National Anthem

Got a link?

 

I'd bet she's got a fairly decent voice if she wasn't trying to be Mariah Carey/Beyonce, etc. The National Anthem is one of the most difficult songs to sing in a stadium (the echo is horrible), not to mention the differences in octaves. However, that rendition hurt my ears! LOL

 

Of course the ACLU would REALLY have a heyday if the words to the verse that goes:

O thus be it e'er when free men still stand
Between their loved homes, and the wars' desolation.
Blessed with vict'ry and peace, may our heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Pow'r 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!"
And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave,
O'er the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave!

....were REQUIRED BY LAW to be sung any time the first verse of the national anthem is sung, don't you think!??!

 

Why is that inappropriate?

 

Would you stand up for the New Zealand national anthem....probably not because you most likely have never heard it. I for one am not familiar with the American anthem, nor the Canadian so I would not jump to my feet.

I do however, think burning national flags is grossly insulting, as it is intended to be as a rule.

 

I spent two+ years (Mar 1967- Apr 69) when I was in the full-time REGAF (at Ramstein AB ["Flugplatz Ramstein"]), and then another 3 three-week deployments in the early to mid-1990's while with the TN ANG to [West] Germany (2 at Rhein-Main AB, & another back at Ramstein AB).

At the end of each duty day (16-/1700 hrs Central European [Daylight Savings] Time [depending on the month]) as a member of the NATO armed forces, I was required by military regs. to stand at attention (but not required to salute [I could if I wanted to.] each time the [West] German national anthem ("Deutschland, Deutschland, Uber Alles" [lit. "Germany, Germany, Over All" {which, BTW, was one of Adolph Hitler's favorite songs!!}]) was played (& it was played first!) AND for the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" [during which I was required by mil regs to render a salute].

The nation of Germany in post WW1 days (I believe it was in 1922) assumed what originally was the "National Anthem" of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which had been broken up by the terms of the Treaty of Versailles (which, BTW, was NOT ratified by the US Senate!) that officially ended "The War to End All Wars." (That SURE worked out OK, didn't it!!!)

So, in effect, I had to stand at attention for the playing of TWO "national" anthems every afternoon 7 days a week, no matter if I were in my military uniform ("fatigues"/BDU's) or in civilian clothes.

I didn't mind doing so because I would sing to myself the old hymn "Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken" (adopted from a movement of one of F. J. Haydn's string quartets [I think it was SQ #76, "The Emperor" SQ.]) while "Deutschland, Deutschland, Uber Alles" was played over the base's loud speaker system. (Same music, different lyrics --- so much for those "die hards" that believe that the very same music CANNOT POSSIBLY have both a "sacred" AND a "secular" usage at the same time!! :smilewinkgrin: )
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Kinda reminds me of the time(s) when POTUS F Roosevelt stood aboard the British ship(s) while their national anthem ("God Save the King/Queen") and would remark to PM W. Churchill how well the Brits played that song, "My Country 'Tis of Thee" (whose words, BTW, were written by a BAPTIST preacher, Samuel S. F. Smith way back in the early 1840's)!!! :thumbsup: