# The Time Has Come to Change the National Anthem! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 12, 2021, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-to-change-the-national-anthem/950539 "2021-09-12T11:20:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-to-change-the-national-anthem/950539/61 "2021-09-14T14:22:30Z")
Aaron Copeland: Appalachian Spring. (It works well as a chamber orchestra piece too.) If you insist on a vocal piece: “I was born under a wandering star” from Paint Your Wagon. If Lee Marvin could sing it, anyone can. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-to-change-the-national-anthem/950539/62 "2021-09-14T14:37:20Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > People who understand only the surface can be all rah rah USA Fuck Yeah! and the people that understand what is really being said can also approve. I agree. “America, Fuck Yeah” from Team America FTW ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-to-change-the-national-anthem/950539/63 "2021-09-14T14:59:10Z")
I think you need something that can be played by a marching band. Something l[ike this.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsDUXo5TcZY) ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2021, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-to-change-the-national-anthem/950539/64 "2021-09-15T08:03:49Z")
Your link also gives a Confederate version for the lyrics. I’d think that makes it also problematic. ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2021, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-to-change-the-national-anthem/950539/65 "2021-09-15T10:57:49Z")
If changing the national anthem gets any traction, you just know that there would be a vocal contingent that would push for, urgh, “Dixie”. Ironic: The local radio station announced yesterday - it was the anniversary of Francis Scott Key writing the lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2021, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-to-change-the-national-anthem/950539/66 "2021-09-15T14:33:08Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Your link also gives a Confederate version for the lyrics. I’d think that makes it also problematic. I don’t think so. It was a Unionist song written by a pro-Union composer. The tune and lyrics were so popular some people adopted it into a pro-Confederate song, but its original meaning, and lyrics, are clear. The National Anthem would clearly not use the Confederate lyrics, and as the anthem is generally sung aloud it’s unlikely there would be confusion. The pro-Union version is also much better known. FWIW most 19th century songs are set to a tune that was reused by lots of other songs, many of them offensive. You can find offensive lyrics to pair with most popular music of the 19th century, and even songs like God Save the Queen have music that has been set to inappropriate lyrics in other songs. The most likely issue with using the Battle Cry of Freedom as the anthem is more that the pro-Union version would be decried as “offensive” to all the ass hats in the Deep South moreso than the risk of neo-Confederates using it. (Neo-Confederates already use and embrace many symbols of American patriotism, so there is nothing you can do about that.) ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2021, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-to-change-the-national-anthem/950539/67 "2021-09-15T19:18:32Z")
Also the Battle Cry of Freedom says _down with the traitor…_ I like the song. I like Battle Hymn of the Republic too. But ‘down with the traitor’. Isn’t that almost as bad as ‘scatter our enemies and make them fall…’ ? Maybe even worse 😬 ? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2021, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-to-change-the-national-anthem/950539/68 "2021-09-15T19:39:01Z")
Maybe we could just adopt/adapt La Marseillaise. After all, it has a great scene in Casablanca. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2021, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-to-change-the-national-anthem/950539/69 "2021-09-16T01:14:27Z")
I consider Battle Cry’s aggressive anti-Confederate lyrics to be a desirable feature. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2021, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-to-change-the-national-anthem/950539/70 "2021-09-16T08:22:42Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > even songs like God Save the Queen have music that has been set to inappropriate lyrics in other songs. Indeed. I can’t remember which ancient novel I found this in, but evidently some Victorians considered it highly amusing to persuade someone to sing the national anthem of Thailand (then known as Siam): that very tune, with the words “O Wattana Siam”. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2021, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-to-change-the-national-anthem/950539/71 "2021-09-16T17:20:12Z")
Actually, I prefer “Great American Melting Pot.” Although that metaphor has fallen out of fashion, in favor of the Great American Salad. Just not catchy, IYAM. On another note, the “proper” lyrics to the Pete Seegar tune as I learned them: _This land is my land_ _It isn’t your land_ _I’ve got a shotgun_ _And you ain’t got one!_ ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2021, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-to-change-the-national-anthem/950539/72 "2021-09-21T17:53:21Z")
I’m for keeping the current anthem, but not playing it at sporting events. I know, good luck with that one. All suggested replacements I’ve heard of are either wretched glurge, invoke God, or both. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2021, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-to-change-the-national-anthem/950539/73 "2021-09-21T20:25:42Z")
> [@Somethingwitty1](#): > > “Undimmed by Human tears”. Nope. Native Americans and Slaves probably disagree. That verse is talking about the future (“sees beyond the years”) - not the past. The idea of that verse is that the author/singers are dreaming of an America will be so “perfected” that the pain that we have today is gone. The lyrics implicitly acknowledge that we were not in the past, nor are we in the present anything close to ok. That line is not the problem in that song. Other verses are - there’s the whole manifest destiny verse that needs to disappear, but not that one. I vote for the schoolhouse rock preamble song. (Easy way to identify GenX, we sing the preamble to the constitution.) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2021, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-to-change-the-national-anthem/950539/74 "2021-09-21T21:10:27Z")
> [@Bonum\_Legatum](#): > > No love for Phillip Souza? An anthem doesn’t HAVE to have a vocal section… “Be kind to our web-footed friends For a duck may be somebody’s mother Be kind to the denizens of the swamp, For they live where it’s very damp” Personally, I’d go for “[This is my Song](http://www.yourdailypoem.com/listpoem.jsp?poem_id=497)”. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2021, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-to-change-the-national-anthem/950539/75 "2021-09-22T15:05:42Z")
Not playing it at sporting events is also my suggestion. I still don’t understand why we have to suffer through strained singing of it before a game starts. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2021, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-to-change-the-national-anthem/950539/76 "2021-09-22T15:17:18Z")
I believe the Department of Defense has paid to have the Flag Ceremonies before games as part of their national recruitment program. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2021, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-to-change-the-national-anthem/950539/77 "2021-09-22T17:01:52Z")
The DOD is paying NFL, MLB, NHL, Pac-12, etc to play it? If so, yet another reason they have too much funding. Paid patriotism. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2021, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-to-change-the-national-anthem/950539/78 "2021-09-23T11:55:01Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > “Be kind to our web-footed friends > For a duck may be somebody’s mother > Be kind to the denizens of the swamp, > For they live where it’s very damp” The last couple of lines don’t scan. The version I was taught is: "Be kind to our friends of the swamp Where the weather’s always damp. You may think that this is the end: well it is " ---
**Author:** ![X.L.Lent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a5b964/32.png) [@X.L.Lent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X.L.Lent)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2021, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-to-change-the-national-anthem/950539/79 "2021-09-24T05:53:48Z")
Believe it or not, Sousa wrote lyrics for the Stars and Stripes Forever. Here are a few lines: _Hurrah for the flag of the free,_ _May it wave as our standard forever,_ _The gem of the land and the sea,_ _The banner of the right._ Link to lyrics: [https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/scriptorium/sheetmusic/lyrics/Sousa\_\_Stars\_and\_stripes\_forever.html](https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/scriptorium/sheetmusic/lyrics/Sousa__Stars_and_stripes_forever.html) And here is a video of it being sung but with different lyrics: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/gIlogKJGCFw/maxresdefault.jpg ""Stars and Stripes Forever"") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIlogKJGCFw) ---
**Author:** ![Steven\_Maven](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steven_maven/32/3272_2.png) [@Steven\_Maven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steven_Maven)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2021, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-to-change-the-national-anthem/950539/80 "2021-09-24T16:29:35Z")
[quote=“Smapti, post:4, topic:950539”] Why not “This Land Is Your Land”? That song is still under copyright. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-to-change-the-national-anthem/950539.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-to-change-the-national-anthem/950539.md?page=5)