# What Should Be the American National Anthem **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 8, 2010, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-the-american-national-anthem/552993 "2010-09-08T00:33:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-the-american-national-anthem/552993/1 "2010-09-08T00:33:34Z")
Suppose you got to choose what song to be the American national anthem what would you choose? ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-the-american-national-anthem/552993/2 "2010-09-08T00:35:34Z")
Single Ladies. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-the-american-national-anthem/552993/3 "2010-09-08T00:45:28Z")
The name of the song is “This Land is Your Land”. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-the-american-national-anthem/552993/4 "2010-09-08T00:50:19Z")
Oh SHIT I posted before the poll went up! I didn’t know The Internationale would be an option! Awesome choice. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-the-american-national-anthem/552993/5 "2010-09-08T00:54:33Z")
[America - Fuck Yeah!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWS-FoXbjVI) ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-the-american-national-anthem/552993/6 "2010-09-08T01:14:01Z")
My Top Five candidates: 1.Battle Hymn of the Republic 2. The Internationale (If the lyrics are tweaked a bit to limit class hatred. 3. My Country 'Tis of Thee 4. Battle Cry of Freedom 5. This Land Is Your Land ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-the-american-national-anthem/552993/7 "2010-09-08T01:20:36Z")
I’ve always been partial to Guthrie’s _This Land is Your Land_, but I would expect a significant chunk of the U.S. population would rather it be Springsteen’s _Born in the U.S.A._, sadly. I’m also going to have to vote for Johnny Cash’s _I Been Everywhere_ for the quintessential American experience. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-the-american-national-anthem/552993/8 "2010-09-08T01:24:24Z")
> [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](#): > > I’ve always been partial to Guthrie’s _This Land is Your Land_, but I would expect a significant chunk of the U.S. population would rather it be Springsteen’s _Born in the U.S.A._, sadly. > > I’m also going to have to vote for Johnny Cash’s _I Been Everywhere_ for the quintessential American experience. Unfortunately, if you put it to a vote, you’ll get God Bless America. Our national anthem is unsingable, but it isn’t offensive to huge swaths of people. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-the-american-national-anthem/552993/9 "2010-09-08T02:25:58Z")
> [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](#): > > I’ve always been partial to Guthrie’s _This Land is Your Land_, but I would expect a significant chunk of the U.S. population would rather it be Springsteen’s _Born in the U.S.A._, sadly. > > I’m also going to have to vote for Johnny Cash’s _I Been Everywhere_ for the quintessential American experience. Except _Born in the USA_ talked about America’s problems surrounding the Vietnam war… but I guess Reagan didn’t realize that. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-the-american-national-anthem/552993/10 "2010-09-08T02:31:16Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Our national anthem is unsingable, It’s not built for ensemble singing, but I’ve heard plenty of great (and diverse) individual renditions. Many countries don’t even have lyrics to their anthems. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-the-american-national-anthem/552993/11 "2010-09-08T02:45:17Z")
The religious references might make it inappropriate for a national anthem, but “America the Beautiful” is to my mind the most beautiful and most anthem-like of the choices. That said, I don’t think “The Star-Spangled Banner” is so bad, really. Sure, I’m just used to it, but it’s stirring/beautiful enough, and not as hard to sing as people often claim. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-the-american-national-anthem/552993/12 "2010-09-08T03:58:59Z")
> [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](#): > > I’m also going to have to vote for Johnny Cash’s _I Been Everywhere_ for the quintessential American experience. He didn’t write it, and in fact it was by an Australian (and “everywhere” are a bunch of Aussie locations). Cash didn’t do it until 37 years later it seems. Many Australians don’t like their own anthem, and want to replace it with Waltzing Matilda. I think the US anthem should be similarly weird. America, Fuck Yeah! is my first choice, but America the Beautiful has the best sound of the main contenders. ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-the-american-national-anthem/552993/13 "2010-09-08T05:04:58Z")
Although I like _America, the Beautiful_, _Stars and Stripes Forever_ and don’t really mind _The Star Spangled Banner_ (other than its difficulty for the average ballpark crowd to sing), _This Land is Your Land_ holds a special place in my heart. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-the-american-national-anthem/552993/14 "2010-09-08T06:14:54Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > My Top Five candidates: > > 1.Battle Hymn of the Republic > 2. The Internationale (If the lyrics are tweaked a bit to limit class hatred. > 3. My Country 'Tis of Thee > 4. Battle Cry of Freedom > 5. This Land Is Your Land That’s a really good list of songs, although I don’t know number 4. Here’s Billy Bragg’s version of [The Internationale](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYkTHgoVPmE) but I reckon we kinda agree lad, about freedom. I adore The Battle Hymn of the Republic - The Mormon Choir are great at this, and 5 is just a great song, so is 3. Billy Bragg sings much better tunes but, [Levi Stubbs Tears](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejWqSi1OucA) Woody Guthrie [This Land is your Land](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxiMrvDbq3s&feature=related) Here’s an Elvis Costello song, written by someone else (Robert Wyatt), but it is about Royal Navy sailors getting killed [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LNB6M7yTBo&feature=related](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LNB6M7yTBo&feature=related) ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-the-american-national-anthem/552993/15 "2010-09-08T07:15:19Z")
> [@Desert\_Nomad](#): > > > [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](#): > > > > I’ve always been partial to Guthrie’s _This Land is Your Land_, but I would expect a significant chunk of the U.S. population would rather it be Springsteen’s _Born in the U.S.A._, sadly. > > > > I’m also going to have to vote for Johnny Cash’s _I Been Everywhere_ for the quintessential American experience. > > Except _Born in the USA_ talked about America’s problems surrounding the Vietnam war… but I guess Reagan didn’t realize that. Neither did Cowboy Bill Watts, who used it as entrance music for himself, and also for Dibiase & Doc after they turned babyface. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-the-american-national-anthem/552993/16 "2010-09-08T07:19:35Z")
The lyrics to the Battle Hymn of the Republic are mostly pretty despicable\*, but the tune and (especially) the imagery are just so exquisite. I’d sing along, I think, which I don’t do with the current anthem. Really, I can’t think of another song that, as an anthem, would move me or come near to inspiring patriotism. - –\> If it were from a different time and place and wound up as the anthem of, say, Iran, Sean Hannity would be parading it around as another reason to be terrified of Muslims. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-the-american-national-anthem/552993/17 "2010-09-08T07:42:28Z")
No option for God Save The Queen? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-the-american-national-anthem/552993/18 "2010-09-08T08:46:57Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > No option for God Save The Queen? 😃 It’s up there, lyricly reworked. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-the-american-national-anthem/552993/19 "2010-09-08T09:05:44Z")
I’m going with “America the Beautiful” because it was written by a lesbian, Katharine Lee Bates, when she was president of Wellesley College. Her girlfriend, who she shared her life with for almost 30 years, was Katharine Coman, an economics professor at Wellesley. Bates wrote to Coman: “I want you so much my Dearest, and I want to love you so much better than I have ever loved.” Cite: Lillian Faderman, _To Believe in Women: What Lesbians Have Done for America—A History_ (Houghton Mifflin, 1999), p. 193. Oh, I forgot, you’re not allowed to call anyone in the 19th century lesbian, because nobody used that word back then. OK, I’ll settle for “hot woman-on-woman love,” which can’t be denied when you read their letters to each other. The “Internationale” is awesome but it ain’t American even a little bit. I like “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” a lot too. And it’s very American. Never heard of the “Liberty Song.” I wasn’t aware that the “Stars and Stripes Forever” had lyrics, or was that a whoosh? Woody Guthrie’s song is actually titled just “This Land Is Your Land.” ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-the-american-national-anthem/552993/20 "2010-09-08T11:17:25Z")
“Loser” by Beck “Creep” by Radiohead “Lift Your Head Up High (And Blow Your Brains Out)” Bloodhound Gang 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-the-american-national-anthem/552993.md?page=2)