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I will have to chime in here..
The National Anthem is not s spirit song
By definition anthem:
1.A hymn of praise or loyalty.
2. A choral composition having a sacred or moralizing text in English.
3. A modern ballad accompanied by rock music instrumentation.
# 3 above might be able to stretch to a spirit song but ...
Aged tune and lyrics?
The tune....The connection with Anacreon, along with the "drinking" nature of the lyrics, have caused many people to label "The Anacreontic Song" a drinking song...The song was commonly used as a sobriety test: If you could sing a stanza of the notoriously difficult melody and stay on key, you were sober enough for another round.
I think that would still apply today....If it is a raucous song sung in early America then it is perfect. The country was founded on rebellion...
The orginal name was Defence of Ft McHenry. It clearly outlined how the flag stood through terrible bombardment and stood for the free colonies.
For those who dont know the other verses
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, O! 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.
O! 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!
The lryics are still as appropriate today as they were in 1812. What was displayed first at Iwo Jima, what was displayed at the Twin Towers. A US Flag..
I have stood in the place between my home and war's desolation. To me as someone who has served in the military for over three decades, the words of all stanzas ring true for me.
We were started in war, we continue to battle for freedom... as long as we do that, the words are time honored...
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