Posted by: decster | March 3, 2008

O’er the land of the free

I’ve always thought the US national anthem to be a bit of a dirge. Maybe it is because the anthem is generally heard being brutally slaughtered by some wailing Mariah Carey-wannabe, or worse, Mariah Carey herself.

On their recent historic visit to North Korea, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra performed a rendition of The Star Spangled Banner. Given North Korea’s position as the world’s last Stalinist dictatorship and the United States’ self-styled role as the world’s flagship democracy, it’s stirring stuff. So stirring in fact that I found myself singing along at one point which is saying something given nobody ever knows the words.

Responses

Some of us know the words.

Some of us were brainwashed into learning the words when we were at school in the states.

I don’t mind the Star-Spangled Banner actually (it’s certainly better than Flower of Scotland). I don’t really like the practice of just a single singer warbling through it though, much the same with any other anthem, the full brass band/orchestra treatment tends to lead to a far superior output.

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