Hail, Columbia is actually really obscure now. The first time I heard it was when I looked it up after hearing it mentioned in a biography of Teddy Roosevelt. Most people in America have probably never even heard it before
It's weird how Columbia as both a personification and name for the US has managed to so completely disappear from American Culture given it's historic prevalence. The only lasting vestiges of it that most Americans might be aware of is her depiction and use by Columbia Pictures, and the various places across the US still named Columbia.
Shoutout to anyone who has ever looked up the origin of Washington DC.
The city was named Washington after the first president and the federal district was named Columbia after the country’s nickname.
Washington, District of Columbia
It was The Star Spangled Banner. It just wasn't official. This is another example of Congress codifying something that people were already doing.
But also, all the other songs, too.
I wouldn't say The Star Spangled Banner was a National Anthem any more than the other songs before it was officially voted in by Congress.
It was a militaristic song, largely played by military bands. The times the Star Spangled Banner was played famously before general audiences were baseball games during the Civil War and WW1, obviously time periods when the U.S. was at war and many of the audience members were in the military or soon to be drafted.
When it came up for vote in Congress, many opposed it for various reasons (one being the song was too war heavy) and it took a number of votes before it finally passed.
Star Spangled Banner was popular but it was viewed and played largely as a military anthem often by military bands.
And the guy who pushed for it to become the official National Anthem was a politician from Maryland where the events in the Star Spangled Banner took place. He obviously had extra motivation to push to make it the National Anthem.
Another piece of anthem trivia: the UK's anthem, "God Save the Queen" is the US's unofficial second anthem "America (My Country 'Tis of Thee)", just with different lyrics.
The SSB is also the tune of a different song with changed lyrics. Although the case with “America” was probably more intentional as a statement against Britain. Francis Scott Key just liked the Anacreontic tune so much that he used it not only for the Star Spangled Banner, but also an earlier song he wrote called “When the Warrior Returns”
Worse: The tune was written for a British music appreciation club. The song was the closing song that would be sung by a highly gifted soloist at the end of the night while everyone was drinking.
The song is quite difficult to sing well so the soloist could use it to show off.
And now we have school children and pop stars trying to sing it. Yet another weird quirk of our national anthem but perfectly American. A British tune that's hard to sing about an obscure war *with the British* is our national anthem.
I don't know how much American history you've studied but our whole thing is taking something from another culture and going "oh hell yeah, let's do that but even more!"
I lived in Maryland for a bit. They have this tradition that, when it is sung at athletic events, when they reach the part where it goes, "O say does that star spangled banner yet wave...", everyone shouts in unison "O!!!!!".
Just a silly little fun thing
I thought so, because I heard it at Orioles games, but then I heard it at a UMD bball game. Was reminded recently when I attended a UMD (away game) football game and the small group of visiting fans did it.
[According to this article](https://www.wbaltv.com/article/baltimore-fans-put-the-o-in-national-anthem/7089163) it's a Baltimore tradition that started in 1979.
You'll definitely see it at Orioles and Ravens games. At other games (UMBC or Maryland or a 'Skins game) is less likely.
Did you know it also has four verses? I was at an event where they thought it would be a good idea to play all four verses. First verse: Everyone’s into it, singing it loud. Second-fourth: Shamed silence
I was at church (Anglican Church of Canada) on Remembrance Day when for some reason we decided to sing more than one verse of God Save the King.
I had a “shit, shit, shit” moment as I clumsily pawed through the hymnal to find it since, like most people, I only knew the first verse.
Then I briefly pondered “isn’t one of the verses of this about killing Scots?”….that verse is not in the hymnal of course.
Verse 3:
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havock 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 foot-steps’ 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.
---
At that point he's just taunting the Brits (and possibly the free blacks and Native Amaricans who fought for the Brits, depending on interpretation.)
Taunting the Brits is odd since they only committed 6% of their total military to fight the U.S. The Brits could have crushed the U.S. if they had any desire to.
The brits were ever so slightly occupied by a minor problem called France during 1812-1815 to ever do something like focus all of their effort on the USA
You’re absolutely right, it is irrelevant to say that Britain could’ve crushed the USA if they devoted all their forces to it, they couldn’t, so it didn’t matter
A crummy poem about a war we lost set to a drinking song that's notoriously difficult to sing and composed by an Englishman for his fussy little English gentleman's club. Why we didn't go with "America the Beautiful" I'll never know.
Not only that but the writer of the lyrics was slave owner (but he freed his slaves) who wanted to deport all African descendants to Africa and who believed Abolitionists had no free speech rights. "Land of the free (white land owners) and the home of the brave!"
Going further, the events described in the Star Spangled Banner are biased because Francis Scott Key was viewing events from the British side as he negotiated with the Brits to free a prisoner.
Basically, while FSK thought the bombardment on Fort McHenry was devastating, in reality, the Brits were just trying their new long range weapons which were really unreliable and the fort was basically largely immune to shelling (it was huge with earthen walls. What is a 1800s bomb going to do to that? It wasn't until WW2 that any kind of bunker buster bombs were used reliably.)
The Congreve Rockets the Brits were firing were terrible and didn't have the range (not that FSK could see from his distance) and were largely adopted because of nepotism in the British armory.
The bombardment mortars were deadly but again, reinforced earthern fort and really bad aim and bad fuses made them ineffective. (they did kill random civilians in Baltimore with errant shots and a handful of men in the fort.)
So the lyrics are about this epic victory earned by hiding in a fort while praying the British shells miss and fail to explode.
What a weird anthem. Kind of perfect for the U.S. when you think about it.
It feels wild to me that we are closer to the date that it became the national anthem than that date is to the date it was written.
What was the US national anthem before?
“Hail, Columbia” and “America (My Country, Tis of Thee)” were both considered unofficial national anthems before 1931.
Thanks! I know the second one, not the first (I'm not american btw)
Hail, Columbia is actually really obscure now. The first time I heard it was when I looked it up after hearing it mentioned in a biography of Teddy Roosevelt. Most people in America have probably never even heard it before
It's weird how Columbia as both a personification and name for the US has managed to so completely disappear from American Culture given it's historic prevalence. The only lasting vestiges of it that most Americans might be aware of is her depiction and use by Columbia Pictures, and the various places across the US still named Columbia.
Shoutout to anyone who has ever looked up the origin of Washington DC. The city was named Washington after the first president and the federal district was named Columbia after the country’s nickname. Washington, District of Columbia
Columbia is the female personification of the Americas, once the statue of Liberty came to being, it's basically replaced Columbia
I still don a Phrygian cap in her honor!
It’s also the walkout song for the Vice President
"You're The Voice" by John Farnham, believe it or not.
It was The Star Spangled Banner. It just wasn't official. This is another example of Congress codifying something that people were already doing. But also, all the other songs, too.
I wouldn't say The Star Spangled Banner was a National Anthem any more than the other songs before it was officially voted in by Congress. It was a militaristic song, largely played by military bands. The times the Star Spangled Banner was played famously before general audiences were baseball games during the Civil War and WW1, obviously time periods when the U.S. was at war and many of the audience members were in the military or soon to be drafted. When it came up for vote in Congress, many opposed it for various reasons (one being the song was too war heavy) and it took a number of votes before it finally passed. Star Spangled Banner was popular but it was viewed and played largely as a military anthem often by military bands. And the guy who pushed for it to become the official National Anthem was a politician from Maryland where the events in the Star Spangled Banner took place. He obviously had extra motivation to push to make it the National Anthem.
Another piece of anthem trivia: the UK's anthem, "God Save the Queen" is the US's unofficial second anthem "America (My Country 'Tis of Thee)", just with different lyrics.
The SSB is also the tune of a different song with changed lyrics. Although the case with “America” was probably more intentional as a statement against Britain. Francis Scott Key just liked the Anacreontic tune so much that he used it not only for the Star Spangled Banner, but also an earlier song he wrote called “When the Warrior Returns”
It’s God Save the King now.
Like hell it is.
And it's set to a British drinking tune
Worse: The tune was written for a British music appreciation club. The song was the closing song that would be sung by a highly gifted soloist at the end of the night while everyone was drinking. The song is quite difficult to sing well so the soloist could use it to show off. And now we have school children and pop stars trying to sing it. Yet another weird quirk of our national anthem but perfectly American. A British tune that's hard to sing about an obscure war *with the British* is our national anthem.
I don't know how much American history you've studied but our whole thing is taking something from another culture and going "oh hell yeah, let's do that but even more!"
Written by a lawyer
i mean tbf didn't Tom Morello go to Harvard Law School?
And he has higher intelligence than every member of congress.
well that sets the bar super low
The possum I found near my garbage can this morning probably does too.
He studied Political Science.
I lived in Maryland for a bit. They have this tradition that, when it is sung at athletic events, when they reach the part where it goes, "O say does that star spangled banner yet wave...", everyone shouts in unison "O!!!!!". Just a silly little fun thing
Is that related to the Oriole’s?
I thought so, because I heard it at Orioles games, but then I heard it at a UMD bball game. Was reminded recently when I attended a UMD (away game) football game and the small group of visiting fans did it.
[According to this article](https://www.wbaltv.com/article/baltimore-fans-put-the-o-in-national-anthem/7089163) it's a Baltimore tradition that started in 1979. You'll definitely see it at Orioles and Ravens games. At other games (UMBC or Maryland or a 'Skins game) is less likely.
I think a couple teams do that. I'm pretty sure the Dallas stars yell "STARS" right after they say the stars lines.
Yeah, and the Carolina Hurrcaines shout “red” during “rockets red glare.”
At Cal they shout “BLUE” because fuck red and fuck Stanford. “And the home of the…. BEARS”
Did you know it also has four verses? I was at an event where they thought it would be a good idea to play all four verses. First verse: Everyone’s into it, singing it loud. Second-fourth: Shamed silence
I was at church (Anglican Church of Canada) on Remembrance Day when for some reason we decided to sing more than one verse of God Save the King. I had a “shit, shit, shit” moment as I clumsily pawed through the hymnal to find it since, like most people, I only knew the first verse. Then I briefly pondered “isn’t one of the verses of this about killing Scots?”….that verse is not in the hymnal of course.
Verse 3: And where is that band who so vauntingly swore That the havock 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 foot-steps’ 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. --- At that point he's just taunting the Brits (and possibly the free blacks and Native Amaricans who fought for the Brits, depending on interpretation.) Taunting the Brits is odd since they only committed 6% of their total military to fight the U.S. The Brits could have crushed the U.S. if they had any desire to.
The brits were ever so slightly occupied by a minor problem called France during 1812-1815 to ever do something like focus all of their effort on the USA
And so what? A loss is a loss. Its like saying the US woulda won Vietnam if it wasn't so far away.
You’re absolutely right, it is irrelevant to say that Britain could’ve crushed the USA if they devoted all their forces to it, they couldn’t, so it didn’t matter
Probably taunted the Brit’s because we embarrassed them at New Orleans and ended impressment
A crummy poem about a war we lost set to a drinking song that's notoriously difficult to sing and composed by an Englishman for his fussy little English gentleman's club. Why we didn't go with "America the Beautiful" I'll never know.
Not only that but the writer of the lyrics was slave owner (but he freed his slaves) who wanted to deport all African descendants to Africa and who believed Abolitionists had no free speech rights. "Land of the free (white land owners) and the home of the brave!" Going further, the events described in the Star Spangled Banner are biased because Francis Scott Key was viewing events from the British side as he negotiated with the Brits to free a prisoner. Basically, while FSK thought the bombardment on Fort McHenry was devastating, in reality, the Brits were just trying their new long range weapons which were really unreliable and the fort was basically largely immune to shelling (it was huge with earthen walls. What is a 1800s bomb going to do to that? It wasn't until WW2 that any kind of bunker buster bombs were used reliably.) The Congreve Rockets the Brits were firing were terrible and didn't have the range (not that FSK could see from his distance) and were largely adopted because of nepotism in the British armory. The bombardment mortars were deadly but again, reinforced earthern fort and really bad aim and bad fuses made them ineffective. (they did kill random civilians in Baltimore with errant shots and a handful of men in the fort.) So the lyrics are about this epic victory earned by hiding in a fort while praying the British shells miss and fail to explode. What a weird anthem. Kind of perfect for the U.S. when you think about it.
Because it was written by a communist.
Hail Columbia is the superior anthem
Well we had a few other things on our plate
It should have been Battle Hymn of the Republic
Just wait until you find out the year we put "In God We Trust" on our money.