Andrew Stiller wrote:
On Aug 29, 2004, at 8:25 AM, Crystal Premo wrote:
the Ray Charles version of "America The Beautiful." <<
Me, too! Ah, if only *everyone* could sing like Ray.
No, no, no, no, no! It's not even grammatical! I find it so embarrassing I hit the mute button every time it comes around.
And as for the song itself, I would merely point out that invoking God in a national anthem would be a gratuitous slap at 14% of the population--among whom I number myself.
I felt very estranged from the country post-9/11 when everyone was singing "God Bless America." If ever there was a time for "The Star Spangled Banner," that was it ("bombs bursting in air.."), but nobody sang it. I found the perversity of the response extraordinarily ugly, and very sad.
Even the Star Spangled Banner, though, in the 4th verse invokes God and how God was instrumental in rescuing our land, so unfortunately there's no escaping it.
-- David H. Bailey [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
