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This is an arrangement I did for a Navy Day Ball in ‘08. On two prior occasions I sang it acappela, but when I was asked for a third time to sing it, I picked up my acoustic and worked this out in a low Bb tuning. From the bottom, the tuning is: Bb-F-D-F-Bb-Bb. (see TABs below for chords and licks used)
My favorite version of The Star-Spangled Banner is the rendition by Jimi Hendrix as it captures the chaos the lyrics speak of.
Patriotic verses set to a drinking tune
It’s well known that Francis Scott Key penned the poem The Defence of Fort McHenry after witnessing the British attack the Baltimore ramparts; he was aboard a British vessel rescuing an American prisoner, but was not allowed to leave because of his knowledge of the attack to come. It’s lesser known that the poem was set to To Anacreon in Heaven, a song of devotion to Greek gods for love and wine, which was written in the 1770’s by John Stafford Smith of Gloucester, England. I visited Gloucester Cathedral in 2000 and there is a memorial stone for Smith that includes:
He will long be remembered as composer of the tune of the National Anthem of the United States of America.
Berlin blesses beautiful America
There was a movement to make the great Irving Berlin’s God Bless America the National Anthem, but opposing brows were raised because Berlin was a Russian emigrant. The movement never really died out, especially after 9/11, and God Bless America remains the “unofficial” anthem.
Now tradition is tradition, and a ball game of any sort wouldn’t start proper without The Star-Spangled Banner sounding– regardless that few understand the opening words about José, and that the only verse typically sung ends on a question mark– “….and the home of the brave?” (Verse 4 ends with the exclamation of ‘brave!’)
This Independence Day, an article was published by a musicologist in SFGate arguing that it’s time for a new anthem. He mentions Woody Guthrie’s answer to God Bless America with This Land is Your Land, but then arrives at America the Beautiful as it asks “God to make us worthy of his blessing.”
I think people should relax about it, but having sung The Star-Spangled Banner, God Bless America, and America the Beautiful for different ceremonies, I do favor America the Beautiful. All three songs have peaks and valleys that make for a nice anthem melody, but there’s a grace about America the Beautiful and Ray Charles repeatedly proved it.
