The recent suggestion from a reader that “The Star Spangled Banner” is too difficult to sing and therefore should only be played in instrumental form ignores the fact that the message is of greater worth than the music.
One may not have the vocal range to sing the song well (although an octave and a half doesn’t take much training), or may not like a particular artist’s interpretation of the music, but the patriotic and even religious message is the heart of the anthem. Religious you say? Consider the words of the last verse, which we never hear performed:
“Oh, thus be it ever, when free men shall stand between their loved homes and the war’s desolation. Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven 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.”
God bless America.
Kent Merkley
Everett
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