On September 13, 1814, the Royal Navy began bombarding Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor. Just a few weeks earlier, the British had invaded Washington, D.C., burning the United States Capitol and destroying the White House as part of the War of 1812. For more than 25 hours, British ships rained Congreve rockets and mortar shells at Fort McHenry. Francis Scott Key, a 35-year-old American lawyer and poet, had boarded a truce ship to secure a friend’s release, Dr. William Beanes, from British captivity. While Key’s mission was successful, the Brits required both he and his friend remain on-board until after the attack on Baltimore. So, from this vantage point of the Patapsco River, Key watched “the rockets red glare” and the “bombs bursting in air.” On the morning of September 14, after “mother earth had opened and was vomiting shot and shell in a sheet of fire and brimstone," Key then witnessed an over-sized American flag still flying over the fort and put his thoughts into a poem.
The lyrics of “Defence of Fort M'Henry” were ultimately coupled with To Anacreon in Heaven, the drinking song for the Anacreontic Society, an upper-crust British gentleman’s society. In its original form, To Anacreon in Heaven is basically a song where the lyrics reference classical mythology while talking about how to have lots of sex by getting people drunk. With Key’s lyrics, the tune tells the story of perseverance in a time of strife and struggle, which became what we know as The Star-Spangled Banner.
The path by which The Star-Spangled Banner became the national anthem of the United States is interesting, since it wasn’t officially recognized as the anthem until less than a century ago. Before then, songs like My Country, ‘Tis of Thee —which uses the melody from God Save the Queen— and Hail, Columbia —now the official song of the Vice President of the United States— had been used as unofficial anthems as well. But in 1889, the United States Navy ordered The Star Spangled Banner be played during the raising and lowering of the American flag. About a quarter-century later, President Woodrow Wilson started using it for official occasions and Major League Baseball began playing it during games. But it wasn’t until 1931, and a final push from the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), the 71st Congress adopted the anthem we all know as the only official one.
However, during its adoption and even now, there are some who don’t approve. Some disliked it because the song has an octave-and-a-half range and is difficult to sing. Although, the House Judiciary Committee actually had two sopranos from the U.S. Navy Band sing all four verses of The Star-Spangled Banner to show “its words were not difficult, that its pitch was not too high” before okaying the anthem. At other points, some have complained the anthem is too militaristic or projects the wrong image about the United States. And, of course, there have been multiple controversies over the years about the way the anthem is performed.
So, on this July 4, I thought we might look back at some of the more memorable performances and consider some of the songs which have been advocated as a replacement to The Star-Spangled Banner.
From Andy Greene at Rolling Stone:
Few people realized that Gaye's growing cocaine addiction was causing his life to spiral completely out of control. But no matter how bad things got offstage, he always managed to pull himself together when the spotlight hit. He looked like he didn't have a care in the world when he walked onto the floor at The Forum in Inglewood, California, and delivered a spine-tingling rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner." He completely stripped it down, using little but his voice and a drum machine. Rehearsals were extremely shaky and organizers worried he'd blow it on the broadcast, but he managed to deliver one of the most beloved renditions of the song ever recorded.
Among the songs which have been mentioned, or had advocates push as a potential replacement for The Star-Spangled Banner:
- America the Beautiful: The lyrics were written at some point in the 1890's by a Wellesley College English professor named Katharine Lee Bates, who wrote it as a poem. The poem was inspired by a view of the Great Plains from Pikes Peak, which Bates had seen during a trip to Colorado Springs, Colorado. The lyrics were combined with a hymn named Materna, composed by Samuel Ward, and published as America the Beautiful in 1910. There are some changes in its song form. The original poem described the skies as "halcyon" instead of spacious and the plain as "enameled" instead of fruited.
From Danyel Smith at ESPN:
Whitney Houston steps onto a platform -- it looks to be the size of a card table -- in a loose white tracksuit with mild red and blue accents. She has on white Nike Cortezes with a red swoosh. No heels in which to step daintily, and definitely not a gown. Her hair is held back by a pretty but plain ivory bandanna -- there are no wisps blowing onto her face. No visible earplugs to take away from the naturalness of the moment. Everything is arranged to convey casual confidence.
Here we begin. Snare drums so crisp. Bass drum so bold. Houston holds the mic stand for a moment but then clasps her hands behind her back -- it reads as clearly as a military at-ease. Her stance says: We came to play. Says, in the parlance of the 'hood, and on behalf of her country: Don't start none, won't be none. All we have to do is relax, and we're all going to win.
Like the best heroes, Whitney -- the black girl from Jersey who worked her way to global stardom, made history and died early from the weight of it -- makes bravery look easy. Although the stadium hears the prerecorded version, she sings live into a dead mic. The image of her singing is interspersed with faces of the fans, of the soldiers at attention and of the U.S. flag and flags of the wartime coalition countries blowing in the breeze. She is calmly joyful -- cool, actually, and free of fear. And when she arrives at Oh, say [cymbal] does our star- [cymbal] spangled banner yet wave, she moves to lift the crowd. It's a question. It's always been a question. And she sings it like an answer. People were weeping in the stands, weeping in their homes. The song itself became a top-20 pop hit. Folks called in and requested Whitney Houston's national anthem on the radio. The version NFL executives thought might be too slow, people sang along to as they drove down the street.
- God Bless America: After the September 11 Attacks, the popularity of God Bless America spiked, with many Major League Baseball teams using it as their 7th-inning stretch song, and some conservatives at the time advocating it replace The Star-Spangled Banner as the new national anthem. Originally written by Irving Berlin in 1918 for the musical Yip, Yip, Yaphank, Berlin decided not to use it for the production and stuck in a drawer. In 1938, with World War II just about to kick into high-gear, Berlin updated its lyrics and released it as a “peace” song. It was popularized by singer Kate Smith, who introduced it on Armistice Day for her radio show. God Bless America has been controversial almost since its debut, with even some baseball fans bristling at what they feel is its “self-righteousness, forced piety, earnest self-reverence.”
- This Land Is Your Land: Written as a direct response to God Bless America and originally titled “God Blessed America,” Woody Guthrie’s song is meant to convey that rich and poor should be equal in a “land that was made for you and me.”
From Jim Farber at the New York Daily News:
One month before Natalie Maines’ critique of Bush’s Iraq war plunged the Chicks into controversy, the trio unveiled a rare approach to the patriotic theme at Super Bowl XXXVII. Instead of blowing the thing out, they kept their voices close, braiding them into fine three-part harmonies. By avoiding bombast, they found the song’s secret beauty.
- God Bless the USA: A favorite among conservative politicians and has at times been called an “unofficial” anthem of the United States. It is also an annoying song. Whether you agree with the sentiment of the lyrics or not, which are pretty vapid, the song tends to be used for public relations events where people want to wave flags and have all the vestiges of Americana, while giving a speech that's the antithesis of it. The song also leads to really stupid public displays when it's performed, especially the "stand up!" line, where people in the audience symbolically stand up to defend America. Following the death of Osama bin Laden, Beyoncé re-released her 2008 cover of the song, with the proceeds going to charity.
From Paul White at USA Today:
It was Feliciano who set off a firestorm when he performed his own soulful arrangement of The Star Spangled Banner at Detroit's Tiger Stadium before Game 5 of the 1968 World Series.
"I felt bad about the controversy because they stopped playing my songs on American radio stations," Puerto Rico native Feliciano told USA TODAY Sports on Sunday. "But there was nothing wrong with what I did. Now everybody sings the national anthem the way they want.''
He says he never plays the traditional arrangement.
"Why sing a standard version?" Feliciano said. "This was the idea I had. At that time, nobody sang the national anthem with soul or heart, it was always (he begins singing the traditional verson). And I said, the hell with it, I'm going to do something different.''
- Lift Every Voice and Sing: Referred to as “The Black National Anthem,” the song was originally composed and set to music by two brothers —James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamond Johnson— at the turn of the 20th century. It is the official song of the NAACP, and faith of persevering a “dark past,” hope in the present, and a goal of going forward until “victory” is won.
- The Battle Hymn of the Republic: If one’s problem with The Star-Spangled Banner is based on its militaristic lyrics, this one might not be their first choice. Written during the Civil War by lyricist Julia Ward Howe using the tune from John Brown’s Body, it was the unofficial theme song of the Union Army. The song uses religious imagery to argue the wicked will be crushed and the righteous will inherit the Earth.
From Michael Ventre at Today:
“When he played ‘The Star-Spangled Banner,’ it was shocking to everybody.”
The jarring, uplifting, haunting, energizing anthem was done at times in straight single notes, but the entire song is spiced with trademark Hendrix innovations, especially the use of amplifier feedback, sometimes to convey the sounds of war — bombs falling, jets overhead, perhaps even the cries of human anguish. At one point, Hendrix interrupts the anthem to play “Taps,” then resumes … The reaction to the anthem was strong but mixed. Some thought it was brilliant, others considered it disrespectful. These days, an unorthodox interpretation of “The Star-Spangled Banner” is usually met with a shrug, since Americans have seen all kinds. But when Hendrix performed at Woodstock in 1969, at the height of the Vietnam War, the idea of deviating from the traditional when delivering the national anthem was sure to raise eyebrows.