In Good Citizenship Indoctrination Class, aka elementary school music, we sang America The Beautiful, My Country Tis of Thee, This Land is Your Land, You’re a Grand Old Flag and an odd selection of Civil War evoking ditties for a Chicago suburban school such as Dixie, Glory, Glory Hallelujah, and As The Caissons Go Rolling Along. [Edit: That last one evidently comes well after the Civil War but the term ‘caissons’ always struck my young mind as antiquated so I connected the two]
I agree that America the Beautiful would make for a more fitting anthem and musically dislike The Star-Spangled Banner which is nearly impossible to sing well.
I will respectfully ask for an authoritative cite on the bit about a Roman salute.
Wiki disagrees with your statement.
On a more cheerful note, I feel like Diogenes–I will gladly buy you a beer if we ever meet, because you are the only other person I have ever “met” that probably knows what the mace of the US House of Representatives is, and what it, erm, represents.
Something will be happening, and there will be a short scene on TV of an elected person speaking in Congress, and I will be looking to see if the Mace is there, and if this officially a meeting of the committee of the whole, or Congress is actually in session.
I go to a lot of MLB games and the words always appear on the screen during the performance, one would be hard pressed not to learn the words if you go to enough games. The unofficial last line of the anthem is “Play Ball!”
I’d like to buy my own private islane. I’d name it Donserleigh Island. It would have a lighthouse or other beacon. Mariners will know it as the Donserleigh Light.
The one they use now is a reboot of the Soviet anthem. It was written during WWII by a fellow named Aleksandrov and became official in 1947. It was also revised with every change in leadership. (It originally praised Stalin.) Putin, being an unrepentant Communist, reinstated it after he came to power:
I don't know the words right offhand, but it praises Russia's natural beauty more than it does any individual.
Through most of the 1990s, **this **was the anthem they played at state ceremonies and when TV signed off for the night:
The melody is by the 19th century composer Mikhail Glinka. They held a contest to see who could come up with the best lyrics, but I don’t think it was ever decided. I much prefer Glinka’s work to Aleksandrov’s.
Before the October Revolution, of course, the anthem was “God Save the Tsar.” After the Bolsheviks came to power, it was the Communist “Internationale.” There’s a funny bit about this in the movie The Demi-Paradise: During the war, the British are about to present an award to Laurence Olivier (who was playing a visiting Russian engineer) and get upset when they learn the Soviet anthem is the “Internationale”: “Ooooh, the Bishop isn’t going to like that!” As Olivier mounts the stage, the orchestra plays (IIRC) the old “Song of the Volga Boatmen” instead, much to his bewilderment.
It’s called a garrison flag, which were (still are?) flown over forts. The one we had when I worked for the Minnesota Historical Society was huge too, but not as big as the one from Ft McHenry.
I adore this melody. Heard it a lot during the Soviet era when their athletes would win gold medals at the Olympics. This tune has everything-- majesty, solemnity, grandeur, poignancy, yearning, pride. I’ve never heard the words (and may not want to…).
One of Beverly Clearly’s Ramona books depicts the title character in kindergarten or first grade, being introduced to a song she doesn’t understand but seems to be about a “dawnser lee light.” Ramona privately speculates that a dawnser might be a lamp of some kind.
However it’s depicted (or not) in Roman art, it’s commonly believed it originated with them, which is why Mussolini adopted it as a sign of power. I would assume Hitler in turn adopted it as an homage to Mussolini, with whom he was quite infatuated in the 1920s.
My point was, 19th century Americans would not have made any sinister connections with it, unless they were predisposed to dislike the Romans.
Unbreakable union of freeborn republics
great Russia has welded forever to stand!
Created in struggle by will of the peoples,
united and mighty, our Soviet land!
Sing to our motherland glory undying,
bulwark of peoples in brotherhood strong!
Flag of the Soviets,
peoples’ flag flying,
lead us from victory
to victory on!
The English lyrics are actually a good translation from the Russian. The other two (I’m pretty sure) verses go on to praise Stalin, Lenin, and the Soviet victories in WWII.
You assume wrongly, at least as far as most people know. There’s a translation into something that would fit the melody, but it’s never really sung that way.
There is the bastardised version sung by little kids, though.
I picked the “all of the first and second verses” option, and actually know the fourth as well. I’ve seen printed lyrics in which “then conquer we must” has been variously followed by “for our cause it is just”, “when our cause…”, and “if our cause…”. Interesting how changing one little word can invoke such different intensities of patriotism!