Awesome. I still get choked up by a good rendition of the national anthem.
PeterVE
· 1 year ago
When did singing the Anthem become a spectator sport? I always sing along when I'm at the ballpark, regardless of the sideways glances I get from fellow fans.
I think everyone in the park wanted the opportunity to join in, and the current habit of having a celebrity sing for us is just another sign of the Apocalypse.
Deacon_Blues
· 1 year ago
Whitney Houston's at the Super Bowl is the best I can remember.
The fans at Fenway are to be commended. What a beautiful moment.
SkippyFlipjack
· 1 year ago
John, you're so right. F*** all those conservatives who use "liberal" and "anti-american" as synonyms, and f*** everyone else who lets them get away with it. The Star Spangled Banner still gives me chills, and it disgusts me to think back on the ways that George W. Bush has simultaneously wrapped himself in the flag and dishonored everyone who's ever died (and continues to die) in service of it. Bush protects companies that engage in war profiteering. That borders on treasonous.
Let's elect a president who knows that to be American is to not label other people un-American.
unrepentant_expat
· 1 year ago
IMHO I've always been partial to ' America the Beautiful' in spite of a reference to a supreme being. The current national anthem seems to glorify war
bruleeagan
· 1 year ago
John and all AMERICAblog readers,
To really know what the National Anthem means, please take this brief lesson from the good Doctor Asimov:
I agree with this post and with the respondents. I am a 55-year-old honorably discharged United States Marine. A Texan, too. For years I have been disgusted with the way true patriotism has been hijacked by a bunch of partisans who wouldn't know patriotism if it slapped them in the face. It has occurred to me that the Americans whose sentiments are truest to those who founded the republic, and fought for it, are the people who read and who write this blog. Today, I finally feel accepted by you and your readership.
Thank you.
Paul_In_SF
· 1 year ago
Bruleeagan, I too am a vet. I have been sickened these past few years watching this clique of so called leaders of ours, who did everything they could to avoid serving their country in uniform, now sending our young to die and be maimed with about as much concern as they might give a discarded Kleenex, all the while depending on hordes of chicken hawks to come crawling out from under their rocks hurtling accusations of being unpatriotic at anyone who might question the need for or wisdom of this war.
My ire is not limited, btw, to the neocons and their enablers. There are those in the Democratic Party who chose to allow thousands to die because it was more politically expedient than taking a chance of looking soft of defense. Blood is on their hands as much as it is on those of GWB.
Like others who have commented, the National Anthem gives me goosebumps. (thanks by the way for the history of the song!).
Lest there is any doubt, let me say this to those bottom dwellers who stick their heads into the light long enough to declare that patriotism is defined by the wearing of a lapel flag pin, or a bumper sticker or slavering acquiescence to a political viewpoint. NO! You don't get to define who loves this great land and who doesn't. Just go crawl back under that rock and STFU!
Steve_in_CNJ
· 1 year ago
he choked up on 'bombs bursting in air'. that's the part i like the least too. wish we could have 'america the beautiful' for our anthem. fruited plain is a better visual than bombs. and much better than 'etendard sanglant'. if i were french i'd skip over that part. yech.
smiling_dog
· 1 year ago
Frankly, after the past 7 and half years, my patriotism is just about bottomed out. I don't enjoy the National Anthem anymore. I don't think that patriotism is such a good thing. It seems to me that it just leads to wars. Cheering on the U.S. participants in the Olympics is about as patriotic as I can get (and I enjoy watching the U.S. basketball team lose).
Dianne_in_DC
· 1 year ago
Thanks for the Asimov version. I have seen the SSB in person and it is amazing. It was commissioned to fly over Fort McHenry and to be "big enough that the British could see it at a distance." It is enormous!
The garrison flag that Mary Pickersgill made for Fort McHenry measured 30 x 42 feet, about one quarter the size of a basketball court. Each star was about two feet across
KarenMrsLloydRichards
· 1 year ago
"Come Together: The Race for the Democratic Nomination" on Lifetime, October 22nd 2008. "They came from two very different worlds, but when they stood next to each other at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, they knew they had more in common than they could have ever realized in June when their candidates were locked mano a mano for the nomination. When John Legend and Sheryl Crow, whose thrilling voices embodied the black man and white woman who fiercely contested the hard-fought campaign, moved the heavenly angels with their soulful rendition of the National Anthem, passionate and "lovingly angered" Women Count PAC member Mary Jane 'Venus' Braithwaite (played by Kathy Bates) and sophisticated "left-wing blogger" John Aravosis (John Stamos) held hands and forgot all the conflicts and vituperative discourse that had so riven the Party for more than year. Hugging and crying tears of joyful reconciliation, Venus' and John's image flashed on the Jumbotron screens at the convention, to the roar of the besotted crowd, hungry for a new, more hopeful direction in American politics."
John Aravosis
· 1 year ago
Oh yeah, play the John Stamos card. You Clinton people are crafty :-)
Jim Olson
· 1 year ago
I'm feeling particularly inspired by the handsome man just over Hillary's left shoulder as she is giving her winning speech in Puerto Rico...;)
jr
· 1 year ago
love the Fenway video
smiling_dog
· 1 year ago
Busboy, Are you on leave from Iraq?
Eclectablog
· 1 year ago
Wow, that vid brought tears to my eyes. Thanks for showing it. How totally cool that was.
MrsTarquinBiscuitbarrel
· 1 year ago
Me too, me too, me too. And the national anthem is not an easy song to remember or to sing. The warmth of the crowd was utterly inspiring--a great way to start a Monday!
dcredhead
· 1 year ago
That was wonderful. As always, I'm proud to call myself a resident of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Oh, and... Go Sox! :-)
Busboy
· 1 year ago
Mirth, you're even smarter than Sarah B. If you want Obama to win? Then you better find a way to give him some input so he doesn't wind up playing left field and winning 2 states. You've seen poverty, priviledge and mindless bureaucracy close up. Find someone who can wire you into his campaign. I have faith in you, Not,as yet, Obama....
Busboy
· 1 year ago
bruleeagain, skippyflipjack, and fellow travelers: screw you imbeciles and the gas guzzlers you rode in on. What a bunch of phony creeps. All talk; no action. All critique; no solutions. Move to Europe where you'll be appreciated for being "Caspar Milquetoasts"...
Busboy
· 1 year ago
smiling_dog; you are truly a horsehockey on the road to empire! :)......
Busboy
· 1 year ago
Is everyone on this blog from Greece? I'm confused.......
mirth
· 1 year ago
THIS is America!
Everyone of good will included, a helping hand when needed, together advancing beauty.
We are capable of this. Obama will help us achieve this.
All Comments
I think everyone in the park wanted the opportunity to join in, and the current habit of having a celebrity sing for us is just another sign of the Apocalypse.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5GSxSmYvME
She nails it. Just nails it.
Let's elect a president who knows that to be American is to not label other people un-American.
To really know what the National Anthem means, please take this brief lesson from the good Doctor Asimov:
http://www.purewatergazette.net/asimov.htm
I agree with this post and with the respondents. I am a 55-year-old honorably discharged United States Marine. A Texan, too. For years I have been disgusted with the way true patriotism has been hijacked by a bunch of partisans who wouldn't know patriotism if it slapped them in the face. It has occurred to me that the Americans whose sentiments are truest to those who founded the republic, and fought for it, are the people who read and who write this blog. Today, I finally feel accepted by you and your readership.
Thank you.
My ire is not limited, btw, to the neocons and their enablers. There are those in the Democratic Party who chose to allow thousands to die because it was more politically expedient than taking a chance of looking soft of defense. Blood is on their hands as much as it is on those of GWB.
Like others who have commented, the National Anthem gives me goosebumps. (thanks by the way for the history of the song!).
Lest there is any doubt, let me say this to those bottom dwellers who stick their heads into the light long enough to declare that patriotism is defined by the wearing of a lapel flag pin, or a bumper sticker or slavering acquiescence to a political viewpoint. NO! You don't get to define who loves this great land and who doesn't. Just go crawl back under that rock and STFU!
http://www.americanhistory.si.edu/ssb/6_thestor...
The garrison flag that Mary Pickersgill made for Fort McHenry measured 30 x 42 feet, about one quarter the size of a basketball court. Each star was about two feet across
Are you on leave from Iraq?
Oh, and... Go Sox! :-)
Everyone of good will included, a helping hand when needed, together advancing beauty.
We are capable of this.
Obama will help us achieve this.
Obama '08