Parade magazine once again raises the issue of whether “The Star -Spangled Banner” should (as it has been since 1931) be the national anthem, or if we should choose something else. They even have a poll.
It’s useless.
Despite a plentitude of reasons why “America the Beautiful” should be the national anthem, the chances of a change happening are zilch.
Occasion: AtB is based on a poem by a woman. It is intrinsically wussy and unworthy. On the other hand, TSSB is based on a poem by a man, about a battle, in a war. There are bombs and rockets involved. And even though we lost the battle (the fort stayed intact, but Washington was burned), you just can’t beat a war song for a national anthem. Even if the folks we were fighting are now on our side.
Subject Matter: AtB is all about beautiful stuff, mountains and plains and the like. Clearly it’s hippy, eco-freak garbage that probably references Al Gore and Global Warming in one of its verses. TSSB, on the other hand, involves, as noted above, a war! With bombs! And rockets! And flags!
Utility: Sure, everyone complains about TSSB’s singability (and about the insane license various singers take with it to make it about a personal performance, not about the nation). But, really, how many kids are growing up learning AtB any more? And, yeah, even if we’re not singing it personally, we hear TSSB all the time at baseball games, football games, NASCAR races, and every other sporting event that relies on a national anthem to make it a suitably patriotic occasion.
Reason: If you’re going to change something, you have to have adequate reason. In this case, why would you get rid of a song that generations of folks have sung (or had sung at them), even if nobody can sing it and nobody knows about the events it describes? I mean, did you miss the part where I mentioned it has ROCKETS and BOMBS and FLAGS?
That’s America, dadgummit! And don’t you forget it!