Saturday, September 13, 2014

Fun Fact relating to War of 1812 (and American History in General)

Enjoy!  See link below.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-star-spangled-banner-200-anniversary-20140912-story.html


3 comments:

  1. Thanks so much for posting this, Mr. Stewart! The article was fascinating. I cannot believe that the melody to the anthem that represents our country, based on the principles of liberty and individual rights, was basically stolen, though the correct term is "sampled." Plus, the original song was about sex and alcohol, which takes away from the power and integrity of Key's lyrics. The irony is fantastic.
    Side note, I really loved the second version of the song by Rosanne. I feel like her when I sing the Star Spangled Banner. What the article said about the difficult melody is so true!

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  2. I found this really interesting! I think that it ties back to that idea that, at a very basic level, things don't change as much as they seem to. Just like how politics with Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams got to "mudslinging" and "dirty politics" then, and there is malicious political propaganda now, the times do not seem to change as much as they seem to. Music then seems to also be about sex and drugs in the way that it is now as well.

    I actually really like what Julia said about how the "melody to the anthem that represents our country, based on the principles of liberty and individual rights, was basically stolen." I thought that was a really interesting take on what was happening. I found an article awhile back that isn't exactly on this same topic, but it talks about the irony in American philosophy and history.
    http://press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/583983.html

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  3. I remember I did some research on the Star- Spangled Banner in second or third grade for a school project, and I definitely remembered the heaven part of the melody title: To Anacreon in Heaven. For some reason I always think of Coca cola whenever I remember that title... Thanks for the fun fact! France's national anthem is quite bloody - Mme Grewal explained it to us in French class at Egan when we had to memorize the national anthem. The French had been considering to change the national anthem at that time, but it's pretty hard to switch something we've known our entire lives that easily.

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