… Or when you’re on the road in your 18-wheeler a-talkin’ on the CB. 
The spelling was a typo that slipped by; thanks for bringing it to my attention. DUH! :smack:
“Hail” doesn’t necessarily require a comma (cf. “Hail Victory! Hail the Fuehrer!”), and there were few such conventions in Federalist days anyway.
Don Ho’s version:
Sammy Davis's version:
I could get behind America, Fuck Yeah.
Barring that, I’ll nominate Phil Ochs Power and Glory.
In 1984 Dianne Feinstein (then mayor of San Francisco) and Quentin Kopp (a supervisor) had a disagreement over what should be the city’s official song. Feinstein wanted it to be “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” while Kopp wanted it to be “San Francisco.” They compromised by making the latter the official song, and the former the official ballad.
In 1989 the cast of Beach Blanket Babylon sang “San Francisco” at Game 3 of the World Series between the A’s and Giants.
As for a national anthem, how about “Stars and Stripes Forever”? The original version had no lyrics, but does an anthem need lyrics?
I’d vote for Living in America myself. Yeooow! Good God!
An anthem to itinerant and suicidal sheep thieves is representative? 
For the melody, “America the Beatuiful” without a second thought. Lyrics? Yeah, the “foam” post above mJes a good point. I’ll still take it.
The suggestion is not to honor SF specifically, just to take a pretty good sing-able tune and re-write the lyrics to expand the meaning to encompass the entire country, with such sentiments as “the place I love” and “you let no stranger wait outside your door.”
Thanks.
I’ve seen BBB, don’t remember what they played as I was very sick at the time.
Lisa Simpson would not be happy.
Of an Australian sense of humo(u)r, sure!
We recently went through an election that would seem to belie that. :dubious:
That song is actually even more anti-patriotic than “Born in the USA”, though I doubt that the singer realizes it.
“If tomorrow all the things were gone I’ve fought for all my life, and I had to start all over with my children and my wife…”
OK, so your children and your wife aren’t the things you’ve fought for?
“still I’d thank my lucky stars to be living here today, 'cause the flag still stands for freedom, and they can’t take that away”
And the flag standing for freedom isn’t something you’ve fought for, either? What the heck have you been fighting for all your life, anyway?
And of course the flag standing for freedom can be taken away. The flag only has whatever meaning it’s given by us people.
My friend Rev Peyton played a pretty awesome version of the *Star Spangled Banner *on a National resonator with a slide at a Butler basketball game.
Heck, Mr. Greenwood’s piece of unbearable maudlin schmaltz must have been created by enemy agents trying to make people hate America.
I am* not a great fan of the lyrics, but I like that the USA’s anthem is musically *distinctive. Not a march, not a dirge, but a drinking song. Makes it recognizable.
Also, I agree that Australia missed a bet not officially going with ‘Waltzing Matilda.’ I know some Aussies who don’t like the song, but they already thought the rest of the country were ridiculous sinners, and really, nothing would have been lost.
Yeah, and let’s bring back Hootenanny and Sing along with Mitch while we’re at it!
Ummm, hate to break it to you guys, but “foam” does not appear in the lyrics of “America the Beautiful.” You’ve mixed it up with “God Bless America.” But I see your point.
I may be in the minority here, but I have always loved the poetry of the verses of “America the Beautiful” that no one ever sings. (It was written in 1913, so is in the public domain.)
Yes, the words are rather stilted and formal, and the syntax may be hard for some to grasp, but I think the poetry is powerful, elegant, and (except for the references to God, which would be out of place in the anthem of a country founded on the separation of church and state) expresses many appropriate American ideals.
For instance, the “alabaster cities…undimmed by human tears” (a phrase I have always loved) obviously do not exist now, but are a patriot’s dream of an ideal future.