May 8, 2015

Finest Hour 111, Summer 2001

Page 28

By Richard M. Langworth

Do Children Even Know the Words?


White-maned and oozing dignity, the 83-yearold senior senator from West Virginia, Robert C. Byrd, rarely accepts interviews because he has the unfortunate habit of saying whatever occurs to him. Sure enough, no sooner did the Senator break precedent to appear on the Fox cable channel March 4th than his office was issuing an apology for his use of a racial epithet that took our breath away when we heard it—twice. Had he not achieved the status of a national monument, Mr. Byrd would be drummed out of Congress for an offense, in modern convention, of genocidal magnitude.

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But something else the Senator said on March 4th is worth repeating. Asked what alarmed him most about the state of the nation, Mr. Byrd replied: “The long decline in the standard of our culture. I have been in politics 49 years, and these past few years I’ve seen a more rapid deterioration in our country’s culture than ever before.”

It’s too bad that remark didn’t collect the headlines, because Senator Byrd couldn’t be more right. Examples of that deterioration are everywhere. Take for example the slow but sure erosion of national anthems.

All Americans “of a certain age” were taught in school how Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner” in 1814, while detained temporarily on a British warship in Baltimore Harbor during the shelling of Fort McHenry, in what Americans call the War of 1812. In the Fifties, most of us kids sang at least two of Key’s four stanzas, although the obscure third stanza was unknown to us—possibly because its bloodthirsty sentiments were considered too repugnant for our youthful ears. (Key must have written that stanza surreptitiously; had it been read by a British officer he would surely have been hanged from the nearest convenient yardarm.)

I owe to William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard, the observation that the first stanza alone is quite insufficient: “I looked up the full ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ recently, and was struck by the interesting differences among the four stanzas. One problem of singing only the first is that it ends in a question that’s answered in the next three.”

Alas the “Star-Spangled Banner,” if sung at all, at a diminishing number of sporting events and schools, consists only of the first stanza, which is fashionably nonjudgmental and innocuous. (Big whoopee: a few bombs burst and the flag is still standing.) I am willing to bet that not one child in a thousand has ever heard the great coda of stanza four (“O thus be it ever…”), which we kids often sang; let alone the eerie and mystical stanza two (“On the shore dimly seen…”), which we summoned up on special occasions. As for stanza three (“Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps, pollution…”)—that shocking sentiment had been confined to almanacs even when I went to school. Imagine trying to get today’s classrooms to recite that—though we seem to have no trouble living with schools in which teenagers routinely do in their classmates and teachers with firearms.

Even the single-stanza “Star-Spangled Banner” is under threat. The proposed replacement is that syrupy lovefest “America the Beautiful”: promoted in part because everyone can sing it. “The Star-Spangled Banner” can be properly rendered only by Alan Keyes or a coloratura soprano. (At the 1993 Churchill Conference Ambassador Keyes not only sang the national anthems of five countries represented, but strolled to the Lincoln Memorial, where he rendered every verse of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” That was a moment….)

Still, if we could stomach Roseanne Barr’s desecration of the Anthem at a sporting event a few years ago, or the intriguing but inappropriate renditions of soul singers, we can probably put up with missing the high note in “rockets’ red glare….” But “America the Beautiful,” so awe-inspiringly corny as to win broad support among correct-thinkers, has begun to eclipse not only “The StarSpangled Banner” but all the other noble songs we youngsters once sang lustily in class: “God Bless America,” “Roger Young,” and “Columbia the Gem of the Ocean.” (It would be unthinkable to suggest nowadays, as “Columbia” does, that “the world offers homage” to that big troublemaker, the sole remaining superpower.) When “America the Beautiful” was scrubbed at the last minute from the commissioning ceremony of USS Winston S. Churchill, this writer made a thankful private obeisance to the memory of Francis Scott Key.

Britons tell of similar experiences and contrasts between the anthems of their schooldays and today’s jingly treacle. The blurring of national distinctions, eccentricities and quirks that make nations interesting or quaint, memorable or unique, is far advanced in Cool Britannia, where even display of the Union Flag is considered in some quarters the act of a crackpot, or at least an unrepentant racist. You can guess how infrequently even the first verse of “God Save the Queen” is sung, although Britain’s right-thinkers should really welcome a song that reminds everyone that the Queen reigns but does not rule.

“O Canada,” the Canadian anthem, has an advantage by being frequently sung in two different languages— but that is a sop to people who think that a motto like “e pluribus unum” means “from one, many.” A few lines have been changed to bring “O Canada” in line with modern concepts of sexual equality, which is all to the good. But another fine old Canadian song, “Maple Leaf Forever,” containing such robust sentiments as “Wolfe the dauntless” planting “firm Britannia’s flag on Canada’s fair domain,” “God save our Queen and heaven bless,” and so on, was just too patriotic to bear. So incorrect was this fine tune that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation initiated a competition to rewrite the lyrics. The sappy winning entry was full of “blue unending skies” and “mountains strong and sparkling snow.” These register the same high reading on the pap meter as “beautiful for spacious skies” and “purple mountains, majesty.” (What about “lobster pots forever full” and “Penobscot Bay where eagles play”? Equal time for Mainers!)

Similar philosophers Down Under occasionally suggest replacing the resolute “Advance Australia Fair” with the whimsical but unmoving “Waltzing Matilda,” no doubt accompanied by new lyrics to render it as inclusive and gender-free and balanced as all get-out. But “Matilda” will probably never be adopted, an Aussie friend says: “Apparently it is a direct take from some Irish tune, and it would not be very stylish to have an anthem whose words describe the activities of a sheep-stealer!”

One place where national anthems still flourish is the Churchill Center and Societies, whose international conferences are replete with Yanks, Brits, Canadians and the occasional Aussie. From time to time in conference planning I float the idea of singing the alternative verses, choosing stanzas with the most rousing lyrics and printing them in the program so the assembly could join in. I regret to record that my colleagues have always greeted this notion with the kind of enthusiasm one reserves for sauerkraut ice cream.

Finest Hour readers are more likely than most to be familiar with the forgotten words. But just in case they are not, we offer as a public service all the stanzas of all the national anthems from countries where Winston Churchill organizations exist. See that you remember them. There will be a quiz.

The Star-Spangled Banner

O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hail’d, at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro’ the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watch’d, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro’ the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen thro’ the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host, in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream:
‘Tis the star-spangled banner: O, long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war, and the battle’s confusion,
A home and a country, should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash’d out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O thus be it ever, when free men shall stand
Between their lov’d homes and the war’s desolation;
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the heav’n-rescued land
Praise the Pow’r that hath made and preserve! 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!

O Canada

O Canada! Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North, strong and free!
From Far and Wide, O Canada,
We stand on guard for thee.
Refrain:
God Keep Our Land, glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee!

O Canada! Where pines and maples grow.
Great prairies spread and lordly rivers flow.
How dear to us thy broad domain,
From East to Western Sea,
Thou land of hope for all who toil!
Thou True North, strong and free!
(Refrain)

O Canada! Beneath thy shining skies
May stalwart sons and gentle maidens rise,
To keep thee steadfast through the years
From East to Western Sea,
Our own beloved native land!
Our True North, strong and free!
(Refrain)

Ruler supreme, who hearest humble prayer,
Hold our dominion within thy loving care;
Help us to find, O God, in thee
A lasting, rich reward,
As waiting for the Better Day,
We ever stand on guard. (Refrain)

Buchan version: not official

John Buchan, Lord Tweedsmuir, the famous author, was Governor General of Canada. You will see in a moment why this one didn’t stick…

O Canada, our heritage, our love
Thy worth we praise all other lands above.
From sea to sea
Throughout their length
From pole to borderland,
At Britain’s side, whate’er betide
Unflinchingly we’ll stand.
With hearts we sing, “God save the King,”
Guide then one Empire wide, do we implore,
And prosper Canada from shore to shore.

Advance Australia Fair

Australians all let us rejoice, for we are young and free;
We’ve golden soil and wealth for toil,
our home is girt by sea.
Our land abounds in natures gifts, of beauty rich and rare;
In hist’ry’s page let every stage Advance Australia Fair.
In joyful strains then let us sing, Advance Australia Fair!

Beneath our radiant Southern Cross we’ll toil with hearts and hands;
To make this Commonwealth of ours renowned of all the lands;
For those who’ve come across the seas we’ve boundless plains to share;
With courage let us all combine to Advance Australia Fair.
In joyful strains etc.

Original Version:

Australian sons let us rejoice, for we are young and free;
We’ve golden soil and wealth for toil, our home is girt by sea;
Our land abounds in nature’s gifts, of beauty rich and rare;
In history’s page, let every stage Advance Australia fair.
In joyful strains then let us sing, Advance Australia fair.

When gallant Cook from Albion sailed, to trace wide oceans o’er;
True British courage bore him on, till he landed on our shore;
Then here he raised Old England’s flag, the standard of the brave;
“With all her faults we love her still,”
“Britannia rules the waves.”
In joyful strains etc.

Beneath our radiant Southern Cross,
we’ll toil with hearts and hands,
To make this Commonwealth of ours renowned
of all the lands,
For those who’ve come across the seas we’ve boundless
plains to share;
With courage let us all combine, to Advance Australia fair.
In joyful strains etc.

Should foreign foe e’er sight our shore, or dare a foot to land,
We’ll rouse to arms like sires of yore, to guard our native strand;
Britannia then shall surely know, beyond wide oceans’ roll,
Her sons in fair Australia’s land, still keep a British soul.
In joyful strains etc.

God Save the Queen

God save our gracious Queen
Long live our noble Queen,
God save the Queen:
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us:
God save the Queen.

O Lord, our God, arise,
Scatter our enemies,
And make them fall:
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On thee our hopes we fix:
God save us all.

Not in this land alone,
But be God’s mercies known,
From shore to shore!
Lord make the nations see,
That men should brothers be,
And form one family,
The wide world o’er.

From every latent foe,
From the assassins blow,
God save the Queen!
O’er her thine arm extend,
For Britain’s sake defend,
Our mother, prince, and friend,
God save the Queen!

Thy choicest gifts in store,
On her be pleased to pour;
Long may she reign:
May she defend our laws,
And ever give us cause
To sing with heart and voice
God save the Queen.

Notes

According to associate editor Paul Courtenay, “Usually verse one alone is sung although verse five is sometimes added. I don’t think verse two has been sung since World War II, and I have never heard verses three or four sung.” Well, at Lady Soames’s birthday party during the Alaska conference last September, soloist Keith Padden sang three verses of “God Save the Queen,” including the second one about scattering enemies, and the crowd seemed to enjoy it, although our Patron thought we were going well over the top.

Rafal Heydel-Mankoo of ICS Canada writes that “another verse to the British Anthem was added during the Jacobite Rebellion of 1746, but it stopped being used once the rebels had been duly crushed.” You can see why:

God grant that Marshall Wade,
May by thy mighty aid,
Victory bring,
May he sedition hush,
And like a torrent rush,
Rebellious Scots to crush,
God save the King.

“Interestingly,” continues Rafal, “although ‘God Save the King’ became the Anthem in the Hanoverian era, it was actually first used as a patriotic tune by the Stuart Jacobites during their battles against the Hanoverians. (The Jacobite/Stuart version had existed for at least fifty years prior to this.) The Hanoverian verse (which became the National Anthem) was first sung in public in September 1745 in a London theatre. The audience leapt to their feet and demanded encores.” Here is what they heard:

God save our noble king
God save great George our King
God save the King!
Send him victorious
Happy and glorious
Long to reign over us
God save the King!

According to Linda Colley, “God Save the King” (or “Queen,” as the case may be) did not become an “anthem” until the 1800s and was the first National Anthem in the world. Rafal adds: “The term ‘anthem’ is a British creation. Between 1760 and 1781 it received only four formal performances in the theatres but from 1781 to the start of the 19th century it received over ninety performances before becoming the National Anthem. It is also the Royal Anthem of Canada and provided the tune for the National Anthem of Liechtenstein and the American ‘My Country ‘Tis of Thee.'”

A story, perhaps apocryphal, involves HMS Prince of Wales sailing into Argentia for the Atlantic Charter meeting in August 1941. Aboard USS Augusta, as her Marine band struck up “God Save the King,” Franklin Roosevelt is reported to have cracked: “That’s the best rendition of ‘My Country ‘Tis of Thee’ I’ve heard in years!”


“English-Speaking Peoples” is a periodic opinion series on matters of moment among the Great Democracies Churchill loved. Criticism and counter-opinions are always welcome.

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