Anne-Laurie was wrong…there do exist good versions of our national anthem.
What else is going on? Am I right in concluding that yesterday’s coup proves that Egypt is a right-center nation?
by DougJ| 91 Comments
This post is in: Music, Open Threads
Anne-Laurie was wrong…there do exist good versions of our national anthem.
What else is going on? Am I right in concluding that yesterday’s coup proves that Egypt is a right-center nation?
Comments are closed.
Stephen1947
She’s not usually wrong, but this time… this is my <a href="“>Anthem.
rafael
I like the Jose Feliciano’s version. It was the first personal version of the anthem.
geg6
Man, I just love me some Marvin. He was the smoothest motherfucker on the planet–no contest. He could sing the phone book and make me melt. Damn.
OzarkHillbilly
And the # of Marvin Gaye singing the National anthem fans now stands at 3.
OzarkHillbilly
@geg6:
Amen.
MattF
I’m waiting for Senator Meet The Press to demand that we invade Egypt.
geg6
@OzarkHillbilly:
One of our friends from the Great White North agreed with us on the last thread, so it’s actually four of us, if Canuckistanis count.
(And autofill just filled in “Canuckistanis” for me. How funny is that?)
Southern Beale
Since we have season tickets to the hockey team here, we get to hear a lot of different versions of the National Anthem — some awful but most are pretty good. This being Nashville, a lot of the record companies in town try to promote their new artists by having them sing the anthem.
The thing I hate is when people try to embellish it too much. Some of the women like to go all Mariah Carey on the thing. Don’t show off, just sing the dang thing and let’s get on with it.
Our favorite is Dennis Morgan, he’s got a great voice, sings it pretty straight on, and he does a killer Oh Canada, too.
geg6
@MattF:
CBS told me that he and Senator Pittypat are already running around in panic over it. From this I must conclude that they love them some Muslim Brotherhood.
Southern Beale
Ha ha ha! Our conservatives are definitely this stupid. Maybe Dems should try something like this:
Conservative evangelical politician Justo Orozco, meanwhile, compared homosexuality to alcoholism and tobacco addiction. Sigh.
Keith G
Wow by starting this thread, you bumped a lot of previous comments made earlier. So, to repeat…
Re the National Anthem. This young boy of Mexican descent sings the definitive version. Viva Tejas!
That gives me hope.
Suffern ACE
@MattF: yep. We demand that the president dismantle the Egyptian army and replace it with our own while we spend another decade trying to build a new army, we’ll be their army. Third time’s a charm.
OzarkHillbilly
@geg6:
Well, Ozarkistani’s count, so why not?
I have a 2nd favorite version, the one done by Sebastien De la Cruz in San Antonio. Not only did he did a pretty good job, there were bonus points for sending the wingnuts right over the edge
Oscarbob
I’m not sure if they’re a center-right nation, but this is definitely good news for John McCain.
Omnes Omnibus
@OzarkHillbilly:
I hate idiots. I really do.
geg6
@OzarkHillbilly:
Agreed. He was wonderful. And the wingnut freak out got him a second showcase to do it again. I hearted David Stern (that’s the NBA commissioner’s name, right?) for that.
PopeRatzo
Does the song exist that Marvin Gaye could not have made wonderful? He could have sung the warranty booklet from my DVD player and made it sound sexy.
I once heard Curtis Mayfield sing the anthem (accompanying himself on guitar) at Comiskey Park and it was illuminating. It was sometime in the 70s and it was illuminating. What it lacked in the booty-wiggling horniness of Marvin’s version, it more than made up for in spine-tingling ambivalence about what the song stood for.
Those were the days – when leftists didn’t feel the need to pretend false patriotism.
Comrade Jake
I’m reasonably certain many of the commentariat here recognized the new Lone Ranger movie for what it was before ever stepping into a theatre, but in case you haven’t, read this review of the flick over at Grantland first. A snippet:
Omnes Omnibus
@PopeRatzo: I’m sorry, do you feel a need to pretend patriotism? If so, why?
John O
This version ranks high on my list.
We had war fever, since Gulf 1 had just fired up. The collective blood was boiling still, after 9-11. I’m sure 80% of the audience at that time believed Saddam was responsible for it, too.
Kind of an interesting community dynamic.
scuffletuffle
@Stephen1947: YES!
OzarkHillbilly
@geg6:
I think so, but I am not an NBA fan.
@Omnes Omnibus:
That’s a full time job these days.
Mino
Love Marvin Gaye, but the version I think best is Whitney Houston’s.
Schlemizel
Way too many really really bad versions murdering the song at sporting events every day of the year. Love this version, and Feliciano’s is good too, but its hard to top Hendrx’s at Woodstock.
Omnes Omnibus
@Schlemizel: Roseanne Barr?
Hawes
As far as Egypt goes, one should consider what a clusterfuck the first twenty or so years of American republican rule was before coming down too harshly on what’s going on in Egypt.
magurakurin
@PopeRatzo:
yeah America was such a liberal paradise in the 1970’s….jackass
Omnes Omnibus
@Hawes: Just because Vice President types were shooting Secretary of the Treasury types and the second and third presidents were more or less conducting proxy wars against one another? Judgmental much?
OzarkHillbilly
As to what else is going on, good news on the environment front: South Georgia Island seems to be rat free for the first time in 250 years.
And take note, that is South Georgia Island that is rat free, South Georgia still has plenty of Republicans in it.
Soonergrunt
@PopeRatzo: “when leftists didn’t feel the need to pretend false patriotism.”
I’ve NEVER felt that need. Even during the Cheney administration, I always loved my country.
GregB
Egypt proves that liberal city dwellers have it in for the heartland and people of faith.
debbie
@Southern Beale:
That’s why I like Jennifer Hudson’s version. No diva-ing but very heartfelt. (Probably considered an un-American interpretation.)
Soonergrunt
@OzarkHillbilly:
And they’re all around us, on all points of the compass, and both ends of the spectrum.
Punchy
@OzarkHillbilly: Why is “rat-free” a good thing? I bet the hawks and falcons aint so happy.
Food chain, how does it work?
Edit: OK, read the article. Got it. Rats were greedy bastards killing off the natives…
OzarkHillbilly
@Soonergrunt:
Yep. Including me.
Omnes Omnibus
@Punchy: The rats were an invasive species.
MomSense
Happy birthday, America!
@DougJ
Egypt will be what it will be. It took America a long time to get going. First shots fired 1775. Declaration of Independence 1776. George Washington wasn’t elected President until 1789.
Getting our Constitution ratified wasn’t exactly smooth–and by 1861 we were killing each other (600,000 + killed) and I’m not convinced that particular conflict is exactly settled.
OzarkHillbilly
@Punchy:
If you followed the link and read the article you might understand, but I will do the work for you. Short version:
South Georgia Island was once one of the largest sea bird rookeries in the South Atlantic. Once the rats invaded the island (yes they were an invasive species) the populations plummetted and several species became endangered and others were not seen on the island at all.
For millions of years rats were not a part of the food chain and when introduced became a top of the food chain predator as there was nothing there to keep them in check.
schrodinger's cat
The most boring and bland national anthem, that I have heard, is the Indian one.
schrodinger's cat
Test
ruemara
AL can be considered wrong about many things, this is just one of them. Where ever the gene pool went wrong in me, I do not know, but this just makes me want to yell at Marvin to GET ON WITH IT. What can I say, he’s not my cup of tea. I just like a clean, simple version. Or an instrumental. In fact, no yipping and yowling, I prefer the Boston Pops, no singing at all. Gonna have to turn in my black card for admitting in public that I can’t take R&B song stylings.
Higgs Boson's Mate
Marvin, he was a friend of mine
And he could sing a song
His heart in every line
Marvin, sang of the joy and pain
He opened up our minds
And I still can hear him say
Aw, talk to me
So you can see what’s going on
Say you will sing your songs
Forevermore, evermore
-The Commodores “Nightshift”
stratplayer
I don’t mean to quibble, but I think the correct word in this context is “rendition” as opposed to “version.” Actually, I do mean to quibble.
Bob In Portland
When you say that Egypt or anywhere is to the right you are talking about governments and not people. I’m guessing you’d be hard-pressed these days to find a government that’s not to the right of the vast majority of their people.
stratplayer
To clarify, this is a superior rendition of the same old crappy song, of which there is only one crappy version.
gogol's wife
@GregB:
that is true in so many countries. Russia too. Iran.
ETA: And I did understand you were referring to the US.
rikyrah
for the student loan discussion from yesterday:
Pay It Forward: Innovative Oregon Proposal Could Solve Problem of Student Loan Debt
Home Posted July 1, 2013 – 11:19pm
By passing a law that covers tuition with a new social insurance program, Oregon politicians hope to create a system where students are able to graduate with no debt and no interest payments
As politicians in Washington continue to ignore the plight of students drowning in student loan debt, a new proposal developed by students in Oregon takes an innovative approach that could alleviate the need for student loans all together.
Under the proposal, referred to as Pay It Forward and lauded by Senator Mark Hass as an example of “out of the box thinking,” local students would be able to attend public universities and community colleges in the state for free.
Instead of taking out costly loans, students would enter a social insurance program and pay about 3 percent of their adjusted gross income for graduates of four year programs, or 1.5 percent for two year programs, for a total of 24 years. Students would graduate with no debt, no interest and the percentage of their income they had to pay would never change.
“As a student who will graduate with over $40,000 in student loan debt, I think that we need creative solutions like Pay It Forward. It will eliminate the initial barrier to attend college, and students won’t be burdened with a crushing debt for the rest of their lives,” said Alexandra Flores-Quilty, a junior at University of Oregon.
After passing in the Oregon House last week, the proposal was unanimously passed in the Oregon Senate on Monday. If signed into law, the bill would direct the Higher Education Coordinating Commission (HECC) to draft a Pay It Forward pilot program to be considered for implementation by the 2015 legislature.
Initially, the plan would require start-up funding until the first few generations of students graduate and find jobs. But once they’re able to begin paying into the system, the proposal would create a stable funding stream for Oregon’s public higher education, and could serve as a model for other states looking to solve the problem of long-term student loan debt.
“Students are being priced out of higher education, and fear of debt is pricing them out of majors that we desperately need, said Rep. Michael Dembrow. “I think it’s great that the Legislature is taking the problem of student debt so seriously, and I applaud the students who have tirelessly pursued this.”
– See more at: http://thecontributor.com/education/pay-it-forward-innovative-or-proposal-could-solve-problem-student-loan-debt#sthash.CfCiLCCx.dpuf
Botsplainer
@Comrade Jake:
For some reason, the 20 year old demanded that I take her to see it last night.
On one level, it was awful. On another, it was a tribute to the serial schlock that the original was – it appeared to be intentionally so.
My dad will love it.
rikyrah
According To New Poll The American People Despise Supreme Court Decision To Gut Voting Rights Act
Author: Stephen D. Foster Jr. July 3, 2013 7:20 pm
When the Supreme Court decided to gut the Voting Rights Act last week, America lost a landmark piece of legislation that was pivotal in the fight against discrimination across the country. The ruling instantly became one of the single worst in American judicial history, and most Americans could not agree more.
According to the latest ABC News-Washington Post poll, over half of Americans disagree with the high court’s decision to gut the Voting Rights Act. That number includes a whopping 71% of African-Americans, who initially fought for and achieved the passage of the act during the 1960s Civil Rights movement. Only 33% of Americans actually agree with the court’s decision.
For over 40 years, the Voting Rights Act prevented states, mostly in the South, from discriminating against people of color to keep them from voting. The teeth of the law, known as Section 4, required states with a history of discriminatory policies to obtain pre-clearance from the Justice Department before any new laws could take effect. The court excused its ruling by claiming that voter discrimination no longer exists, but a 15,000 page report assembled by Congress in 2006 made it clear that the Voting Rights Act is still necessary and subsequently renewed it 98-0 in the Senate, by a huge majority in the House, and signed by President George W. Bush.
Read more: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/07/03/according-to-new-poll-the-american-people-despise-supreme-court-decision-to-gut-voting-right-act/#ixzz2Y5MxpxDk
geg6
@Schlemizel:
Yes, Jimi killed it.
Funny how all the best renditions are by minority musicians when they have the least reason to get choked up by it and the tune is one written by the whitest of white people, (my people) the Brits.
rikyrah
Maryland’s Highest Court Is Poised To Be Majority Women
By Ian Millhiser on Jul 3, 2013 at 3:00 pm
On Tuesday, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) nominated Judge Mary Ellen Barbera to be the next Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals of Maryland, and named a lower court judge named Shirley Watts to replace a vacancy on that court. Maryland’s Court of Appeals is the highest court in that state, so the addition of Judge Watts will mean that four of the court’s seven seats will be held by women.
Meanwhile, an all-male majority on the Supreme Court of the United States recently handed down a pair of decisions protecting many bosses who engage in sexual harassment and companies that retaliate against people who file civil rights claims. All three of the Supreme Court’s women dissented from these decisions.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/07/03/2255041/marylands-highest-court-is-poised-to-be-majority-women/
rikyrah
“What does the Fourth of July Mean to the Negro?”
In 1852, abolitionist, speaker and journalist Frederick Douglass delivered the speech, “What does the Fourth of July Mean to the Negro?” The speech speaks to the contraction of the celebration of American Independence that was simultaneous with the enslavement of Africans.
http://youtu.be/h9O81UnrZjM
geg6
@PopeRatzo:
Speak for yourself, asshole. I’ve never once pretended to love my country. Even during the worst of times, I’ve always loved it, openly and proudly. Nixon, Reagan and Chimpy/Darth didn’t change that. If you’re afraid to love your country under the most liberal president of my adult life, you never loved it.
geg6
@rikyrah:
I love this idea. It would put me out of a job most likely, but I love it.
JR in WV
The Guardian has a column that puts the Republicans right in their place; EVIL nihilistic monsters:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jul/03/republican-party-demise-continues
Now if only some American media would carry that tune!
Happy Fourth of July!!
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@rafael:
Legendary Detroit Tigers’ broadcaster Ernie Harwell on Jose Feliciano.
Just One More Canuck
@geg6: Voter fraud?
PsiFighter37
Can I say that I like the Radiohead song ‘National Anthem’ better?
rikyrah
Our Old History of Fights Over Voting
Jamelle Bouie
July 3, 2013
There’s not much new in the current fights over access to the polls.
In the United States, voting rights don’t march forward as much as they ebb and flow. Often, it happens like this: The prospect of short-term political gain leads one of the two parties to make a massive push for democratic participation, which is then countered by the other side, which has an equally large interest in maintaining a smaller electorate of particular people. After North Carolina Democrats won unified control of state government in 2006—thanks to wide dissatisfaction with the Republican Party and high turnout from black voters—they moved to expand voting with same-day registration. Greater participation, they argued, was a good in itself. North Carolina Republicans took control of the legislature in 2010, and in the same vein, promptly moved to restrict voting where it was previously open. In 2011, then-Governor Bev Purdue vetoed a bill that would have required identification for all voters, end same-day registration, restrict early voting, and end voting on the Sunday before an election.
Now, however, Republicans have the governorship as well as a veto-proof majority. And with the Supreme Court’s decision last week—which gutted the Voting Rights Act and ended the pre-clearance requirement for North Carolina, among other states—the GOP has a chance to turn this proposal into law. They aren’t wasting any time.
With the Supreme Court’s decision on the Voting Rights Act—as well as the actions in states like North Carolina—that’s where the fight is now. Are we still a country that’s serious about opening the polls to all of its citizens, or do we believe that voting is for some, and not for others?
http://prospect.org/article/our-old-history-fights-over-voting
muddy
@geg6: There was some good discussion of the Pay It Forward scheme at LGM a couple days ago..
cmorenc
Cool version of national anthem I heard was at high school soccer game I was center referee for, where one of the varsity players for the home team played in classical-music style on a violin, just the instrumental melody, no singing. The home team was the NC School of Science & Math, not your average high school.
Violet
Wow! I hadn’t heard that version before. Marvin was amazing. Thanks for posting it.
ChrisNYC
Yeah, that’s fantastic. And that suit! So gorgeous. Fits him like a glove!
Steeplejack
Obligatory Bleeding Gums Murphy
versionrendition.Betty Cracker
As far as I’m concerned, James Brown’s “Living In America” IS the national anthem. The official national anthem sucks so much that no one can possibly make it enjoyable to me, not even Marvin Gaye, not even Whitney Houston, though they did perform the miracle of making it less awful.
Award for the most depressing national anthem must go to Israel. We have a local community radio station that appears to be run primarily by 60-something hippies (god love them!). The programming is very good most of the time, but they have a 2-hour weekend program featuring Israeli pop, and every show ends with Israel’s national anthem.
God, what a depressing anthem it is! Understandable, given the circumstances, but geez. I’d rather be subjected to the awful US anthem than theirs.
maya
Wait! Didn’t we do this last year?
Elizabelle
Marvin Gaye did well.
Although I hate the drum track. Lose it. Would love to hear this version a cappella.
different-church-lady
forget it people — I’m having rum for breakfast and going back to bed.
Violet
@different-church-lady: I woke up before 7:00, watered the front yard gardens, dealt with the compost, had breakfast, talked over strategy for dealing with the banana trees, and am now doing health insurance paperwork.
Does not feel like a holiday.
michelle
@MattF: He’s busy presidenting in Kabul with vice prez. Graham. He’ll get around to it after he visits Syria again later today.
different-church-lady
I love the fact that our National Anthem has roots as an ode to drinking.
different-church-lady
@Violet: Might I kindly suggest you are going about it wrong?
Higgs Boson's Mate
Love my country? Sure, Love my country’s politicians? Not so much.
danielx
@Betty Cracker:
Second that, although I did hear and see the Grateful Dead perform the national anthem a capella on television during the 1989 World Series…that was a decent version.
Betty Cracker
@danielx: Was it the one with the earthquake?
danielx
@Betty Cracker:
Yup…the earthquake series, and the last time the Giants got to the series until 1997.
LAC
@Omnes Omnibus: I think he wants his honorary soul brotha badge. Makes the hat on backwards shit he does seem real.
stinger
No love for the Dixie Chicks? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ2dcVYdpm0
They, Marvin, Whitney, and Jose make me forget what a ghastly song it is.
Oh, and FYWP.
sherparick
Happy Independence Day, Happy Vicksburg Day. Remember all who fought for the Union cause.
http://www.civilwarwomenblog.com/2008/10/french-mary-tepe.html
http://www.nps.gov/vick/index.htm
drkrick
@danielx: That was the basic Navy Band arrangement. Clean and to the point, they did a nice job.
cmorenc
@Betty Cracker:
My nomination for an infinitely better choice of both national anthem and singer would be “America the Beautiful” sung by Ray Charles. Both song and Ray’s rendition are much more powerful and appropriate to bring feelings of loving pride of our great country than SSB.
Mike E
The “click track” was there for reference so that Marvin could hit his marks…very minimalist. Attendees recall initial resistance to his nontraditional approach but, then again, the Greatness that was Marvin Gaye prevailed. Electric.
Another fave of mine is Mo Cheeks stepping up and rescuing a poor young lady whose nerves got the better of her. Awesome.
Violet
@different-church-lady: I’m sure you are right. Some of these things can’t really wait, though. The banana trees are mixed up in some electrical wires and have to be cut out before they cause problems. With rain in the forecast, it needs to be done soon, otherwise the water-heavy leaves will be a problem.
The health insurance thing is up against a deadline. Need to get it in the mail tomorrow. So…
Stella B.
Stravinsky’s arrangement of the SSB is beautiful although the right-wingers of the time had the usual freak-out over it. Rush Limbaugh was not yet born at the time, but I’m sure he would have hated it.
burnspbesq
@schrodinger’s cat:
Honduras isn’t far behind. Plus, it’s loooooooong (at least the version that gets played before World Cup qualifying matches).
ranchandsyrup
@PsiFighter37: Heh. Prolly my favorite RH song. I like the live version as well. http://vimeo.com/51713268
That video has the live arrangement and the horn section.
bemused senior
Coming in late to the thread, as usual, my daughter’s group singing the anthem at the Giants game.
stinger
@bemused senior: Beautiful!
Martin
Best ever version of the National Anthem
something fabulous
@bemused senior: lovely! and from watching that, found this! In honor of recent events! Very moving I thought.
Radio One
I love TSSB as our national anthem. It’s perfect, in almost every way imaginable. I wouldn’t change it for the world.