Archive for the ‘4th of July’ Category
America the Beautiful, Baby
In a Studio 360 poll, I cast my vote for America the Beautiful over Star-Spangled Banner as the U.S. national anthem. Then I did a Google search and actually read all the verses to both songs. Yeah, I did it the backwards way around, but it was more fun that way. While the Star-Spangled Banner extols war, America the Beautiful espouses ideals and values that I’m down with, such as the beauty of the earth, prevailing over adversity, treating others with fairness, generosity, and mercy, protecting our liberty, and holding onto hope.
Besides, very few people can actually sing the Star-Spangled Banner, while just about anybody can manage the range in America the Beautiful, and if someone can’t, the result is not nearly as painful as the virtually guaranteed miss of the “rockets’ red glare” shriek. A country based on The Constitution that begins with “We the People” deserves a national anthem anybody can sing.
