The National Anthem

Here are a few rules in no particular order from someone who can't sing himself out of a wet paper bag on what to do if you get tapped to sing the National Anthem in some public forum.  I don't mean as one in the crowd (though I might jot ten rules for that at another time) but as the one standing there with the microphone.

1.  It's not about you.  Consider it a corporate prayer. You just happen to be the mouthpiece of 40 or 40,000 other folks in taking a moment to honor our country. Offend a Brit or a Canuck by singing it like your leading a crowd that's proud of its country.

2. Just sing the melody. Few songs rank as difficult to sing as our Star Spangled Banner. For those with vocal talent, it's not a big deal. That said, it's not the time to wow me with the prowess of your vocal talents.  Please, just sing the song.  No crazy tempo.  No wacky pitch changes.  If you can't figure out why, go back to number one.  Anyway, if you start singing like a woman in labor, you're going to screw up the timing of the fly-by, too.

3. Be respectful - face the flag.  I don't care who you are or how many platinum albums you have, it's an honor to be selected to represent those present. Look at it while you sing and not at your mug in the jumbo-tron. Remember the thousands of coffins that have been draped with that majestic piece of cloth so that you can do whatever it is that you do.

4. Be respectful - dress nicely.  That might strike you as quaint or "Beaver Cleaver," but you convey a lot by how you dress. Imagine you are going to meet someone important. That's a start.

5. Be respectful - be still. Walk straight to the microphone, and sing the song. No wild hand gestures are required. PLEASE, do not grab yourself! If you want something to do with your hand, try putting it over your heart. You ought not want folks looking at you anyway (see #1); you want them facing the flag and singing, too. When your done, please leave the stage, field, etc. Folks didn't come to see you anyway.

6. Practice. If you can't hit the notes, maybe you should bow out--no harm, no foul--but there is NO excuse for not knowing the words. If you have struggled with them in the past, you might even tote the lyrics on a 3 x 5 card.

7. Believe it. Did you know that there are four verses to the Star Spangled Banner? Yep. Let me encourage you, before you sing it in public, read all four verses. Understand the history behind the Anthem. If you can't support it or our nation, then please don't sing our nation's anthem just to steal a little face time or because you have an album coming out or because you were nominated for a Grammy.  Or if you're Sean Penn.

Yes, it is perhaps one of the most difficult national songs that has ever been, but what an awesome song it is. I long for the day when Americans will belt it out like the Canadians do during the Stanley Cup. We are, after all, Americans.  Let's sing it with pride.

THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER by Francis Scott Key


Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What 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 wave
O'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 wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That 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 slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise 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 wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!


NOTE ADDED:  Just learned of a fifth verse penned by Oliver Wendell Holmes over his disgust with the start of the Civil War in 1861.  Don't believe it worthy of the original but I share it here as a footnote to history and since we are in the War's sesquicentennial.


When our land is illumined with liberty's smile,
If a foe from within strikes a blow at her glory,
Down, down with the traitor that tries to defile
The flag of the stars, and the page of her story!
By the millions unchained,
Who their birthright have gained
We will keep her bright blazon forever unstained;
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave,
While the land of the free is the home of the brave.