Before we leave the 2020 July 4th holiday for good has you ever wondered what was used by the new United States as an anthem before The Star-Spangled Bannner? That wasn’t composed until the War of 1812 and not adopted as the official national anthem until 1931.
Prior to 1931 several songs were used. On official occasions Hail, Columbia! was used while many considered My Country ‘Tis of Thee as our de facto national anthem although sharing a melody with God Save the Queen was a defect in that regard.
However, during the War of the American Revolution itself there are a couple of candidates. One is Yankee Doodle, words written to mock the motley, undisciplined Colonial soldiers during the French-Indian War but, characteristically, adopted as our own. In New England the leading candidate would be Chester. Written by America’s first composer, William Billings, for his 1770 hymn book, you can listen to its melody here. Here’s its first verse:
Let tyrants shake their iron rod,
And Slav’ry clank her galling chains,
We fear them not, we trust in God,
New England’s God forever reigns.
Not precisely to modern tastes, is it?
Speaking of anthems, one of my earliest posts here was on that subject. If you’re not aware of it, cancel culture is out after The Star-Spangled Banner, too. Francis Scott Key owned slaves and the third stanza makes what is deemed a disparaging mention of black slaves. The Star-Spangled Banner was made the national anthem by Executive Order of Woodrow Wilson before that was done by Congressional resolution.
So what you’re saying is , national anthem is not only racist, but only one of many possible anthems . The rest of which are not racist and should be preferred. Hmmm.
God Bless America. I went to some Flyers games when I was younger and they always played Kate Smith’s version. Nice song and it is actually singable, unlike our current anthem. (Remember that scene in Cassablanca where they face off by singing their anthems? God forbid we Americans should ever have to do that.) Easy to remember since there is sort of just one verse.
Steve
Oh, and to make it official, Lift Every Voice and Sing kind of sucks. Lyrics are fine but the melody is not good at all. OTOH, it means I know when to go to the fridge for a beer if we get football this year.
Steve
I do not personally find The Star-Spangled Banner racist. Not even the third verse. But those who are radicalized with respect to race see just about everything, especially everything in the past, as racist so it’s being attacked.