National Anthem Nonsense
The National Anthem of our country is not new to outrage and scandal. Back in the 70s, there was a very real push to have it replaced by something like "America the Beautiful" because it is a militaristic and sloganeering song. In the context of Vietnam, that is to be understood. And, when Reagan cam around, all that evaporated.
I've written before about how I'm not the biggest fan of our National Anthem, though I sing it and it has, on occasion, made me very emotional. I just think its a bad song. Hard to sing. Not even American: its the melody of a British drinking song, which probably explains why it's so hard to sing. And it is all about war. Me, I actually do prefer "America the Beautiful," as I've said before, if anything because it is a totally American song and it originated in my home state of Colorado.
But there is now a new controversy brewing. In the light of the recent efforts against immigrants, and the protests against those efforts, some folks got together to record a Spanish version of the Star Spangled Banner. And, apparently, this is creating a lot of controversy.
Frankly, I don't get it. On the one hand, the anti-immigration folks protest loudly about how the recent protests had plenty of people waving Mexican flags (of course, they never protest when Chicago dyes its river green and everyone in the St. Patrick's Day parade waves Irish flags!). And now they complain when the same people sing their allegiance to this country in their own language. Since when is it an insult that singing a national anthem in a language other than its own is seen to be threatening and unpatriotic? This seems to me to be the height of patriotism: they took the time to accurately translate the song and sing it out loud! Folks sing national anthems in different languages all the time. I don't get it. To me, this is nothing but another example of paranoid xenophobia.
I've written before about how I'm not the biggest fan of our National Anthem, though I sing it and it has, on occasion, made me very emotional. I just think its a bad song. Hard to sing. Not even American: its the melody of a British drinking song, which probably explains why it's so hard to sing. And it is all about war. Me, I actually do prefer "America the Beautiful," as I've said before, if anything because it is a totally American song and it originated in my home state of Colorado.
But there is now a new controversy brewing. In the light of the recent efforts against immigrants, and the protests against those efforts, some folks got together to record a Spanish version of the Star Spangled Banner. And, apparently, this is creating a lot of controversy.
Frankly, I don't get it. On the one hand, the anti-immigration folks protest loudly about how the recent protests had plenty of people waving Mexican flags (of course, they never protest when Chicago dyes its river green and everyone in the St. Patrick's Day parade waves Irish flags!). And now they complain when the same people sing their allegiance to this country in their own language. Since when is it an insult that singing a national anthem in a language other than its own is seen to be threatening and unpatriotic? This seems to me to be the height of patriotism: they took the time to accurately translate the song and sing it out loud! Folks sing national anthems in different languages all the time. I don't get it. To me, this is nothing but another example of paranoid xenophobia.
posted by cc at
4:24 PM
6 Comments:
"...they took the time to accurately translate the song..."
Is the translation accurate?
I agree that our National Anthem is difficult to sing and it may or may not be the best song to represent our nation, but it is currently the National Anthem of our country and as such it should be honored appropriately! Such honors, in my oppinion, do not include any and every mucician in the country rewriting the melody or liricks to suit his or her own agenda. The anthem should be rendered as it is writen. Hip-hop, rap, soul, country or any other version is just not appropriate, no matter how the "artist" feels at the time he/she is rendering the salute. This is especially true with this Spanish language version. It is not a literal translation of the Anthem and as such, it is NOT the Anthem-period! If our Spanish speaking citizens desire to show their allegiance to our country through singing the Anthem, then they should make a better effort to learn the Anthem in English, the language of our country, at least for now. The only other Anthem that I know of that is rendered in more than one language is that of Canada (a most beautiful anthem) which is rendered in both English and French. This is only appropriate since Canada is officially a bi-lingual nation. There is a big difference in honoring ones heritage and background (Irish flags and green beer on St. Patrick's Day of Mexican flags on Cinco De Mayo)and the improper rendering of a country's National Anthem. I don't care where you came from or what your ethnic background is and I certainly honor your past as I do my own, but I am an American, a citizen and a patriot and I don't believe in this current BS about our Anthem.
Doug here, Steve. Thanks for not requiring me to sign up for blogger; whoever gave you that advice is brilliant!
Some of the lyrics were changed, and from that standpoint I can understand some of the ill will towards the Spanish version. But the simple act of a straight lyrical translation to Spanish, or any other language, doesn't concern me in the least. I mean, if I can't get worked up about burning the flag, I sure won't worry about this.
As for different "interpretations" of the song, that doesn't bother me, either. The fact is, there is no standard format for the song "as written", and it has changed over it's history. If somebody wants to countrify it, throw some beats in, do a Hendrix-style feedback version, big deal. It seems to me inflexibility on this point for the sake of patriotism is to miss a larger point about what it means to be American.
Lisa here. Speaking of the Irish flag vs. Mexico flag, Lou Dobbs recently said he would like to see the Irish flag and the Irish parade "go away" and have ONLY US flags flown. His rationale was we should celebrate our similarities, not our differences. Which I think, obviously, is completely ridiculous. Whenever someone says celebrate our similarities, it makes me think they consider themselves the "norm" and don't acknowledge other points of view. He is actually suggesting we celebrate those qualities that he shares and holds valuable, not those that most Americans share (as if we are even close to being homogenized).
I think the new Spanish language version is a great idea, and if we are so attached to our English language. I will have to listen to it to see if it's a "good translation". I'd kind of like to send Lou Dobbs a Cinco de Mayo Ecard with the Spanish language version attached.
Da: Thanks for your first post! I respect your opinion, even if I disagree with it. I think there are probably a number of national anthems that have more than one linguistic rendition: Switzerland immediately comes to mind, but I would figure there are a lot of African countries who have the same. It is very interesting that the two versions of the Canadian national anthem have VERY different translations. But that is neither here nor there. First of all, this is not a new phenomenon. There have been many attempts to translate the National Anthem into Spanish over the years, the first (from what I can tell) being in 1919. I am sure (though I do not have evidence to support this) that other minorities have probably done the same: the yiddish, the Italians, and yes, even the Irish. My position remains: who cares if the "true translation" is incorrect? Is the spirit there? The Spanish version I saw on Scarborough Country the other night seemed to me to be more about the spirit of America than the original did at all: after all, the original is just about a freaking battle and the fact that a flag still stood afterwards. That says much about the spirit of the soldiers in action, but it doesn't say anything overtly about the character of a nation. Especially a nation that has transformed itself a thousand times over through immigration since the writing of the original poem. I guess what I'm saying is that I would rather hear immigrants sing a different version of the SSB than to hear them sing their nation of origin's national anthem. We hear much more nationalism from Russian immigrants than Mexican immigrants these days. But they aren't as vilified. I wonder why. Singing the national anthem in a different language is the first step in creating new and vibrant citizens, as far as I'm concerned. Once they do that, they have to learn it in English or they won't fit in. Everyone knows this. I just think the whole thing is paranoid.
I am really busy tonight, so this has to be very short and unedited. i certainly hope it reflects what I wanted to say.
"... after all, the original is just about a freaking battle and the fact that a flag still stood afterwards. That says much about the spirit of the soldiers in action, but it doesn't say anything overtly about the character of a nation."
Did you really miss the fact that this is a symbolism of the preservence and determination that the citizens (soldiers) has when it comes to defending their way of life towards a hostile, tyrannic invasion? This symbolism can be used in such a way to show that we remain the USA, dispite harsh turmoil and such. One can even point out that the soldiers of the fort were mostly immigrants themselves defending the "Great Experiment", which was still quite young during the battle.
You are attempting to state that the whole thing against the adapation of this song to "include" other culture and language is just paranoia of the closed-minded. But answer this which is more closed minded? Needing to change a symbolic part of our country to reflex your own culture and language, or to attempt to find the leasons already learned by our ancestors and apply what they are teaching us through history? If nothing is sacred, then what value can anything we are doing now have in the future?
This falls on my discontent f politics as far as the special interest groups divying up the country for themselves rather than for the whole.
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