The agony begins with the rockets (July 9)
By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune
Most years, around Independence Day, musicians and some others speak out against “The Star-Spangled Banner” and call for Congress to declare another song as the national anthem.
I happen to be in that league. Some of my most enbarrassing moments have been spent trying to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner.” A song which requires a two-octave voice capability to give it justice, it can only be sung by lesser singers if they go off key or screech. When I take on the “Banner,” I become an off-key screecher.
The agony begins with “And the rockets’ red glare …” a point at which even professional singers develop frightened looks as they struggle to hit the high notes. Opera stars and rock musicians alike are brought to their musical knees by the national anthem, and there is a good reason: Francis Scott Key never wrote it to be set to that melody.
He was inspired to write it as he watched the overnight bombardment of Ft. McHenry in Baltimore by the British fleet in 1914. A huge American flag that had been flying from the fort during the bombardment was lit up by artillery blasts. And when the sun came up, the flag still flew, and the British basically went away. Or so the legend goes. Later, the poem, which he called “The Defense of Ft. McHenry,” was put to music — the melody, ironically of a British drinking song — and the song began to be sung at patriotic events.
However, it was not made the national anthem until 1931, by Congress.
What Congress decrees, it can undecree. We have many patriotic songs which are better to sing and softer on the ear than “The Defense of Ft. Henry.” “America the Beautiful” comes to mind, as does “God Bless America,” although some might think that one mixes church and state too much. The last verse of “Banner,” however, suggests, “And this be our motto, ‘In God is our trust’.” What music-lover will be brave enough to put things right?
Are you testing us? My family thinks maybe you are. Maybe you intentionally put an error in your column incorrectly dating Francis Scott Key’s composition. You had an error about the Revolutionary War the week before, and many people caught it. Are you testing us?
The War of 1812 was fought from 1812 to 1815, and 1814 was when Key wrote “The Star Spangled Banner.” He could not have written in it 1914. He was long dead by then, and that was World War I.
Here is a quote that has been used by many people in varying forms: “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
I guess Americans need to brush up on their history, and I’m asking you not to be their history teacher.
If you are testing us, maybe you had better put the right answer at the end of the article for the people who don’t know their facts.
Stephen Reed
age 9, 4th grade,
Madera
(Editor’s note: Stephen is absolutely right about the date being wrong in the Editor’s Corner. He is a sharp-eyed fellow. However, Key no doubt would have post-dated the song for 1914 if he had known it was going to show up that way in The Madera Tribune, where errors are not made, but history is just slightly misinterpreted.)