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

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'

I'm Minne-Canadian.

it's back on

why is there no option for "no anthems"

just to annoy everyone tbh

i'm annoyed

xxpost from the Minne-Can Republic

"The Star-Spangled Banner" > "Lean On Me" musically speaking

the hideous hot take I was waiting for!

needs a guest verse IMO

that would be one case for it yes

right now, "Lien On Me" would be more likely to succeed

when you're not solvent
i'll loan you cash
with a good APR

Lean On In

it's been a minute since I listened to TSSB attentively but it's not just the range that makes it hard to sing right? aren't the intervals a pain in the ass?

Not really. The intervals are all either step-wise motion or arpeggios within a major key. There’s nothing harmonically challenging in the context of Western/British music. In fact, “Lean On Me” has a larger leap in it where you have to go up a major 10th to transition from the verse to the chorus than anything in the SSB.

not to mention there's something to be said for a piece of music you've heard thousands to millions of times in your life making it easier to navigate the melody, regardless of how challenging it is or isn't.

most people bomb the National Anthem not because the song is challenging, it's because they either a) have bad internal pitch and change keys unintentionally throughout the song, b) pick a key too high which will result in a comedy finish, or c) just can't fuckin' sing.

thanks for the breakdown I was coasting on iffy recall there xp

course, I'm the type of asshole who will yell "flat!" when a quartet is singing it out of tune before a soccer game

I do think the aforementioned descending sixth followed by the raised subdominant in m.3 is more challenging than anything in e.g. "O Canada" or "God Save the Queen".

Couldn't you just go up by a major third rather than a 10th from the verse to the chorus of "Lean on Me".

?

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