should "Lean On Me" replace "The Star-Spangled Banner" as the US national anthem?

i'd actually be jazzed to stand for the thing for once

no, we should keep "the star-spangled banner" because I think it's good, actually
no, we should keep "the star-spangled banner" because it's bad and america deserves it

my opinion lies somewhere between these two

Having difficulty imagining singing "Lean On Me" - great as it is - before a Pirates game

voted 'keep, it's good' - I'm British and we need to sort our own house out (with Jerusalem obv) before sniping at America's perfectly good anthem - TSSB has a MUCH better development/climax/resolution than GSTQ, musically speaking, and I don't see what's so bad about it. Lean On Me has too much sadness and pathos, it's an anthem for truly the end of the world, which this ideally isn't

keep "the star-spangled banner" because some song has to be butchered at every sports event and it might as well be that one

It speaks in plain musical language, without a trace of bombast, in a tidy arrangement that unfolds over a few basic chords. It doesn’t march to a martial beat or rise to grand crescendos.

this writer truly does not understand what an anthem is

the writer makes clear that these qualities are what makes it an unorthodox choice!

America's anthem is a British drinking song w/ new words, we need a better one

^^gets it

maybe a T-Pain song with lyrics fitted from one of our less racist Founding fathers?

I'm appalled by how much I loved that Club Nouveau version as a kid.

i mean could you imagine what kind of people we'd have to be surrounded by if this were even remotely possible? beautiful people instead of ugly, evil people. never going to happen.

xpost I didn't realize that wasn't the original version until my dad's eyes bugged out when I said that thought out loud.

fine, i guess the writer does understand what an anthem is...so why not find another one that fits those criteria, haha

never going to happen.

this is a poll about what should be not what could be!

How about “Lovely Day” but instead of “Lovely Day” it’s drunken frat boys chanting “U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A...”

all the drunken sports fans passing out trying to hold that note longer than their buddies would be a real spectacle, it's true

https://ww.youtube.com/watch?v=mNUaAMMmp1c

damnit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNUaAMMmp1c

it occurs to me that a decent working definition of 'liberal' could be 'loves nationalism when it comes down to it tbh'

map otm

I think "The Star-Spangled Banner" is a good tune (I know that's a controversial opinion). It's definitely militaristic and nationalistic but that's the point of having a national anthem in the first place. "Lean On Me" is one of the best songs ever and it's thoroughly American as a song, but I don't think America has earned it as an anthem. Maybe if we were consistently a nation of sentimental liberals who have each other's back, which we're not.

xpost

it occurs to me that a decent working definition of 'liberal' could be 'loves nationalism when it comes down to it tbh'

― carin' (map), Wednesday, 15 July 2020 15:07 (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

this aimed at me? i'm speaking purely musically here. yes the sentiments are beautiful but it isn't a feasible anthem? imagine 'imagine' was the uk anthem lol

and yeah a working definition of 'liberal' is 'can get behind the sentiments in 'lean on me''

"Lean On Me" is incredible, but would be damaged and flattened out if made official and forced into all these other contexts where the anthem shows up. whereas somehow i think "This Land Is Your Land" could survive.

I don't hate The Star-Spangled Banner as a song, but the whole point of national anthems, like nations, is that they're for dicks, which is why Lean On Me or any other song of tender humanity would be wrong

Crut already made my point, lol sorry

My nomination despite the Britishness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGc5h1yWHQ

Replace it with "Slumerican Shitizen"

if america remade itself according to the principles of "lean on me," sure

star spangled banner sucks and we've earned it

lol in the recent series of 13 Reasons Why they ended the, like, tensest episode of all with Melt The Guns and it was the worst closing-credits music choice in TV history

Lean On Me has too much sadness and pathos, it's an anthem for truly the end of the world

whut

"No Thugs In Our House" perhaps closer to the pulse of the American psyche

i just have this vision of the citizens huddling together in their caves by candlelight singing 'lean on me' as the radiation sickness picks them off one by one

Easier to imagine the end of the world than a society based on siblinghood

anthems are for sports events and occasions of pomp and circumstance; they don't really matter but they are intended to amp up glory rather than celebrate siblinghood; if they can do both, more's the better. anthems don't really matter at the end of it and they don't really have any impact on society, but it is a fun question to think about

ITT some people show they didn't follow the whole "did you know there's a verse in the Star-Spangled Banner that celebrates slavery" controversy

anyway, I already recorded the real national anthem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vA9UnZUKveY

^^^^ goddamn

Lean On Your Bootstraps

Easier to imagine the end of the world than a society based on siblinghood

which is why my backup in case "Lean on Me" falls through is "Kill the Poor"

'lift every voice and sing' would be a way better choice than 'lean on me'. agreed (and great performance obv)

ITT some people show they didn't follow the whole "did you know there's a verse in the Star-Spangled Banner that celebrates slavery" controversy

I'm aware of the verse in the original poem on which the anthem is based.

Reveal Your Uncool Conservative Beliefs Here fodder but "The Star-Spangled Banner" > "Lean On Me" musically speaking.

i didn't know about that verse :(

why is there no option for "no anthems"

Give me mandatory disco sing-a-longs or give me death.

Give me mandatory disco sing-a-longs or give me death.

― Get the point? Good, let's dance with nunchaku. (Eric H.), Wednesday, 15 July 2020 15:32 (twenty-one seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

'i feel love' can be yours, and 'left to my own devices' ours, and everyone wins

/remembers that Eric H is Canadian, not USAmerican

anyway, I already recorded the real national anthem:

Don't mean to embarrass you here but this is not actually an embed of 'Bring Out The Katz'

?

The only reason it has a 'wide range' is because of the registral shift, which can easily be left out without changing anything in the key or harmony. Some notated versions already do this:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/halleonard-pagepreviews/HL_DDS_12696710WwyADl52k.png

I voted keep SSB bc good btw; just don't agree that it would not be harder to sing.

Yeah there's really no reason to sing the first verse in the same octave as Bill does - indeed, when I play it, I do all the verses the same way. But I am not like a muso dude who knows things

song has a much greater impact starting in the lower octave, then jumping, for the first chorus.

Surely but it seems like it would be much easier to adapt for amateur group singing.

It’s definitely harder to sing just because there is a lot more going on melodically; the question was “aren’t the intervals trickier” and my answer is “not really, there are just more of them”

Haha OK

itt: several incredibly accomplished, knowledgeable, well-trained, and talented musicians exhibit very little sympathy for non-musicians

and then I posted some stuff too don't forget

you are a very good singer tho

aw thanks. tbh i wasn't knocking what you said re: starting up an octave. it's just not my personal choice if I was singing it, but...you had a good point!

i'm mostly just catty about people who sing the anthems at sporting events but only cos I'm secretly jealous that I haven't been asked to do it yet!

A worthy addition to the anthem canon:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vga0M4ia5Mc

lmao

star spangled banner shreds

I like it with the accompaniment even better

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf0dcMH4N5U

i found my new favorite genre of music.

cpac strangled banner

let’s call em “red notes” from now on

Sung in the key of Q flat.

“Tomorrow Belongs To Meme”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqEp-NMeMF8

freeeee EEEeeeeeeeeee

hahahahaha I knew just from the text which accompaniment video you had posted

AMERICA UNCANCELED ok lol

these guys are also great just from a "how did they sing this with a straight face" standpoint

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQ-O72WMRKo

jute gyte would approve

chic “everybody dance”

earth wind and fire “sing a song”

most of the songs playing at this airport bar would qualify as great new national anthems to me

Most EW&F songs would be great new national anthems.

otm

dying at the CPAC rendition upthread which I somehow missed. holy shit.

It’s incredible

welp, the anthem is officially dead

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10128419-mlb-fans-react-to-viral-national-anthem-video-ahead-of-2024-home-run-derby

i checked other live performances of her original songs and they're nothing like this, but the signs are there, she frequently pushes her larynx up and wavers off pitch, seems they autotune her a lot on record

I watched this right before bed and kept my partner up for about 10 minutes with hooting laughter

Did she record this backwards?

Best comment: "Tough week to be an ear in America."

Tough week to be an ear in America. https://t.co/V9JfYSr12L

— The Food Manufacturing Guy (@TipOfTheBanana) July 16, 2024

AI not quite there yet.

let this be another nail in the coffin for this style of singing please

Unfortunately I don’t think bad singing is going anywhere

of course they included a singing expert in the article saying "well this is difficult, this particular stadium has poor acoustics".

that would make sense if like, you were harmonizing with other people, singing with accompaniment that you could barely hear as you didn't have an inner ear monitor, or had an inner ear monitor blaring your own voice with a split second delay (which yeah, would fuck you up). but if you're singing an anthem a capella, like, how loud you can hear yourself or not is irrelevant, you're not supposed to adjust the way you sing based on how well you can hear yourself. by the time you hear your own voice, the sound has already been produced, it's too late to fix. you're supposed to use the same placement/technique regardless, overcompensating is a mistake karaoke singers make, not professionals. plus, your pitch is your pitch, again...once you hear your own voice, whatever came out has already been heard by everyone, if it was wrong, you can't go back and fix it. you shouldn't require to hear yourself loudly to stay on pitch. the Beatles couldn't hear shit at the Hollywood Bowl and managed to harmonize with each other.

(though as I mentioned above, harmonizing a different thing, as you're listening to how you fit in with the other voices, which does require being able to hear)

otm, plus if you really really need to hear yourself, there's also the highly complex, elite-level technique of holding a finger up to one ear. but not sure a 4x grammy nominee could be expected to master that though

my mother used to ask me why I was picking my ear when I sang barbershop

I said "cos this music sucks"

well it got sad :(

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/sports/who-is-ingrid-andress-home-run-derby-national-anthem-singer/5601196/

https://i.redd.it/dgbbc4kyzwcd1.jpeg

That is both sad, and (in a way) refreshingly honest. She didn't blame having a cold, or the sound guy, or childhood trauma, or Jewish space aliens.

A pretty good “apology” note, I agree

golly it's almost like transparency is the best form of communication. (shockedpikachu.png)

on that note, good for her. whoda thunk that deflowering the national anthem could be such a great example.