Pluggers by Rick McKee for July 04, 2015

…and they know that the last line isn’t “Play ball” :P :P :P :D :D :D

Happy Fourth, my fellow American pluggers.

However, if rendered with passion and feeling, , a misplaced lyric or two may be forgiven. HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

Especially the Verse:

“Then conquer we mustWhen Our cause It is Justand this be our Motto“In God is our Trust.”

That should either say the first stanza of the Star Spangled Banner or have them singing a line from one of the other stanzas or remove the word “all.”

Hands up, those of us who have heard that line sung as “Perilous Night” multiple times

It’s not EAR Claire, Michigan; it’s EAU Claire, Michigan.

Oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early lightWhat so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet waveO’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:‘Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it waveO’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly sworeThat the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,A home and a country should leave us no more!Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.No refuge could save the hireling and slaveFrom the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth waveO’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall standBetween their loved home and the war’s desolation!Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued landPraise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.”And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall waveO’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Happy July 4th everyone, and of course…

And all the words to "God Bless America " of course !

Leo Autodidact: As one who has lived outside the US (and outside US golden ghettos there) I can testify that the fourth verse has made more anti-Americans than anything short of permanent war. All invasions are just, from the viewpoint of the invader.

We had to learn the first verse back in second grade.

Our now-gone ‘music class’ teacher was only able (or preferred) to torture us prepubescents by playing it (and everything else) in B-flat, or E-flat, thus making it difficult for even the girls, who had to screech the lyrics to ‘music of the ’20’s’..The Gershwins and ‘Tin Pan Alley’ stuff, when we were hep to the jive of the late ’40’s and the ’50’s…The National Anthem covers four octaves (it seems) and I’d just as well prefer “America The Beautiful” as our anthem. At least that melody is sing-able by even the worst of the tin-eared among us !

Unca Jim: Have you noticed how they have butchered that great one too? The second half of the first verse has been turned into a repeated chorus, on the rare occasions other verses have been used (without their second halves). I think intentionally to diminish the power of:

Oh beautiful for patriots’ dream Which sees beyond the years,Thine alabaster cities gleam, Undimmed by human tears.America, America, God mend thine every flaw,Confirm thy soul with self-control, Thy liberty in law.

How dare imply we have flaws worth mending; let the cities rot in neglect, poverty, and crime, while we glorify a rural culture that never existed and can never be because of population, pollution, and exploitation.

Yes, let’s sing it all instead of bragging about conquering because of the delusion that we must, even if it has to include that verse about ignoring my people who were not in any wilderness.

But they can’t sing all the notes on key since the range of notes is ridiculously wide!