Is the Anthem a racist song????

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woolfe9998

Lifer
Apr 8, 2013
16,242
14,243
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I like this one

This Land Is Your Land
Words and Music by Woody Guthrie

This land is your land This land is my land
From California to the New York island;
From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and Me.

As I was walking that ribbon of highway,
I saw above me that endless skyway:
I saw below me that golden valley:
This land was made for you and me.

I've roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts;
And all around me a voice was sounding:
This land was made for you and me.

When the sun came shining, and I was strolling,
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling,
As the fog was lifting a voice was chanting:
This land was made for you and me.

As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing."
But on the other side it didn't say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.

In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?

Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me.

My dad played guitar and loved folk music. I grew up listening to him play that song often.

I would rather see that as our anthem than what we have. Conservatives would never agree to it, though. That second to last stanza implies too much compassion for the common man.
 
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zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
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My dad played guitar and loved folk music. I grew up listening to him play that song often.

I would rather see that as our anthem than what we have. Conservatives would never agree to it, though. That second to last stanza implies too much compassion for the common man.

and nothing about that song implies "This is my land and I will shoot you dead for standing on it," which is the average conservative's hard-on narrative about "being American."
 
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woolfe9998

Lifer
Apr 8, 2013
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and nothing about that song implies "This is my land and I will shoot you dead for standing on it," which is the average conservative's hard-on narrative about "being American."

Yup, this one too:

As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing."
But on the other side it didn't say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.

The conservative version:

As I went walking I saw a wall there
As huddled masses tried to break through it
I looked up and saw a sign that said
"I've got mine, so you can just **** off"
This land was made for me and me.
 
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pmv

Lifer
May 30, 2008
15,142
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That's why I prefer Rule Britannia over our national anthem.

Nothing dodgy about that.

I'm minded to go with Billy Connolly's suggestion of the theme tune from the Archers. No problematic lyrics, and a juanty upbeat tune.
 

MajinCry

Platinum Member
Jul 28, 2015
2,495
571
136
Indeed, we have admitted our faults, done good for our imperialism and helped shape nations through helping them as much as possible.

We dealt with our past by admission and help, the US has dealt with their past by falsifying every single notion about the nation.

So indeed, it's priceless words that you would do well to learn from, Canadian.

To be fair, we have been rampaging in the Middle East alongside the US. We're not innocent in that regard.
 

IronWing

No Lifer
Jul 20, 2001
73,115
34,421
136
Indeed, we have admitted our faults, done good for our imperialism and helped shape nations through helping them as much as possible.

We dealt with our past by admission and help, the US has dealt with their past by falsifying every single notion about the nation.

So indeed, it's priceless words that you would do well to learn from, Canadian.
So you still haven't learned one god damn thing from your history.
 
Jul 9, 2009
10,759
2,086
136
How about : As long as we get to vote

The Battle Hymn of The Republic


Mine eyes have seen the glory
of the coming of the lord,
He is trampling out the vintage
where the grapes of wrath are stored,
He hath loosed the fateful lightning
of His terrible swift sword,
His truth is marching on

Glory! Glory ! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah
Glory! Glory ! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on

I have seen Him in the watch fires
of a hundred circling camps,
They have builded Him an altar
in the evening dews and damps,
I can read his righteous sentence
in the dim and flaring lamps,
His day is marching on

Glory! Glory ! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah
Glory! Glory ! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on

I have read a fiery Gospel
writ in burnished rows of steel,
"As ye deal with My contemners
so with you My grace shall deal,"
Let the Hero born of woman
crush the serpent with His heel,
Since God is marching on

Glory! Glory ! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah
Glory! Glory ! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on

He has sounded forth the trumpet
that shall never call retreat,
He is sifting out the hearts of men
before His judgment seat,
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him!
Be jubilant, my feet,
Our God is marching on
 

IronWing

No Lifer
Jul 20, 2001
73,115
34,421
136
Yup, this one too:



The conservative version:

As I went walking I saw a wall there
As huddled masses tried to break through it
I looked up and saw a sign that said
"I've got mine, so you can just **** off"
This land was made for me and me.
An older version:

This land is my land; it isn't your land
I got a shotgun and you ain't got one
You better get off, or I'll blow your head off
This land was made for only me.
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,891
31,410
146
How about : As long as we get to vote

The Battle Hymn of The Republic


Mine eyes have seen the glory
of the coming of the lord,
He is trampling out the vintage
where the grapes of wrath are stored,
He hath loosed the fateful lightning
of His terrible swift sword,
His truth is marching on

Glory! Glory ! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah
Glory! Glory ! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on

I have seen Him in the watch fires
of a hundred circling camps,
They have builded Him an altar
in the evening dews and damps,
I can read his righteous sentence
in the dim and flaring lamps,
His day is marching on

Glory! Glory ! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah
Glory! Glory ! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on

I have read a fiery Gospel
writ in burnished rows of steel,
"As ye deal with My contemners
so with you My grace shall deal,"
Let the Hero born of woman
crush the serpent with His heel,
Since God is marching on

Glory! Glory ! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah
Glory! Glory ! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on

He has sounded forth the trumpet
that shall never call retreat,
He is sifting out the hearts of men
before His judgment seat,
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him!
Be jubilant, my feet,
Our God is marching on

Why is the right so violent and bloodthirsty?
 
Jul 9, 2009
10,759
2,086
136
Why is the right so violent and bloodthirsty?
You'd prefer "Big Rock Candy Mountain" The liberals anthem.

"
One evening as the sun went down
And the jungle fires were burning,
Down the track came a hobo hiking,
And he said, "Boys, I'm not turning;
I'm headed for a land that's far away
Beside the crystal fountains
So come with me, we'll go and see
The Big Rock Candy Mountains.
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains,
There's a land that's fair and bright,
Where the handouts grow on bushes
And you sleep out every night.
Where the boxcars all are empty
And the sun shines every day
On the birds and the bees
And the cigarette trees
The lemonade springs
Where the bluebird sings
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains.
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains
All the cops have wooden legs
And the bulldogs all have rubber teeth
And the hens lay soft-boiled eggs

The farmers' trees are full of fruit
And the barns are full of hay
Oh I'm bound to go
Where there ain't no snow
Where the rain don't fall
The winds don't blow
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains.
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains
You never change your socks
And the little streams of alcohol
Come trickling down the rocks
The brakemen have to tip their hats
And the railway bulls are blind
There's a lake of stew
And of whiskey too
You can paddle all around them
In a big canoe
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains.
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains,
The jails are made of tin.
And you can walk right out again,
As soon as you are in.

There ain't no short-handled shovels,
No axes, saws nor picks,
I'm bound to stay
Where you sleep all day,
Where they hung the jerk
That invented work
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains ...
I'll see you all this coming fall
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains.
 

uallas5

Golden Member
Jun 3, 2005
1,662
1,943
136
I just always thought it was a stupid, sophomoric poem (it isn't really a song, and was never meant to be sung, which is why it sounds so ridiculous and nearly every singer hates singing it), and should be replaced with America the Beautiful.

This.

Plus we stole the music for it and even going with a 17th century English drinking tune still didn't help it as a song. And don't get me started on "God Bless America" which is a total ripoff music and the gist of the lyrics from "God Save the King/Queen". Still irks the shit out of me that I'm supposed to stand and take my hat off at a ball game to that piece of garbage.
 

pmv

Lifer
May 30, 2008
15,142
10,041
136
So many songs have been sung to that same tune that the Battle Hymn of the Republic uses (it's not a bad tune). Weird that I've heard so many of them when they have nothing to do with me, really.

"John Brown's Body" preceded that one, apparently (having just looked it up, seems that earlier version was composed collectively by a unit of civil war Union soldiers - maybe you all knew that already and I'm Britsplaining, but it's news to me, and I think it's rather cool that the lyrics were the result of an early form of crowd-sourcing).

I guess those traditional tunes that everyone wrote their own lyrics for were a kind of open-source music.

The one I heard first, as a child, was 'Solidarity Forever'. I think I still prefer that one, even if it seems a very long way from where the world is now.

(On a related note, I used to be puzzled why the US Presidential inaugurations always featured the Monty Python theme. Took me a while to realise it wasn't specifically 'the Monty Python music'...maybe for Trump it kind of made sense though)