Why does the U.S. national anthem still move me so?

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by Alexander's Horse
I'd like our anthem better if I knew who Gert by Sea was.

I think she was an old sex worker in St. Kilda.....

[MrFun]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov


I think having been born and raised in the South would negate that as a factor.

Plus, um, pot, kettle, black.



Yankees with bad taste in movies, yes. Exhibit B: Your liking "Titanic."

Case rested.

G&G is bad because it's poorly written and poorly directed, and in many cases poorly acted. It has nothing to do with politics.

A: I don't hate white Southerners.

B: Titanic was a great movie -- make no mistake about it.

C: Doesn't matter if you were born in the South -- I'm sure you have become a full-blown Yankee by now. Just ask Slowwhand if he thinks so.

[The Vagabond]

Titanic is a great movie indeed.

[The Vagabond]

I understood why certain national anthems can move you so much:

This music is backed with nuclear weapons!

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Alexander's Horse
You mean aside from all the ugly historical overtones?

(if we're talking about Deutchland Uber Alles)

Such overtones are only in your mind.

The melody of the German anthem was written by Franz Joseph Haydn in 1797 as a response to hearing "God Save the Queen" and his wish for a similar anthem for the Germans.

As for the text and its history:

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/paul.bailey/GerAnth.htm

The text was written in 1841, nearly 100 years before the advent of Nazism. The meaning of "Germany over all in the world" was not a reference to conquest, but to Germans having loyalty to a unified German state over any other state.

The fact that happened to be the anthem when the Nazis seized power doesn't taint it any more than any other nation's anthem. It is not a Nazi creation in the slightest. Hell, the Russian anthem is more tainted, don't see any objections to that...

Regardless, the original first two verses have been dropped, and the anthem is now far less nationalistic and combative than most anthems.

[Joseph]

Originally posted by Alexander's Horse
Actually your congress men and women singing it on the steps of the Capitol was extraordinarily moving even for an old cynic like me.

Reminded me of what a great country and people you are.

I was upset that they sanged it. Most could care less about the US and it's people. They care about themself and themself only. If I could recall everyone of them, I would.

[Boris Godunov]

Even politicians can be moved by a national tragedy, and I agree with AH that it was a singularly affecting moment. Far more spontaneous than Bush's staged ground zero photo ops.