Shit-Spangled Drunkards<\/b><\/p>\n
A modest history of Boebert\u2019s Anthem<\/b><\/p>\n
Bryan Zepp Jamieson<\/i><\/p>\n
February 12th<\/sup>, 2023<\/i><\/p>\n www.zeppscommentaries.online<\/i><\/p>\n According to a squib from Newsweek, \u201cRepresentative Lauren Boebert<\/a>, a Colorado Republican, took to Twitter<\/a> on Sunday afternoon to complain about the Black National Anthem being performed during the Super Bowl…Actress Sheryl Lee Ralph is slated to perform \u2018Lift Every Voice and Sing,\u2019 colloquially known as the Black National Anthem, ahead of the Sunday night football game\u2026\u2019America only has ONE NATIONAL ANTHEM, she tweeted. \u2018Why is the NFL trying to divide us by playing multiple!? Do football, not wokeness.\u2019”<\/p>\n Well, Bobo the Bozo usually has her knickers in a knot over one damn fool thing or another, and it\u2019s usually something pretty idiotic. I don\u2019t suppose we should tell her that the penalty flags are going to be all rainbow-colored for the Superbowl, or that the players have to hold it until half-time, and then they can only pee in the litter boxes provided. She might open a Congressional investigation or something.<\/p>\n Fact is, America did just fine without a national anthem throughout the Revolutionary War. OK, it wasn\u2019t a country yet, but if they show a video at some right-wing conference showing revolutionary soldiers waving the stars and stripes and babbling about bombs bursting in air, know ye that it\u2019s complete and utter bullshit. Neither the anthem nor the flag existed then.<\/p>\n And despite the folklore and Francis Off Key\u2019s act of plagiarism in the War of 1812, the US didn\u2019t have an anthem then. Now, the English did have one, about God Saving Old Codswallop, and they burned Washington, so people may have started thinking that bad songs sung in a patriotic fervor might help.<\/p>\n No national anthem during the Civil War, although people had all kinds of patriotic songs they could bellow out while getting their spines shot out or dying of dysentery. (The latter was much more common, but not nearly as heroic.)<\/p>\n Fought a bunch of little wars without an anthem, killed most of the native population, and began the corporate enslavement of Central America, all without buffoons yodeling about the glare of rockets. Fought WW1, with flu replacing dysentery as the number one foe, and while the song was catching on as the national song, there was nothing \u201cofficial\u201d about it. People sang it to get a sense of community, exactly like some people sing \u201cLift Every Voice and Sing\u201d now. Heartfelt and meant to be constructive.<\/p>\n It didn\u2019t become The National Anthem (r) (c) until 1931, when the gods of capitalism had turned the economy to utter shit, and their Republican lapdogs didn\u2019t have a clue what to do about it. Like many things Republican, it was a gesture, meant to instill pride and patriotism. If nothing else, it made Republicans who had wrecked the country look patriotic, showing how little the party has changed in the past 90-odd years.<\/p>\n It was based on a song written for an upper-crust mens\u2019 glee club in London back in 1776 by the otherwise reputable English composer John Stafford Smith, it had the same dirge as a tune, but the lyrics went like this:<\/p>\n To Anacreon in Heaven, where he sat in full glee,<\/em> Now, I have to wonder if Bobo would be so eager to proclaim it high art if she knew it was asking her to intwine her myrtle with some Greek\u2019s grapevine. Tingle her mingle, so to speak. It was briefly popular amongst London hoi polloi<\/i>, who delighted in mawkish, pretentious pseudo-classical drivel.<\/p>\n While quickly forgotten, the music became a hit (repurposed) in the pubs, where maudlin, self-pitying songs get real popular after about the eighth pint. The lyrics then became:<\/p>\n Oh! who has not seen by the dawn\u2019s early light,<\/em> Well, by god, if that doesn\u2019t inspire you to go out and shoot down some Chinese balloons or call Joe Biden a senile old fool, I don\u2019t know what will! No sailor in the US Navy could hear that and not think of shore leave in Saigon.<\/p>\n So anyway, that\u2019s what Bobo stands for. A song that is the bastard offspring of a shell-shocked war correspondent, some Lord Byron wannabees, and a chorus of shit-faced drunks reeling in London\u2019s black fogs \u201cmidst the stews and the filth.\u201d I could take issue with the religious elements of \u201cLift Every Voice and Sing\u201d but at least it\u2019s honest. It doesn\u2019t try to present some broke-down old tuppence bag as a Grande Dame of Society.<\/p>\n But since I like to make Bobo squeal, I have a suggestion. Get rid of the national anthem. Nobody can sing it, it\u2019s depressing, and the lyrics start out stupid and get flat-out revolting in the later verses. Replace it with the song that TRULY captures the spirit of America: Woody Guthrie\u2019s \u201cThis Land is Your Land.\u201d<\/p>\n This Land Is Your Land<\/strong> Lyrics from genius.com<\/p>\n [Verse 1]<\/p>\n This land is your land and this land is my land<\/p>\n From the California to the New York island<\/p>\n From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters<\/p>\n This land was made for you and me<\/p>\n [Verse 2]<\/p>\n As I went walking that ribbon of highway<\/p>\n I saw above me that endless skyway<\/p>\n Saw below me that golden valley<\/p>\n This land was made for you and me<\/p>\n [Verse 3]<\/p>\n I roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps<\/p>\n To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts<\/p>\n All around me a voice was sounding<\/p>\n This land was made for you and me<\/p>\n [Verse 4]<\/p>\n When the sun comes shining then I was strolling<\/p>\n And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling<\/p>\n A voice come chanting as the fog was lifting<\/p>\n This land was made for you and me<\/p>\n ——————–<\/p>\n The following verses are not included in this recording<\/p>\n [Verse 4]<\/p>\n As I was walkin’ – I saw a sign there<\/p>\n And that sign said “No trespassin'”<\/p>\n But on the other side …. it didn’t say nothin!<\/p>\n Now that side was made for you and me!<\/p>\n [Verse 6]<\/p>\n In the squares of the city – In the shadow of the steeple<\/p>\n Near the relief office – I see my people<\/p>\n And some are grumblin’ and some are wonderin’<\/p>\n If this land’s still made for you and me<\/p>\n You can sing it, and you don\u2019t have to be pretentious or pissed to do so.<\/p>\n Lyrics and general history of the Star-Spangled Banner provided by Britannica.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Shit-Spangled Drunkards A modest history of Boebert\u2019s Anthem Bryan Zepp Jamieson February 12th, 2023 www.zeppscommentaries.online According to a squib from Newsweek, \u201cRepresentative Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican, took to Twitter on Sunday afternoon to complain about the Black National Anthem being performed during the Super Bowl…Actress Sheryl Lee Ralph is slated to perform \u2018Lift Every … <\/p>\n
\nA few sons of harmony sent a petition,<\/em>
\nThat he their inspirer and patron<\/a> would be;<\/em>
\nWhen this answer arrived from the jolly old Grecian:<\/em>
\nVoice, fiddle, and flute, no longer be mute,<\/em>
\nI\u2019ll lend you my name and inspire you to boot<\/em>
\nAnd besides I\u2019ll instruct you like me to intwine<\/em>
\nThe myrtle of Venus with Bacchus\u2019s vine.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nSome poor bloated drunkard to his home weakly reeling,<\/em>
\nWith blear eyes and red nose most revolting to sight;<\/em>
\nYet<\/a> still in his breast not a throb, of shame feeling!<\/em>
\nAnd the plight he was in\u2014steep\u2019d in filth to his chin,<\/em>
\nGave proof through the night in the gutter he\u2019d been,<\/em>
\nWhile the pity-able wretch would stagger along,<\/em>
\nTo the shame of his friends, \u2019mid the jeers of the throng.<\/em><\/p>\n