Turn up the volume!!

[Destroyer]

Originally Posted by charlie_the_tuna

hey destroyer, the superbowl is not being played in giants stadium this year. giants stadium was torn down three years ago. the superbowl will be played in jets stadium this year. by the way, I thought the heavy metal version of our star spangled banner was a pile of dung and shameless self promotion. I thought it was disrespectful.

Well, Charlie, if you don't like the post that MJ made, try this one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8sUMv5sbW8 It's the same song, just with different pictures/background. Perhaps you'll see/hear the song in a different light without the shameless self promoting band being there. (I could point out that whoever sings the Anthem at sporting events, especially the Super Bowl, is guilty of the same shameless self promotion, but that's a topic for a different day)


And if it were up to me it would be called Lambeau Field II and would be known as Packers Stadium... But it's real, real name should be either the New Jersey Giants or the New Jersey Jets Stadium....


Getting back to your National Anthem comment, thats one of the most beautiful things about our great Country. everyone is entitled to have and to publicly voice their opinion about anything. Even if I don't agree with you, I'm ready to fight to protect your right to voice your opinion.

But consider this if you will. Francis Scott Key wrote a poem about a British naval bombardment of Fort McHenry. It was called "Defense of Fort McHenry". The poem was later set to the tune of a popular British song written by John Stafford Smith for the Anacreontic Society, a men's social club in London. "The Anacreontic Song" (or "To Anacreon in Heaven"), with various lyrics, was already popular in the United States. With a range of one and one half octaves the song has always been considered difficult to sing. Later, that song was to became our National Anthem.

In my opinion HOW it's sung is much less important than the WORDS that are being sung. If the truth be told, although I love our Country and the words of our National Anthem, I've never much liked the melody of our anthem. As already stated, it's difficult for most people to sing, and the tune itself just kind of drags on and on forever. (Compare it to the rousing melodies of the French or Russian Anthems and you'll see/hear what I mean). I mean, lets be honest.... John Phillips Sousa could have (and perhaps should have) written a much better musical rendition. All that aside, I like the rendition that MJ posted. To me, (and I know this is my opinion and perhaps not other people's) the music is much better. I'm not saying it's good enough to be our National Anthem. But it has drive, gusto, inspiration, call it whatever you want.... it makes you listen to those so important words... the words that describe oh, so eloquently, the symbol of our Country, our Flag, still flying, still defying a foreign governments will! Flying over the Fort! Flying over the land of the free and the home of the brave.

If you really want to send a chill up and down your spine, read the entire poem/song. Most people do not know that our National Anthem is actually 4 stanzas long. So here it is in it's entirety. (And look at and consider the third to the last line of the fourth stanza). (I put it in blue for easier identification)

O 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, 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, 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 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.

O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation.
Blest with vict'ry 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.