Nuestro Himno

I've fallen behind in my getting irked at contemporary events so today I'm taking up the Star Spangled Banner, Nuestro Himno, and Mexicans who want to be Americans.

For my hot button issue of the month I nominate the Hispanic version of the Star Spangled Banner. Not knowing all the facts has never stopped me before, and I'm not letting it stop me now. Personally, I liked it. I though it was respectful and patriotic and an "American" thing to do. I really liked the Jimi Hendrix version many years ago and have belted out the song on my saxophone with blaring overtones on occasion. I thought Jose Feliciano's and Marvin Gaye's versions were pretty nice, too. Whitney Houston comes to mind - nice. The one that comes to mind that I thought was the most disrespectful was Roseanne Barr's. Why she was even asked I don't know. Maybe we could deport her.

Adding a note of hypocrisy to the criticism is that a large chunk of "Americans" don't actually know the all the words to the first verse much less the entire Star-Spangled Banner they so loudly defended. I confess to not knowing all the verses.

And to that end I am attaching the lyrics of the Star Spangled Banner (note below that it is sung to the tune of a British drinking song, To Anacreon in Heaven):

The Star-Spangled Banner
—Francis Scott Key, 1814
O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen thro' the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner: O, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc 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 footsteps' 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.

O thus be it ever when free-men shall stand
Between their lov'd home and the war's desolation;
Blest with vict'ry 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!
”And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!


On Sept. 13, 1814, Francis Scott Key visited the British fleet in Chesapeake Bay to secure the release of Dr. William Beanes, who had been captured after the burning of Washington, DC. The release was secured, but Key was detained on ship overnight during the shelling of Fort McHenry, one of the forts defending Baltimore. In the morning, he was so delighted to see the American flag still flying over the fort that he began a poem to commemorate the occasion. First published under the title “Defense of Fort M'Henry,” the poem soon attained wide popularity as sung to the tune “To Anacreon in Heaven.” The origin of this tune is obscure, but it may have been written by John Stafford Smith, a British composer born in 1750. “The Star-Spangled Banner” was officially made the national anthem by Congress in 1931, although it already had been adopted as such by the army and the navy.


Finally, Nuestro Himno, the Hispanic version in question, which to me appears to be quite respectful of what America freedom is all about: liberty, equality, opportunity:

Do you see it arising, by the light of the dawn,
That which we hailed so much when the night fell?
Its stars, its stripes were streaming yesterday
In the fierce combat, as a sign of victory,
The brilliance of battle, in step with freedom,
Throughout the night they said: "It will be defended!"
Oh say you! Does it still wave, its starred beauty,
Over the land of the free, the sacred flag?
Its stars, its stripes, liberty, we are equal.
We are brothers, it is our anthem.
In the fierce combat, as a sign of victory,
The brilliance of battle... (My people keep fighting.)
...in step with freedom, (Now is the time to break the chains!)
Throughout the night they said: "It will be defended!"
Oh say you! Does it still wave, its starred beauty,
Over the land of the free, the sacred flag?


It's quite possible that Mexicans longing to come here and risking their lives every day may understand and appreciate more about freedom and liberty and America than we do.

Later,
Bud