Star Spangled Banner: Is There A More Difficult National Anthem To Sing?

[DMark]

I happened to watch the start of the football game today and there was Carrie Underwood doing a nice job on what has to be the most difficult national anthem, world-wide, in the history of man, to sing. The audience actually applauded because she was able to hit the notes.

We have all seen and heard the disastrous attempts by others over the years.

Why in the hell did they ever pick that song, of all the quite nice patriotic songs, to make as our national anthem? I mean, seriously...to get applause, because you can hit the notes? Now that is a wise idea to choose a national anthem that probably one in 50,000 people can sing correctly.

[Pensandfeathers]

I always thought "America the Beautiful" was more fitting as a national anthem. It's easy to sing (well, easier than SSB), and its kind of lovely. It does mention God a few times, which might ruffle a few feathers, but so does our current anthem...just not in the half that we know the words to.

Also, "America the Beautiful" is about how beautiful the country is, and how different each region is. It's not about fighting and battles. A much better national anthem, IMHO.

[Mehitabel]

The music comes from a song that was sung at a lot faster tempo by a bunch of drunken Englishmen in a pub, To Anacreon in Heaven (http://www.bcpl.net/~etowner/anacreon.html), a song wherein a minor diety rattles around Olympus trying to get the gods to sponsor a club. It probably didn't sound too good then either, but then again you didn't have a hundred thousand people standing up listening to it.

[Jpeg Jones]

It only covers an octave and a half. I say just customize the key to your vocal range.

[jakeline]

I don't have a good cite to back this up, but I believe that the average vocal range for someone untrained is a little less than an octave. For my personal observations, I can definitely vouch for that being the case.

[Casey1505]

Not taking anything away from her performance, which sounded pretty solid to me, but I bet they were applauding her at least partly for her lack of vocal gymnastics (a la Maria Carey and others).

[Baker]

The OP asks if there is a more difficult national anthem to sing. Ever try the Mexican anthem?

As for the SSB, I like it, especially the last verse. I'll bet I'm one of the few who can recite all four verses without a script in from of me! :D

And as for "American the Beautiful", well, the SSB may be too martial for some folks, but "thine alabaster cities gleam, undimmed by human tears?" Urk, that's nationalistic glurge.

If I had to pick an already existing song to replace the SSB, I might go for "This Land isYour Land". But I wouldn't be happy about it.

[jjimm]

Couldn't be worse than verse three of God Save the Queen (if you didn't know already, it's sung to the same tune as My country 'tis of thee):O Lord, our God, arise,
Scatter her enemies,
And make them fall.
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On thee our hopes we fix:
God save the Queen.Jingoism, monarchism, and xenophobia all in one neat and tidy bundle - and that's not even taking into account verse five's "rebellious Scots to crush" - bearing in mind that it's Scotland's anthem too.

[jjimm]

I should clarify that my response was not about the tune, but to this:nationalistic glurge

[silenus]

I find "O Canada" much harder to sing, but that's mainly because I don't know all the words. :D

[audiobottle]

Untrained person's range is a little less than an octave? Are you serious? I'm not trained and I can do 3 without resorting to a falsetto, and 4 with. It's not the most beautiful sound in the world, but it's certainly no stretch.
I've always liked the Star Spangled Banner. The Korean national anthem is nice too, but I'm just biased like that.

[Cunctator]

Couldn't be worse than verse three of God Save the Queen.But is verse three ever sung nowadays? Or has it been relegated to the scrapbin like some of the original verses of Advance Australia Fair (which talked about us still keeping a British soul etc).

God Defend New Zealand has a few tricky bits in it.

[Cunctator]

I don't have a good cite to back this up, but I believe that the average vocal range for someone untrained is a little less than an octave. For my personal observations, I can definitely vouch for that being the case.After years of singing with untrained church congregations, I'd agree with this wholeheartedly.

[Duke of Rat]

Not taking anything away from her performance, which sounded pretty solid to me, but I bet they were applauding her at least partly for her lack of vocal gymnastics (a la Maria Carey and others).

There was recently a thread commenting on the way performers seem to love to practice all sorts of vocal gymnastics. My remedy was to have them sing along with the Marine Corps Band (or any band dedicated to authenticity) and keep up or be left behind. There would be precious little time for gymnastics if the song is performed as written.

[Miller]

I can think of much harder national anthems to sing, but that's mostly just because I can only speak English.

[rowrrbazzle]

And as for "American the Beautiful", well, the SSB may be too martial for some folks, but "thine alabaster cities gleam, undimmed by human tears?" Urk, that's nationalistic glurge.As the lyrics clearly state, it's a "dream", a vision of the greatness this country can achieve. I wouldn't call that glurge.

[jayjay]

O Lord, our God, arise,
Scatter her enemies,

"Arise" and "enemies" rhyme?

[Cunctator]

"Arise" and "enemies" rhyme?They do if you want them to. :)

[Grelby]

Untrained person's range is a little less than an octave? Are you serious? I'm not trained and I can do 3 without resorting to a falsetto, and 4 with. It's not the most beautiful sound in the world, but it's certainly no stretch.
I've always liked the Star Spangled Banner. The Korean national anthem is nice too, but I'm just biased like that.

Are you serious!? That's an astounding capability! Three octaves is a pretty good range, probably more than most pop or rock singers can achieve (people who sing regularly, but aren't trained). I'm a reasonably capable singer, though I will never win any awards for having a beautiful voice, and I sing all the time. My range might be about two octaves, maybe three if I push it. This turns out to be adequate for 90% of the singing I've ever done.

There might be more difficult anthems to sing than the SSB, but I don't know them. By which I mean, I really don't know any of other national anthems. I know, it's not very cosmopolitan of me, but what can you do, right?

[MEBuckner]

I find "O Canada" much harder to sing, but that's mainly because I don't know all the words. :D
"O Canada, O Canada!
Wie treu sind deine Blätter...."

[Odesio]

Also, "America the Beautiful" is about how beautiful the country is, and how different each region is. It's not about fighting and battles. A much better national anthem, IMHO.

The part of the poem typically used in song these days is a nice little travel guide but it doesn't say much about the American character. Even the poem itself, and I'm assuming the whole thing was sung at one point, includes at least a passing mention of fighting.

O beautiful for heroes prov'd
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life.

It's not as graphic as "bombs bursting in air" but there you go. I like the current national anthem myself. We are a nation born from bloody conflict and I don't mind our anthem reflecting that. (Yeah, I know it was written to commerate Ft. McHenry in 1814 but work with me.)

Marc

[OtakuLoki]

I find "O Canada" much harder to sing, but that's mainly because I don't know all the words. :D

Everytime I ask a Canuck to sing their national anthem they seem to end up humming along to "O Tannenbaum."

[Mellivora capensis]

Try getting your tongue around this lot.

Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika
Maluphakanyisw' uphondo lwayo,
Yizwa imithandazo yethu,
Nkosi sikelela, thina lusapho lwayo.
Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso,
O fedise dintwa le matshwenyeho,
O se boloke, O se boloke setjhaba sa heso,
Setjhaba sa South Afrika - South Afrika.
Uit die blou van onse hemel,
Uit die diepte van ons see,
Oor ons ewige gebergtes,
Waar die kranse antwoord gee,
Sounds the call to come together,
And united we shall stand,
Let us live and strive for freedom,
In South Africa our land.

:D

[Malacandra]

Try getting your tongue around this lot.

Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika
Maluphakanyisw' uphondo lwayo,
Yizwa imithandazo yethu,
Nkosi sikelela, thina lusapho lwayo.
Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso,
O fedise dintwa le matshwenyeho,
O se boloke, O se boloke setjhaba sa heso,
Setjhaba sa South Afrika - South Afrika.
Uit die blou van onse hemel,
Uit die diepte van ons see,
Oor ons ewige gebergtes,
Waar die kranse antwoord gee,
Sounds the call to come together,
And united we shall stand,
Let us live and strive for freedom,
In South Africa our land.

:D

Wow, a trilingual National Anthem! :eek:

jjimm, you know very well that hardly anyone ever sings more than one verse of "God Save the Queen" these days, with an option on this verse:

Thy choicest gifts in store
On her be pleased to pour;
Long may she reign.
May she defend our laws
And ever give us cause
To sing with heart and voice
"God save the Queen!"

"Flower of Scotland" isn't exactly a plea for cross-border harmony either, what with banging on about sending Edward's army homeward to think again (concerning which, Billy Connolly once observed "and of course, they did think again; they came back in 1745 and beat the shit out of us").

[Mellivora capensis]

Wow, a trilingual National Anthem! :eek:



:eek: indeed. And it gets worse:

The Call of South Africa (Die Stem van Suid-Afrika)
Die Stem van Suid-Afrika is a poem written by CJ Langenhoven in May 1918. The music was composed by the Reverend ML de Villiers in 1921.

The South African Broadcasting Corporation played both God save the King and Die Stem to close their daily broadcasts and the public became familiar with it. It was first sung publicly at the official hoisting of the national flag in Cape Town on 31 May 1928, but it was not until 2 May 1957 that government made the announcement that Die Stem had been accepted as the official national anthem of South Africa. In the same year, government also acquired the copyright and this was confirmed by an Act of Parliament in 1959. In 1952, the official English version of the national anthem, The Call of South Africa was accepted for official use.

Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika was composed in 1897 by Enoch Sontonga, a Methodist mission school teacher. The words of the first stanza were originally written in Xhosa as a hymn. Seven additional stanzas in Xhoza were later added by the poet, Samuel Mqhayi. A Sesotho version was published by Moses Mphahlele in 1942. Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika was popularised at concerts held in Johannesburg by Reverend JL Dube's Ohlange Zulu Choir. It became a popular church hymn that was later adopted as an anthem at political meetings. It was sung as an act of defiance during the Apartheid years. The first stanza is generally sung in Xhosa or Zulu followed by the Sesotho version. Apparently there is no standard version or translations of Nkosi and the words vary from place to place and from occasion to occasion. SA Government Website

So, depending on the location, you could be looking at 5 (that's right, five) different languages. Xhosa, Zulu, Sesotho, English and Afrikaans.

:D

[Scissorjack]

God Defend New Zealand has a few tricky bits in it.

Nah, it's just "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star": try it at home...

God of Nations, at thy feet
In the bonds of love we meet
Hear our voices, we entreat
God defend New Zealand.

[QuizCustodet]

Couldn't be worse than verse three of God Save the Queen (if you didn't know already, it's sung to the same tune as My country 'tis of thee):Jingoism, monarchism, and xenophobia all in one neat and tidy bundle - and that's not even taking into account verse five's "rebellious Scots to crush" - bearing in mind that it's Scotland's anthem too.

The third verse could potentially be worse: according to this site (http://thecapitalscot.com/pastfeatures/godsave.html) , at least, 'knavish' is a relatively recent Bowdlerization of the original 'popish'. If true, it would have added inciting religious hatred to the unholy trinity above. Don't have a reliable source on it, though, so it may not be true.

[jjimm]

I say, another Oxonian! Hello old chap.