bonds
@shortstop:
We need something that reminds people who fuckin won the war, and that fighting to free the slaves was Christ-like (and was done by blacks as well as whites).
If “America the Beautiful” wasn’t so tepid, I’d endorse that, but really we need something that a lot of Americans can sing all at once, and “The Star Spangled Banner” fails that most basic test.
Really, “Battle Hymn of the Republic” is the only candidate for a national anthem that recognizes the existence of non-whites in American history. It’s the right one to choose.
lamh35
@lamh35:
basically OT, but ya wanna hear a real treat, here’s Whitney Houston singing “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” all songs:
Whitney Houston – Battle Hymn Of The Republic (WHH)
ETA: Singing starts at about 1:30
WereBear (itouch)
Next time I talk to my Mom, I’ll thank her yet again for getting us away from the Midwest. To quote her: “They won’t let you live!”
BO_Bill
The arming of fans at athletic events would also establish high musical performance standards for the singing of our National Anthem.
Drum Circles And Weed
As a musician, I’m frankly all in favor of this if the legislation is extended to cover all musicians playing anyone else’s music.
(yeah, shit wedding band in Hawaii, I’m talking about you)
shortstop
@AA+ Bonds:
No. No, we really don’t need a song about Christ as the national fucking anthem. There are, of course, other ways to remind people of who won the war and who was on the wrong side of it. You know this and are just blustering, but still.
burnspbesq
@AA+ Bonds:
“how shitty the Star Spangled Banner is as a song”
Idiot, “difficult to sing” and “shitty” are not synonyms.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Wannabe Speechwriter: LOL, been reading Lawyers Guns & Money today?
Egg Berry
There’s a simple way to solve this that has deep roots in manifest destiny and American exceptionalism: Steal “Oh, Canada.”
“Oh America!”
Bartleby
Yes, but this is being done at the state level so Ron Paul would be okay with it and so, I therefore assume, would Glenn Greenwald.
butler
Ah, but where’s the potential brand syngergy in that? What’s the point of a media empire shelling out a gazillion dollars for the Super Bowl if they can’t cram every single possible bit of free airspace with some artist, show or movie they are trying to promote?
jl
cripes, just listened to the Ted Nugent version. That won’t make the grade.
And in truth it doesn’t make the grade. It starts out as a passable rip off of Hendrix, but then he starts pointless doodling around, musical joke style.
burnspbesq
And it’s really not all that difficult to sing. Most decent singers can cover the range (an octave and a fifth). It’s just a matter of picking a key that’s appropriate for your voice.
Kane
Star-Spangled Banner performance standards, American exceptionalism, flag pins, freedom fries, and the empty rhetoric about supporting the troops; it’s all the same. It allows for individuals who know nothing of patriotism and sacrifice to feel superior as they thump their chest and vilify others in the name of God and country.
The strength of the United States is our diversity. Our melting pot of nationalities, ethnicities, religions and cultures is most vibrant when we are embraced as one while our individual uniqueness remains. Unfortunately, when there are individuals or a political party that not only rejects this notion, but they also have great disdain for such words as tolerance and acceptance and they are blind to the value of our diversity, they are forever compelled to invent reasons why they are better than others.
burnspbesq
@Egg Berry:
That’ll never work. Half of it is in French.
jl
If they pass this, does it mean Anacreon in Heaven is out?
The Anacreontic Song (Georgia Tech Glee Club)
link soon
SiubhanDuinne
@Hungry Joe:
Gotta say I really hate those “glory notes” myself.
Back in the late ’30s/early ’40s, my dad wrote a fantastic set of words to the tune of the SSB (the tune was originally an English drinking song, so it wasn’t sacrilegious to put new words to the melody). He did this after a breathlessly enthusiastic woman confided how much she loved Paderewski, and said that she had written an ode to Paderewski set to the Star-Spangled Banner. Dad never heard the woman’s version, but he did write his own (go ahead, sing, you won’t regret it):
Hail to Paderewski,
His fin-GER on the key.
For he PLAY with such skill,
And with MIS-takes almost nil.
See his Polish profile
As he PLAY all the while.
And conSIDer his age
The next TIME he turn the page.
Listen to him cavort
On the pianofort,
And watch him display
Hi-is skill all the day.
His technical attainment
Is be-hee-yo-hond co-um-paa-aare,
So hail to his Mu-ooze,
And his mane of grey hair.
gogol's wife
@Redshift:
Melisma should be outlawed.
gogol's wife
@AA+ Bonds:
I’m with you. Although I am fond of “To Anacreon in Heaven,” the original.
ant
@lamh35:
why yes. yes it is.
indeed.
jl
Be advised to ask children and teabaggers to leave the room, lest they be ruined.
(Flash siren alert warning warning: with lyrics.)
“To Anacreon in Heaven” A.K.A. The Drinking Song
http://youtu.be/8KcHg5ZOIgU
gogol's wife
@jl:
That is just lovely.
PeakVT
@Redshift: He was an exile IIRC.
BO_Bill
Diversity is very beneficial when one desires a wider variety of food choices kane. Beyond that, it is very expensive for native-born Americans. It lowers wages, raises crime rates, lowers educational standards, and raises taxes. Unless I am missing something.
Please help me understand.
jl
Oops. Got distracted looking for an A in H clip with lyrics.
(warning flash siren double righteous wrath alert alert: disrespectful behavior to the music displayed in this commie clip)
The Anacreontic Song (Georgia Tech Glee Club)
http://youtu.be/OqyQO3xhNx0
Calouste
@Egg Berry:
Or “Advance America Fair”. Although the preferred adaption of the wingnuts would of course be “America Over Everything”
gogol's wife
@jl:
That’s good too, but I liked the solo version. No melisma there.
Hewer of Wood, Drawer of Water
@Egg Berry: Only if they do it as well as Roger Doucet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIBw6q2Xkh0
ant
@BO_Bill:
Indians?
lol wut?
BO_Bill
Didn’t think so. Have to go. Happy New Year.
ant
no wait. what the fuck were you talking about?
suzanne
@AA+ Bonds:
Oh, he’ll no. And not just because we sang it as “Glory, glory hallelujah, my teacher hit me with a ruuuuuuler.”
“This Land Is Your Land” is the obvious choice for what the national anthem should be. It’s about community, struggle, beau, and kids can actually sing it.
jl
This post has been educational. I found Star Spangled Banner on
bagpipes
theremin
jews harp
banjo
and (wait for it)
calliope
(my favorite so far, except for the theremin, and the bagpipes and jews harp and… awww. I love ’em all, gosh darn it. Back in the day that would make me patriotic but I guess that just means I am a DFH now)
Except the calliope is not loud enough. Sadly, it is not a steam calliope.
Won’t post the links. Find them yourself. I don’t want to be banned.
But, I will say that Banjo Bill’s Star-Spangled Banner is worth looking up.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@shortstop: Maybe, but the Battle Hymn is a kick ass song, and just about the only good piece of patriotic music we have. Maybe we should just use the original lyrics. I particularly like the verse about hinging Jeff Davis from a sour apple tree.
Mnemosyne
@jl:
Here it is on ukulele (played by Jake Shimabukuro, of course).
You have to click on the “share” link on the video’s YouTube page and use that link — for some reason, copying and pasting the link from your browser bar throws you into moderation.
Anne Laurie
@AA+ Bonds:
The later verses, that never get sung, are better. Right after 9/11, I was arguing for a mashup as the proper anthem for the memorial services:
O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!
Mercy and self-control — we could always do with more of those.
Also, too, the last verses of “This Land Is Your Land“:
As I was walkin’ – I saw a sign there
And that sign said – no tress passin’
But on the other side …. it didn’t say nothin!
Now that side was made for you and me!…
In the squares of the city – In the shadow of the steeple
Near the relief office – I see my people
And some are grumblin’ and some are wonderin’
If this land’s still made for you and me.
SiubhanDuinne
@gogol’s wife:
Melisma should be confined to the tessitura.
Percysowner
@Nicole:
Actually they still haven’t gotten over Jose Feliciano
How dare the guy with a funny name and an accent make the song actually sound good!
jl
@Mnemosyne:
Listening to it right now. Very nice. Thanks.
Really nice.
Below is link to the ultimate all American song, all you BJ commies and traitors:
Virgil Fox Legacy | Ives | Variations on America
http://youtu.be/gNpJJLNI6xg
I had never seen a clip of Virgil Fox in action before. I have no comment.
Except, damn it, the versions I’ve seen on youtube are played way too slow in places, IMHO.
Canuckistani Tom
This thread has just triggered a flashback
For the morning announcements, my high school had a tape with various instrumental versions of ‘Oh Canada’, the idea being that you could start the tape on Monday, play one version, hit stop, and repeat on each day of the week, then hit rewind on Friday.
One of those versions was absolutely ridiculous: A high pitched flute solo, like a piccolo. Hearing this thing always gave me a mental image of elves, fairies and leprechauns dancing in the forest. You want me to stand on guard for that?
Certified Mutant Enemy
I wonder if this would meet this clown’s “performance standards”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYTqxh4scac
jl
@Anne Laurie:
Thanks. I suppose the proposed law requires all the verses to be sung?
OK, now, here’s a guy who knows how to play the damn Ive’s piece, at least the last variation.
Any organists out there with six feet and four hands who would care to comment on this insanity?
Bob Swift Plays Charles Ives’ Organ Variations on America
http://youtu.be/gZCNDhlAW4o
Napoleon
Sorry if someone covered this up thread but on NPR’s morning show piece on Iowa they had part of Rickey S.’s speech where came out in favor of a federal definition of marriage since “we need a common definition of marriage in this country – this is too important to leave to the states.”
Wow, it has only been left to the states for 230+ years.
MikeJ
I like to be in America
Ok by me in America
Everything free in America
For a small fee in America
Mr Stagger Lee
This land is Your Land, would be a great National Anthem. But Woody Guthrie was a Red, and the Fox viewers as well as Glenn Beck would have a massive attack of thrombosis.
Anne Laurie
@Mr Stagger Lee: And this would be a bad thing… why?
Yutsano
@Canuckistani Tom: They should play the version sung after the Canadians won the hockey gold. Ten thousand drunk Canuckistanis (and from what I understand quite a few Americans) singing off key in pure joy? How does it get better than that?
suzanne
@Mr Stagger Lee:
Feature, not a bug.
Haroldo
I highly recommend “Spangled Banner Minor and Other Patriotic Songs,” by The Carla Bley Band (European Tour 1977). It flat out kills.
EnfantTerrible
Here’s a properly sung national anthem, as sung by a Canuck:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vYGkv6ApgTQ
gwangung
I’m actually quite partial to the Uncle Bonsai version.
jl
What America needs now, is to Shatnerize the Star Spangled Banner
William Shatner Sings O Canada
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/3e88da6a82/william-shatner-sings-o-canada
What is with those Canucks, anyway. Do they like have some quiet self confidence and perspective, or what? Why don’t they try jingoism, like we do?
Chuck Butcher
As soon as I saw R-Evansville I knew it was Indiana. I lived in Indiana about a million years ago and it is reassuring to know it hasn’t gone to the dogs… or something.
Mr Stagger Lee
@Anne Laurie: I not against it. As a matter of fact this song is Woody’s big F*** You to the 1% As a matter of fact I would to see this song an unofficial anthem of @Occupy orf the 99%
RSA
Wikipedia says that the U.S. had no official national anthem until 1931, when a congressional resolution was signed by Herbert Hoover to make it “The Star Spangled Banner”. (Nice title, BTW.) Given Hoover’s record in other areas, I want a do-over. Or even a do-not-at-all. If we didn’t have a national anthem, would things change a lot, except at sports events?
FlipYrWhig
@Canuckistani Tom: For a long time I thought it was “We stand on God for thee.” And I was, like, whoa, cool, their national anthem is about how the country is higher than God!
Villago Delenda Est
@MikeJ:
This.
Also, that Lee Greenwood thing? Banned. Permanently. Everywhere.
smintheus
@RSA: The singing of the national anthem before sporting (and then other) events didn’t become common until WWII.
beans_buckingham
the legislation is in response to a viral youtube vid of a young african-american girl singing the star-spangled banner. Allow me to phrase this in the argot of the right-wing id: She “blacked” it up! Our SACRED WHITE MAN ANTHEM! how DARE she add them NEGRO FILIGREES to our SACRED WHITE POWER SCREED. it’s our country, not hers! THERE OUGHTA BE A LAW!”
well, that’s the way these brownshirts think. read any Yahoo! news comments section for a taste of it.
Villago Delenda Est
@Mr Stagger Lee:
I’m not seeing a downside with this.
Thor Heyerdahl
I think Arturo Sandoval does an amazing version
Thor Heyerdahl
@Thor Heyerdahl: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISMyBvFOxJc
The actual link might help
Calouste
@Villago Delenda Est:
Woody’s guitar had a sign on in that read “This machine kills fascists.” Giving Glenn Back a massive attack of thrombosis would be entirely within his intentions.
Peter
@Canuckistani Tom: I think my school had the same tape, but usually actually rewound out every day. I only heard the piccolo solo one a few times.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@AA+ Bonds: You mean John Brown’s Body…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSSn3NddwFQ
middlewest
Let’s just make DJ Earworm’s annual mashup of the top 25 songs our new anthem every year.
opie jeanne
@Hungry Joe: I don’t mind them taking that note up if they can handle it, but I do mind the melisma-madness that has overtaken taste and sense, not to mention the sotto voce “growl” ala Brittney Spears or the country twang which is mostly nothing but a bunch of diphthongs sung through the nasal cavity.
opie jeanne
@MikeJ: Me too, as well as “Buttercup”. I want two full verses of “Take Me Out to Da Ballllll Game.”
opie jeanne
@jl: I’ve never heard that one before, and I have a BA in music. I wonder why they never mentioned it when we were studying Stravinsky.
It’s very good.
opie jeanne
@AA+ Bonds: There’s also “America” (My Country ’tis of Thee”. It’s not half bad.
gnomedad
Leslie Nielsen in “Naked Gun”.
The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge
@opie jeanne:
Problem is, that’s to the tune of God Save the Queen.
Add my vote for John Brown’s Body. “Oh, we’ll hang Newt Gingrich to a sour apple tree….”
Triassic Sands
In a world constantly fouled by idiotic right wing ideas, this is one of the worst ever.
When the hell are the MSM going to notice that Republicans are bat-shit crazy? OK. OK. Never. But still, it’s their job and just because they refuse to do it, doesn’t mean it shouldn’t piss me off every time it happens. In the interests of longevity, I try not to let it get to me, and trivial stuff like this doesn’t. I’d think this has a good chance of being struck down as unconstitutional. It’s just too bad that anyone has to waste even a nanosecond on the ideas of these pinheads.
Gee, maybe we need to have a law that fines or even incarcerates a legislator who creates a bill that is ultimately ruled unconstitutional. A terrible idea, true, but maybe it would slow these morons down if they had to think twice, ummm, once about the crap they propose.
Protecting one of the worst pieces of music in history is not a worthwhile use of anyone’s time. Just think, Jimi’s great rendition would have earned him a fine. Jose Feliciano ditto. (Roseanne’s could have gotten her jail time, but that wouldn’t have been entirely unfair — not because it was the national anthem, but because her singing was an affront to all that is good in the world. Disturbing the peace is what it’s called.)
Chet
@Percysowner: As a Detroiter and Tiger fan, Jose Feliciano was the first thing that popped into my mind. It still astonishes me that such a moving, soulful rendition of our anthem could ever have aroused such controversy.
You know what’s really funny? Feliciano was invited to perform the anthem on the recommendation of none other than the Tigers’ beloved, middle-aged, Southern-born and raised, devoutly Christian radio announcer Ernie Harwell.
Chet
@Percysowner: As a Detroiter and Tiger fan, Jose Feliciano was the first thing that popped into my mind. It still astonishes me that such a moving, soulful rendition of our anthem could ever have aroused such controversy.
You know what’s really funny? Feliciano was invited to perform the anthem on the recommendation of none other than the Tigers’ beloved, middle-aged, Southern-born and raised, devoutly Christian radio announcer Ernie Harwell.
Darkrose
@MikeJ: I’m fond of the movie version of that song:
GIRLS
Life can be bright in America
BOYS
If you can fight in America
GIRLS
Life is alright in America
BOYS
If you’re all white in America
val
Oh, I am so with you there! Aside from the fact it’s an awful song, it’s grammatically a mess. “I’m proud to be an Americaaaaannn, WHERE at least I know I’m freeee”? WHERE? It should either be “I’m proud to be in AmeriCA, where at least I know I’m free” or I’m proud to be an AmeriCAN, for at least i know i’m free” or “’cause at least I know I’m free” or something like that.”American” is not a place and shouldn’t be referenced with “where.” As a copy editor, I find that song an offense against the grammar gods and worthy of death.
John M. Burt
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): I have long wanted to found the Jefferson Davis Historical and Horticultural Society, with an avowed aim of planting a sour apple tree on the grounds of all fifty state capitols.
Michael Bersin
I’d like to see the bill get to the Supreme Court. Witnessing the gyrations would be interesting enough. In 1943, in a time of war, no less:
WEST VIRGINIA STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION ET AL. v. BARNETTE ET AL., 319 U.S. 624
“…The Board of Education on January 9, 1942, adopted a resolution containing recitals taken largely from the Court’s Gobitis opinion and ordering that the salute to the flag become ‘a regular part of the program of activities in the public schools,’ that all teachers and pupils ‘shall be required to participate in the salute honoring the Nation represented by the Flag; provided, however, that refusal to salute the Flag be regarded as an Act of insubordination, and shall be dealt with accordingly.’ 2 [319 U.S. 624, 627] The resolution originally required the ‘commonly accepted salute to the Flag’ which it defined. Objections to the salute as ‘being too much like Hitler’s’ were raised by the Parent and Teachers Association, the Boy and Girl [319 U.S. 624, 628] Scouts, the Red Cross, and the Federation of Women’s Clubs. 3 Some modification appears to have been made in deference to these objections, but no concession was made to Jehovah’s Witnesses. 4 What is now required is the ‘stiff-arm’ salute, the saluter to keep the right hand raised with palm turned up while the following is repeated: ‘I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of [319 U.S. 624, 629] America and to the Republic for which it stands; one Nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.’…”
“…Symbols of State often convey political ideas just as religious symbols come to convey theological ones. Associated with many of these symbols are appropriate gestures of acceptance or respect: a salute, a bowed or bared head, a bended knee. A person gets from a [319 U.S. 624, 633] symbol the meaning he puts into it, and what is one man’s comfort and inspiration is another’s jest and scorn…”
“…Whether the First Amendment to the Constitution will permit officials to order observance of ritual of this nature does not depend upon whether as a voluntary exercise we would think it to be good, bad or merely innocuous. Any credo of nationalism is likely to include what some disapprove or to omit what others think essential, and to give off different overtones as it takes on different accents or interpretations. 14 If official power exists to coerce acceptance of any patriotic creed, what it shall contain cannot be decided by courts, but must be largely discretionary with the ordaining authority, whose power to prescribe would no doubt include power to amend. Hence validity of the asserted power to force an American citizen publicly to profess any statement of belief or to engage in any ceremony of assent to one presents questions of power that must be considered independently of any idea we may have as to the utility of the ceremony in question…”
“….National unity as an end which officials may foster by persuasion and example is not in question. The problem is whether under our Constitution compulsion as here employed is a permissible means for its achievement.
Struggles to coerce uniformity of sentiment in support of some end thought essential to their time and country have been waged by many good as well as by evil men. Nationalism is a relatively recent phenomenon but at other times and places the ends have been racial or territorial security, support of a dynasty or regime, and particular plans for saving souls. As first and moderate methods to attain unity have failed, those bent on its accomplishment must resort to an ever-increasing severity. [319 U.S. 624, 641] As governmental pressure toward unity becomes greater, so strife becomes more bitter as to whose unity it shall be. Probably no deeper division of our people could proceed from any provocation than from finding it necessary to choose what doctrine and whose program public educational officials shall compel youth to unite in embracing. Ultimate futility of such attempts to compel coherence is the lesson of every such effort from the Roman drive to stamp out Christianity as a disturber of its pagan unity, the Inquisition, as a means to religious and dynastic unity, the Siberian exiles as a means to Russian unity, down to the fast failing efforts of our present totalitarian enemies. Those who begin coercive elimination of dissent soon find themselves exterminating dissenters. Compulsory unification of opinion achieves only the unanimity of the graveyard.
It seems trite but necessary to say that the First Amendment to our Constitution was designed to avoid these ends by avoiding these beginnings. There is no mysticism in the American concept of the State or of the nature or origin of its authority. We set up government by consent of the governed, and the Bill of Rights denies those in power any legal opportunity to coerce that consent. Authority here is to be controlled by public opinion, not public opinion by authority…”
“…If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us…”
Cheryl from Maryland
@Michael Bersin: Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I love this phrase:
It may be doubted whether Mr. Lincoln would have thought that the strength of government to maintain itself would be impressively vindicated by our confirming power of the state to expel a handful of children from school.
GOP = petty insecure fascist bastards.
Michael Bersin
@Cheryl from Maryland:
Note the text of the Pledge of Allegiance in 1943:
“I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands; one Nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
“My flag” in the original was replaced at some time in the 1920s during the red scare, ostensibly because some moron asked, “How do we know which flag?”
On reading the Indiana bill I actually now believe that it could be a modest solution to our universal school funding crisis. The bill as written calls for a $25 fine to be paid into the general fund of the school or state educational institution. It just needs to be amended to include a catalog of swear words. Think of the fundraising potential.
ice9
Oh, that anthem.
True: I organized a barbershop quartet from the male glee club at my university. We were engaged to sing the song at a football game. We were placed on the sideline at the 50 and began singing earnestly, on cue and in key, after the announcer told everybody to stand and etc. Amplification stopped abruptly at “Say.”
The crowd’s rum-and-coke-addled attention flagged by “Rockets’ red glare.”
We, without a monitor, chugged on vaguely aware that something was wrong. Amplification returned just as we resolved the final grand chord. Our minder gestured us to “keep going!” which we did as we had been trained in the Glee Club–with verse 4:
Oh, thus be it ever when free men shall stand
between their loved homes
and the wars desolation.
Blest with vict’ry and peace
may the heav’n rescued land
praise the power that hath made
and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must
when our cause it is just
and this be our motto
in god is our trust!
Then the Star Spangled banner…
The student section loved it, I guess perceiving some act of 80’s rebellion, so a lot of hooting and cheering. Or maybe that was their normal reaction. The grown-up section stayed moderately respectful but murmurred and muttered darkly and did not cheer. The sections were halves of the stadium which created an exotic, echoing stereo effect. The minder was oblivious, but everybody else we encountered was horrified at the (a quote from an important figure) “breach of etiquette.” We were scolded by somebody from Athletics despite our truthful explanation. Evidently feeling the heat from deep-pocket alums, he banned us from singing the song again even as he accepted responsibility for the error. (this was the Ed Meese era when such decisions were considered elegant.)
Several music and voice teachers praised our act of rebellion on behalf of abused Anthem singers everywhere. The student newspaper first criticized our choice as too “churchy” for a secular event; then, in the next issue, published a columnist who praised us for standing up for our freedom of religion by showing “the anthem’s true Christian colors.” Not long after the school published a new rule for performance of the anthem (a copy mailed pointedly to me). I don’t remember the text exactly but it limited the singer to the “first and most familiar and appropriate verse” or something like that.
The quartet’s career was not damaged when we dropped the anthem from our repertoire. We continued our busy schedule of impromptu concerts in the quads, where the monolithic dorms made for excellent acoustics and the women still appreciated “My Wild Irish Rose,” often in their underwear. We sang drinking songs in bars, which nobody apparently did anymore. We came third in the school’s Gong Show-themed talent show (and won $44, precisely the cost of a keg of Miller High Life.) We went our separate ways.
ice9
slippy
Hey guys. I live in Indiana, and I am a musician.
I promise to find a way to break this law in order to get this bitch to take me to court. I want to be tried for incorrectly singing a song. That would be righteous.
Commenting at Ballon Juice since 1937
Wouldn’t the easiest way to avoid breaking the law to be cease playing the Star Spangled Banner altogether?
MBL
We can hope.
It annoys the hell out of me that we play the SSB before sporting events and virtually nowhere else. If the result of this law is that it stops getting played at football games I’ll find a way to vote for this woman.
Flageek
@AA+ Bonds: Lord, what a terrible choice. The Battle Hymn was the “politically correct” version of “John Brown’s Body.” The Grand Army sang it through the Civil War. Not many southern adherents. The consensus choice is usually, “America the Beautiful.”
Ken
I kind of like a version I heard in a play. It opened with the SSB, normal words and music, except they didn’t use two notes for the starting “O-oh”. The entire rest of the song was off by that one note (“O say can you see by/the dawn’s early light what/so proudly we hailed at/” etc.) After about three lines it starts doing funny things to your head.
I wish I could remember the name of the show. It was a three-person comedy/revue, something like “the history of the United States in two hours”. One of those things where the audience gets raincoats, since the cast uses squirt guns to re-create Washington crossing the Delaware.
DanielX
@cathyx: It’s far from perfect, and among the most imperfect of state institutions is the legislature. I’m sorry to say that Sen. Becker isn’t even the stupidest member of the legislature.
g
@MikeJ: I’m with you on that. Crappiest song ever.
Capri
@A.J.:
The Superbowl is in Indiana this year – and Aerosmith is the group scheduled to sing it. One of the thoughts about this legislation was this was a premptive strike against Steve Tyler. The proposed law only deals with high schools.