Was just watching the beginning of the Democratic National Convention. Dude who sang the anthem at the beginning sang the last line as "...for the land and of the free, and the home of the brave." :bugeye:

This is the second time I've heard someone sing it this way. Sweet Merciful Crap!!!! It's "O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave." It's bad enough when people sing it all f$%&ed up with their own style that in no way resembles the original melody and make it last 12,000 minutes, but for the love of Benji, you're on national television at a political convention, at least learn the freaking lyrics!!!!

Rant over....

:cool:

I hate it when thay make the last word "brave" last for about two minutes, it makes me get tired of hearing the national anthem but I love America so I listen to it anyway.

come on, anthems are universally crappy, uninspired, saccharine and boring. A bit of a change every once in a while can't hurt.

It's bad enough when people sing it all f$%&ed up with their own style that in no way resembles the original melody and make it last 12,000 minutes...



It was originally a poem.

(The Defense of Fort McHenry)
September 20, 1814
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, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O 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, now conceals, now discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines on the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! O 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 wiped out their foul footstep's 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 homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner forever shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!


Here's how it became a song...
http://www.contemplator.com/america/ssbanner.html

come on, anthems are universally crappy, uninspired, saccharine and boring. A bit of a change every once in a while can't hurt.


Yup...Like Hendrix or Paul Gilbert or Micheal Angelo Batio playing it on their guitar sans vocals.

The Hendrix version is sweet.

[QUOTE=Killjoy]It was originally a poem.

(The Defense of Fort McHenry)
September 20, 1814
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, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O 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, now conceals, now discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines on the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! O 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 wiped out their foul footstep's 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 homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner forever shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!


Here's how it became a song...
http://www.contemplator.com/america/ssbanner.html[/QUOTE

Does ANYONE who grew up in the US not know this?

As a musician, I understand the difficulty in singing this song. The phrasing of the music does not match the phrasing of the lyrics. If you were to speak the lyrics with the same phrasing you would sing it, it wouldn't make any sense. It's a very poorly put together song.

The last line is basically saying, "Oh, say, does that star spangled banner yet wave over the land of the free and the home of the brave." One sentence. However it's sung as, "Oh say does that star spangled banner yet wave. O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave." <---- incomplete sentence, as sung.

The whole song is that way. The music simply doesn't fit the words. My understanding is that the melody is an English or Scottish drinking song?

Nevertheless, my point isn't about the difficulty of singing, or even the various modifications (I love the Hendrix version). My point is this guy and at least one other person I've heard simply didn't sing the right words. It's not like he just forgot the lyric. It's more like these people don't understand what "o'er the land" means. Having apparently never read much poetry and never seeing "o'er" as a contraction of "over," they don't know what that means when they hear it, therefore "for" makes more sense to them. It eventually gets bastardized into "for the land and of the free...." The fact that the last line is an incomplete sentence as sung, people want to make it a complete sentence, so singing "For the land ...." makes more sense. It's just wrong and a lazy way out.

Just a minor peeve.
;)

Then for national anthems, you have the british one. One or two of the later verses, which tend not to get sung, originally celebrated killing jacobites and other dangerous savages. It was written as an english uber alles type song I think.

you have to be brave to live in the USA....

I always thought it was "for" but I don;t live there so I never studied the anthem. The only reason that I know it is because ti is played before hockey games.

The bombs part should be changed to "Bomb countries for no reason"