Singing the anthem: Are you doing it 'right'? Lawmaker wants rules for performances at schools
Singing the anthem: Are you doing it 'right'?
Lawmaker wants rules for performances at schools
Oh, say can you . . . sing?
And, more importantly, can you sing it the "right" way -- the way one Indiana lawmaker thinks the national anthem should be sung?
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.
http://www.indystar.com/article/20111230/LOCAL/112300334/Singing-anthem-you-doing-right-?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|News
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...a war poem set to the tune of a drinking song? War and beer set to a tune no average person can properly sing--that, to me, embodies the U.S.A. 
There's a reason it's almost always played rather than sung. Look at some of these phrases: "Martial note in triumph float" (float? Seriously?) "Fervid elation" 
"Let eagle shriek from lofty peak" --or alternately, "Let eagle cry from mountain high" ??? 
And I'd sooner slit my throat then sing: "It's a beacon for all who share our dream of a new day without domination/It's the hope of the peoples now oppressed and a symbol of their own emancipation." 
I'll take "rockets' red glare" and "bombs bursting in air" (silly as those are) over these any day. Besides, listening to it sung make me feel like I should be wearing a straw hat and seersucker suit. Here is one version of the song sung:
And here's a different version of the lyrics for perusal.
***
Let martial note in triumph float
And liberty extend its mighty hand
A flag appears 'mid thunderous cheers,
The banner of the Western land.
The emblem of the brave and true
Its folds protect no tyrant crew;
The red and white and starry blue
Is freedom's shield and hope.
Other nations may deem their flags the best
And cheer them with fervid elation
But the flag of the North and South and West
Is the flag of flags, the flag of Freedom's nation.
Hurrah for the flag of the free!
May it wave as our standard forever,
The gem of the land and the sea,
The banner of the right.
Let despots remember the day
When our fathers with mighty endeavor
Proclaimed as they marched to the fray
That by their might and by their right
It waves forever.
Let eagle shriek from lofty peak
The never-ending watchword of our land;
Let summer breeze waft through the trees
The echo of the chorus grand.
Sing out for liberty and light,
Sing out for freedom and the right.
Sing out for Union and its might,
O patriotic sons.
Other nations may deem their flags the best
And cheer them with fervid elation,
But the flag of the North and South and West
Is the flag of flags, the flag of Freedom's nation.
Hurrah for the flag of the free.
May it wave as our standard forever
The gem of the land and the sea,
The banner of the right.
Let despots remember the day
When our fathers with might endeavor
Proclaimed as they marched to the fray,
That by their might and by their right
It waves forever.
***
Couldn't we just appropriate "The Internationale"? "Arise ye Prisoners of Starvation?" That's got an awesome tune and not so bad lyrics.
For a duck may be somebody's mother...." 
Oh, I guess not. It's from a Republican state legislator.
Since this is already the law in Michigan, I could be fined for thinking the anthem starts "Jose can you see?" and ends with the words "Play ball!"
an example of small government at work........................................ (searching for the sarcasm thingy) 
