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

no just a guy playing acoustic guitar being crushed by an elevator

hawt

i was trying to link to the movie (?) version of this, but here is the quote:

In "Angels in America," Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, an African-American character named Belize suggests that the difficulty was part of the composer's plan. "The white cracker who wrote the national anthem knew what he was doing," Belize insists. "He set the word 'free' to a note so high nobody can reach it."

It's a great line but also there are thousands if not millions of people who can actually hit that note as long as they start in the right key, so 🤷🏾‍♂️

i always love when a singer miscalculates their starting note on that song. creates such anticipation - will they be able to reach the high notes? will they scream "fuck" on the microphone?

ok that finally makes me think maybe "the star spangled banner" is good

this is my platonic ideal for a Star-Spangled Banner performance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWP8ZJ6674Y

This is pretty spectacular too:

https://youtu.be/8SHnpWohrg0

I find "pomp and circumstance" a bit...pompous and suggest Nelly's "country grammar" as a replacement

one of the few anthems I've heard that approximated Bleeding Gums Murphy's 26 minute version on The Simpsons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf1HMZbTcz0

nothing will EVER beat that hockey game one though.

I love how Kat Deluna breathes about three times in each phrase. my choir teacher would have vivisected her

Also don't sleep on Carl Lewis(!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPhKAQi2hNI

Also don't sleep on Carl Lewis(!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPhKAQi2hNI

Kat Deluna's interpretation of pitch is amazing

I would have said "breathtaking" but she took all of them for me

when i was in college i wrote a column for my university paper arguing that we should replace the national anthem because it was too difficult to sing and the lyrics were militaristic and dumb, and i got an angry two-page letter from the university chief of police telling me i was a bad american.

IRL lols at the "uh oh" on Carl Lewis's

can this be the thread where ILXors all psot their renditions of the SSB

Kat Deluna has some pipes but seems to have pitch control issues, I'll defer to Dang's judgement

Lol xxxp

lol JD

i wish i still had that letter

This one's heartwarming.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmQzVQza9Ak

Mo Cheeks was a gentleman during that

This one... is not heartwarming

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

In the related vids:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SHnpWohrg0

What are people's thoughts on the Red House Painters version of the Star Spangled Banner? It's the only version of the anthem that I'll actively seek out and listen to...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QPS1Bs1lIk

Eric, that's the second video I posted!

Write-in:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VsmF9m_Nt8

the hendrix thread cited a pretty good academic article on his SSB:

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-society-for-american-music/article/this-is-america-jimi-hendrixs-star-spangled-banner-journey-as-psychedelic-citizenship/0029FB312D1A8A9C61C0345C6DB59525

i think it's interesting that he originally titled it "this is america"!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9nnnM-__JQ

almost clicked but nah

thank you all for justifying this poll's existence

Eric, that's the second video I posted!

Ope, scrolled too fast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePQ9_re7f1A

i sang really loud
until i riled up the crowd
and then a horse fell

Can't fuck with this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3qD1jKNYaU

Without consulting social media or even reading the last 40+ posts itt I will now predict three possible reactions to this:

MAGA: Bad message! USA is not about "leaning" on anyone but picking yourself up by the bootstraps and ask not what your country can do for you and blah blah blah

Leftists: Hmm, can we make it say "call on me sister?"

Old libs: Hooray! I love Otis Redding

I keep coming back to Lean On Me has too much sadness and pathos, it's an anthem for truly the end of the world tbh

It reminds me of the argument I had with someone years ago about the end of Orbital’s “Out There Somewhere Pt 2” and how he heard it as indescribably sad because the last melodic theme is made of descending notes, even though the entire coda is in a major key after close to 20 minutes of minor key, which really just goes to show that you can build up as much theorycrafting as you desire around how people respond to musical cues and someone is going to come along to be the glaring exception to conventional wisdom

i think the real problem for "lean on me" as an anthem is that the help we offer when we sing LoM must be freely and sincerely offered for the song to have the meaning it does. once made compulsory, it loses everything. in conclusion the answer is "use me."

Excellent point

*doesn't watch a sporting event w/o belting Go Your Own Way at the top of their lungs first*

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I only just read the DJP's last post, of course "Out There Somewhere" is impossibly sad, it's longing for infinity and escape

It's tempered with other feelings tho sure

should "Take On Me" replace "Funeral Fog" as the Norwegian national anthem?

should "literally anybody else" replace "burrito" as ILX poster

should "sucking my dick" replace "smoking meth" as your mother's main mouth use

wtf? flagging post.