[grobdriver]

Key was aboard a ship in the harbor and squinted through smoke to see who had won, as the sun began to break. A large American flag was raised. Key saw it and wrote a poem that became the national anthem.

Which is why the National Anthem should be sung and played bright and cheery, as a celebration - not as a funeral dirge.

I hate 99% of the performances of our Anthem. People don't know how to sing it or play it (plus they have to throw in their own embellishments to show their skills - which usually suck - thereby detracting from the song).

[ByteMercenary]

Zooey Deschanel sang one of the best renditions back in 2011(?) - full of feeling and with no embellishments.

It was great!

[imardmd1]

This glorification of the singers or instrumentalists was not ever a mode of honoring our National Symbol until well after the Korean War.

Thinking back, I believe that corruption of the theme of Holy Freedom accompanied the time in the 1960s. of the Vietnam conflict, and the forcing by riotous anarchy of Blackicity on an unwilling public, and the emergence of public school teachers greatly influenced in their college days by the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS; for "Democrat" read "Marxist").

I, too, hate the manipulation of the focus from our Flag to the self-serving narcissistic performers of the written score..