We don't always hit the right note, or the right song

By: AGNES DIGGS - Staff Writer | Saturday, July 3, 2004 9:52 PM PDT ∞

Recognize these words?

"Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land

"Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd us a nation.

"Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,

"And this be our motto: 'In God is our trust!' "

Here's a hint: They come from a song.

Still nothing?

Here's another hint: Folks stand up when it plays.

Give up?

They are part of the "Star Spangled Banner."

As you may know, there's a grass-roots effort afoot to change the key in which the song is played at public functions, ostensibly to make it easier for the majority of people to sing.

Well, key, schmee ---- how about we all learn the words first?

Granted, there are those who couldn't hit the right notes regardless of what key the song is played in. But don't feel too guilty if you didn't recognize it. In that, you are not alone.

The lyrics were written by Francis Scott Key during the War of 1812 as a poem titled "The Defense of Fort McHenry." It was later set to music and re-named. We showed the selection above to a sampling of area residents who were asked if they recognized the origin of the words.

Paul Parry, 57, of Ontario, was in Oceanside shepherding a group of young people on a mission for "Youth for Truth." After reading the lines on a sheet of paper, he stared thoughtfully into the distance for a moment and came up with the right song, but wrong verse.

"I remember reading this line," he said, pointing to the paper on which the partial verse was printed. "It's just something that stuck with me, I guess."

He nodded when his answer was confirmed.

"My question is, why don't people believe this?" he said. "People don't believe that the power that made us a nation is God."

'Is this the Preamble?'

Oceanside residents Daria Badanin and Kat Mikalenko, both 18, gave it a guess.

After reading the verse aloud, Daria asked, "Is this the Preamble (to the U.S. Constitution)? Is it a song? It's not 'America the Beautiful,' is it? It's probably a song."

Badanin and Mikalenko are Russian-born immigrants in the process of gaining citizenship, so they are soaking up a lot about United States history and government for the required citizenship test ---- facts that people who are citizens of this country should already know, they said.

"It's a shame that the citizens don't know the same information that the immigrants do," Badanin said. "I just finished my second year of college, and I didn't know it was the national anthem. We should be better educated in this country."

It's different in Russia, the girls agreed. The schools are tougher, and everyone knows their anthem.

"Obviously, it's not very important to people that live here," Mikalenko said. "We learn the Pledge of Allegiance, but I don't think it's that important to people to know it (the anthem). I think it should be."

Oceanside resident Nick Norris, a retired Marine, read the four lines carefully and said, "Second stanza of the Marine Corps hymn, isn't it? It's similar."

Invited to guess again, Norris said, "That's one of the stanzas of the 'Star Spangled Banner.' There's only two songs I stand up for ---- the Marine Corps Hymn and the National Anthem."

'No idea'

Not everyone who tried was so sure, and some were unwilling even to guess.

Daniel Carrozza, who was manning the Bait Shop on the Oceanside Pier, said, "No idea." when asked, and when told the answer, said with surprise, "That's the Star Spangled Banner?" Pause. "I know the Pledge of Allegiance," he offered.

Huntington Beach residents Gloria Martin and her daughter, Beverly, both laughed self-consciously after reading the words.

"I don't know," Gloria Martin said, "even though I'm in the choir at church." And then, "Oh, goodness, is this one of the verses of the 'Star Spangled Banner'? They should start playing this one at the beginning of games and at the NASCAR. Then we'd all know. They're beautiful words."

Beverly Martin's son, Lance Cpl. Peter Bologna, 19, is a Marine serving in Iraq, stationed in Fallujah. The words made her think of a church hymn, she said.

"I was trying to think of a tune, but I had no idea," she said. "I should have known."

Star-spangled showbiz

Years ago, Americans sang the song in unison, invited by announcers at public events to "stand and join me in singing the National Anthem." Gradually, it devolved into a showbiz event, and the audience became merely spectators to a celebrity rendition.

At the Super Bowl, for instance, before 1969, the anthem and the half-time show were showcases for college bands like Grambling University's. In '69, Anita Bryant sang the anthem. The next year, trumpeter Al Hirt played it. In subsequent years, everyone from the U.S Air Force Academy Chorale, Jewel, the Little Angels of Holy Angels Church in Chicago, Charlie Pride, Barry Manilow, Billy Joel, Harry Connick Jr. and Garth Brooks have done the honors. In

2004, although she was overshadowed by the now-infamous half-time show, Beyonce Knowles delivered the anthem.

And less illustrious performances of the anthem have been given, such as the eminently forgettable screeching of Roseanne Barr. And don't forget Robert Goulet's gaffe, singing "by the dawn's early night." Also relegated to the Hall of Shame, singer Johnny Paycheck, who reportedly gave the song his own interpretation, singing "Oh say, can you see, it's cloudy at night, what so loudly we sang, at the daylight's last cleaning."

For better or worse, the need to know the anthem's words seems to have become less pressing. So when its first notes are played, Americans rise to their feet; some place their hands over their hearts. Most listen respectfully when it is sung.

But how many would know the words if they saw them?

Contact staff writer Agnes Diggs at (760) 740-3511 or adiggs@nctimes.com.

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