It’s Independence Day in the United States, and that means time with family and friends. I don’t have any financial tips from the Founding Fathers today. Instead, I have three fine performances of the U.S. national anthem.
First up, a traditional rendition from Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians. (This group is virtually forgotten today, though popular enough in their day. Have I mentioned I have vast collection of music from before 1950? Yet another hobby.) This version is from 1942, and would have been used with the newsreels in movie theaters.
The truth is, I never much cared for “The Star Spangled Banner”. I always found it bombastic. I wished our national anthem was something more pleasant…“America the Beautiful”, perhaps.
Then I heard the Dixie Chicks sing the anthem before the Super Bowl in 2003. I had no idea the song could be so beautiful:
More recently, I’ve been fond of another version that features close harmonies. Here The Cactus Cuties, five girls ranging in age from 8 to 13, wow the crowd with their vocals:
Have a terrific (and safe) Independence Day, my friends. (And if you’re outside the United States, enjoy your weekend.) I’ll see you on Monday.
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Too bad about the lack of advice from the founding fathers. Benjamin Franklin had some very good advice, still relevant today. Thomas Jefferson — well, he had a good wine collection.
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JD, it looks like we have the same general opinion of the Nat’l Anthem. Outside of specific performances, we like it for only for what it is – the national anthem. Other than that, very bombastic. But, what do you expect when your national anthem is the tune of an old drinking song?
Can’t you just visualize the pint of brew on the upswing: “Oh. say can you SEE, by the dawn’s early LIGHT…”
Happy 4th!
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Never forget 1776! Good and bad, warts and all; this is our home. Do what you can to be a good citizen. Happy Independance Day!
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Fred Waring invented the Waring Blender, without which there would be no frozen margaritas. It also made bars a far noisier place to play music in–the Waring Paradox.
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THANK YOU to all our military men & women out there keeping us free! Fair winds and following seas.
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Everybody come home this weekend with all 10 digits, please!
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Hopefully someday Iraq and Afghanistan will also have opportunities to celebrate US-free Independence Days!
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All 3 versions gave me chills. The last 2 made me cry! Such beauty in our national anthem…thanks for the video clips! Happy 4th.
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Awesome stuff.
Awwww! The Cactus Cuties are from here in Lubbock. Way to represent!
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Happy Independence Day to all Americans
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Kelly Miller wrote: Too bad about the lack of advice from the founding fathers. Benjamin Franklin had some very good advice, still relevant today.
Yeah, but I’ve shared a lot of it already in the past! Eventually I’ll have to move to re-runs, but I wanted to go one more year without doing them.
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One of the typos in the song sheet at the neighborhood sing-along after the parade this morning was financially relevant: “Gold shed his grace on thee”
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Can you add something else to your music mix that would be so appropriate for today, and also moving. My request is the video clip “F14 Tomcat/Proud to be an American, sung by Lee Greenwood.
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What…no Jimi Hendrix version? (smile)
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I’ve always thought that “America the Beautiful” would make a better national anthem then the “Star Spangled Banner”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccNwFeGU78Q
And what about “My Country, Tis of Thee”? Also a wonderful anthem, if a bit on the religious side. Here is a great video from The Air Force Band “Top Cover” with their version.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDsVAL7DJ8g
Hope all have a safe and happy Independence Day!
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The Dixie Chicks rendition was lovely! Happy 4th!
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God Bless America, by Celine Dion, on youtube — also another good one.
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“The Land of the Free”. I don’t like that phrase — it’s so elitist. It implies that we’re *the* only free nation on earth. Compared to what? Are we really any “free-er” than Canada or Switzerland or New Zealand? Free-er than communist China, sure, but that’s not saying much.
To be honest, I’m not really sure we’re even really that free, nor that freedom is the ultimate virtue that delivers the most benefit to people.
I still like my country, it’s a pretty good country, but there are a lot of other good countries, too.
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Aretha Franklin singing “My Country Tis of Thee” at Obama’s Inauguration still puts a lump in my throat:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7c2lC9JlJo&feature=fvw
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I love Fred Waring! and i heard he invented the toaster. I have their Christmas album with the Norman Rockwell cover. Absolutely fantastic album. Can’t find the cd version anywhere and my album is scratched. There’s another CD version with different songs available, but it’s not the same. It’s awesome, though. I listen to it with the scratches and all.
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Whitney Houston sings my favorite version of the anthem
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1CmKRpqa_E
I like bombastic. I always think of the Olympics when I think of our anthem – would you want to be standing on the podium to anything other than that? I love listening to the other countries’ anthems, but none quite compare to ours. It fits our country’s personality perfectly.
I also love hear Kate Smith belt out God Bless America when she’d sing it at the Spectrum. It was very brassy and just filled you with pride. Here’s a semi-decent version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gktXAlOGc6c
I’ll warn you the singing doesn’t start for about the first minute and a quarter.
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The Cactus Cuties performed at one of our 4th of July shows with the Houston Symphony; absolutely incredible. Very professional with an amazing ear for pitch. They possess talent beyond their years.
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Cactus Cuties version was awesome. Thanks for sharing.
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I think bombastic is the wrong adjective completely. The context of the song is a DEFENSIVE battle in the earliest phases of our existence as a nation. Although we take it for granted now, the US was an experiment with secular rule based on popular sovereignty that was by no means a guaranteed success. The whole “I like my country but there are other good countries” line simply rings hollow. That it took the exercise of military force to secure true independence in no way diminishes the achievement.
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Sorry but the Dixie Chicks have never made anything sound good.
The problem with the national anthem is more that people don’t know how to sing it. They either try the Whitney Huston scream with reverb on each note (Way-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ve-ve-ve-ve-ve-ve-ve-ve-ve) or they just don’t get the medly right at all.
I much prefer the anthem when all four verses (or at least the fourth, the most symolic of the verses is included.
Then conquer we must, for our cause is just,
And this be our motto–”In God is our trust.”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
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I wish “This Land is Your Land” was our national anthem.
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I concur with Battra92′s statement that people don’t know how to sing The Star-Spangled Banner. To back that up, however, aesthetic opinions are given.
People, that is “We the People” of the United States of America, frequently don’t know all the words. Even people who do know the words are often content to mouth them while they give over the “performance” to a professional of some kind.
As evidence, though the Dixie Chick’s performance began with an invitation to “sing along”, crickets could have been heard from the crowd (audience?). I know this may have been a preference of the sound recorder, but I noticed that most of the video showed people not even mouthing the text.
It is a bit populist/revolutionary to suggest that people should actually sing along, but imagine the results. If The Star-Spangled Banner were put back into the hands/hearts/voices of the people, what else might we be inspired to take into our own hands. Not to do so is an Orwellian recipe for disaster.
Also of note, if we are to put our national anthem into the hands of the people, we need an anthem that can be sung any time and any place. I would argue that The Star-Spangled Banner is ideal for this. Though early morning is not an idea time to sing the range of a 12th that the melody requires, it has many redeeming qualities. The melody, while a “bar” song was not your average, rowdy bar tune. The melody when sung in phrases, rather than note-by-note, is rather delightful. (Quality, properly supported public school music programs could easily solve this problem.) Unlike My Country, ‘Tis of Thee, based on the British national anthem. Unlike America the Beautiful and many other suggestions, the melody carries itself without accompanying instruments, which would limit the ease of use.
I submit that for these reasons the knowledge and public singing of The Star-Spangled Banner should be promoted as strongly as possible. Nothing can unite and inspire reflection on the positives of our great land like joining together in song.
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The Star Spangled Banner might not be the best national anthem in general but as noted above there are versions that are amazing. Check this one out by Marvin Gaye at the NBA All-Star game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRvVzaQ6i8A
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