If the theme of an event scheduled for Sept. 14 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., to recognize, promote and honor America’s national anthem were to be written on a thumbnail, it might be “Learn it, live it, love it.”
The event, sponsored by Sing It America, seeks to address the fact that many people do not know the history of the anthem, its lyrics or its meaning.
Executive Director Shelli Jones Manuel told WND she was recently working on a documentary about the “Star Spangled Banner” when she discovered that many Americans, children and adults alike, simply didn’t know the national anthem.
Some didn’t even know of its existence, she noted.
It happened when a steering committee pulled together a camera crew to create a television documentary of Baltimore Harbor’s Tall Ship Bicentennial. Workers found during interviews that 90 percent of children could not say what a national anthem was, never mind sing it.
Neither could 80 percent of adults sing more than three lines.
“Further research revealed that many of our young Olympians stood silent in recent award ceremonies, unable to sing it. And online footage from ABC News showed similar results. A Rasmussen report stated that as high as 15 percent of young millennials couldn’t sing it and would gladly replace it [with] a ‘One-world-friendly, less military offensive’ tune,” the organization explained.
The website explained that there even are reports that various proposals have begun appearing on locations like the White House petition site to replace it with “This Land is Your Land” or “America the Beautiful.” Or a Miley Cyrus tune.
“Very nice, pleasant tunes, but not exactly what we might wish to sing in the wake of another terrorist attack someday,” the website explains. “It is actually an easy anthem to sing, for past generations that memorized songs, poems and historical speeches, but the Internet games of today have replaced such serious educational moments.
“We need to teach [children] and create the joy and pride of former generations in their hearts, too.”
The event is not political, and people and groups from a broad spectrum of political persuasions are invited and expected to attend and participate, although the speaker list remains in development.
The events launch at 5 a.m. on Sept. 14 with a trumpet call and include awards for student writing contests, representatives from Congress, a shofar salute, flag presentations, resolutions from Congress and possibly governors. It concludes at 5 a.m. on Sept. 15.
It’s in honor of the poem by Francis Scott Key, who witnessed the bombardment by the British of Fort McHenry in the War of 1812. It was set to music using a tune of a popular British song and was recognized by the Navy in 1889 for official use.
President Woodrow Wilson acknowledged it in 1916, and Congress acted in 1931 to make it official.
It’s 200th anniversary was celebrated in 2014.
There have been some differences over the lyrics, especially the third verse, but the commonly accepted words are:
Oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
‘Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power 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!
It has been performed by a wide range of groups and in a variety of styles, although most performances do not include the latter verses, including the fourth stanza’s description of American as a “heav’n rescued land” with “In God is our Trust” for a motto.
Here’s a chorus with the lyrics onscreen:
[jwplayer Mr3vldLh]
Here’s a version by the U.S. military academy choruses and trumpets:
[jwplayer q5scLtUG]
Here’s a version at the National Quartet Conference:
[jwplayer OSCT37nr]
And here’s a rock version:
[jwplayer r98AwHUu]
Manuel told WND that first lady Laura Bush had noticed the lack of knowledge about the anthem while her husband was in office and had tried to address the issue.
Manuel blamed the problem on funding cuts for public school arts and music programs, where an anthem normally would become subject matter.
The event will be on the same day Congress is scheduled to vote on the Iran nuclear deal, which this year is Rosh Hashanah. And a shofar parade is scheduled the same day.
