I found that because the Russian national anthem came up — 2 posts down — in the context of learning what lies in store for Brittney Griner if indeed she ends up serving her sentence in a Russian penal colony, where prisoners must sing the anthem, “Glory to Our Free Fatherland,” every morning at 6:05 a.m.
Brittney Griner, when she was a free woman in America, opposed the playing of the American National Anthem at basketball games. In 2020, she said: "I’m not going to be out there for the national anthem. If the league continues to want to play it, that’s fine... I’ll not be out there."
There's grisly irony, and I would not laugh at that harsh turn of fate. I've been thinking about the power of national anthems. Listening to a formal presentation of the Russian anthem, in spite of myself, I get chills. It's in the music. Look at the faces of the people, in that clip with Putin. It's reaching them deeply and merging them in shared resolve.
Resolve to do what?
Would we Americans want a President who would sing our national anthem like that, or do we prefer our Presidents singing "Amazing Grace" and our anthem safely ensconced where it belongs, at basketball, baseball, and football games?
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A translation:
Verse 1:
Russia is our sacred state,
Russia is our beloved land.
The powerful strength and the great glory
Are your properties for all the time.
Chorus:
Long live our Fatherland, land of the free,
The eternal union of brothers nations,
Given by ancestors the people's wisdom!
Long live our land! We are proud of you!
Verse 2:
From the southern seas to the polar lands
Spread are our forests and fields.
You are unique in the world, one of a kind -
This native land protected by God!
Verse 3:
Wide expanse for dreams and for living
Are opened for us by the coming years
Our loyalty to the Fatherland gives us strength.
So it was, so it is, and so it always will be!
source: https://www.lyricsondemand.com/n/nationalanthemlyrics/russianationalanthemlyrics.html
“There's grisly irony, and I would not laugh at that harsh turn of fate.”
Oscar Wilde weeps.
Obama is a fake Christian. How do I know? He picked a crook as his running mate and still supports that crook.
Rippin’ good martial tune, that. Sing that in the trenches, and you are ready to go over the top for Mother Russia.
There’s a stirring version in the movie “The Hunt For Red October.”
Message: do not mess with us.
I don’t care if a president sings the national anthem. The president is just a temporary political leader elected to advance policies that benefit the American people. I don’t need a big daddy president. That’s the stuff of the left which always seems to need to raise Democrat presidents to Demi-god status. Dangerous stuff that leads to intolerance and authoritarianism, both of which are in full display by the left.
I use the word patriotism unironically but I’ve never liked our national anthem. I also never liked the Twin Towers but was devastated when they fell. Some symbols and words are imperfect, like when George Bush started using the term homeland after 9/11.
Brittany Griener, like all leftist scum, hate America until they need America. Then America is expected to dave in ungrateful POS.
Richard Nixon was quite an accomplished pianist. He accompanied Pearl Bailey and played "Happy Birthday" for Duke Ellington on Ellington's birthday. For Ellington, it was a homecoming. His father had been a servant in the White House.
Jimmy Carter "sang" "Salt Peanut" with Dizzy Gillespie. It was mostly just him saying "Salt Peanut" at the required moment. If anyone cares, the internet tells me that John Tyler aspired to be a concert violinist in his youth. Thomas Jefferson was also a violinist.
Tribalism and nationalism is hardwired in humans. Music reaches us emotionally.
And, yes, that’s a great song. Making Russia great again.
What does the Chinese National Anthem sound like?
Here's how we're different.
If Trump had done that, there would have been mountains of articles about how he can't sing, he shouldn't sing, he's a Nationalist, he's a fascist- and this proves it. It's a racist song and this proves it. Music critics would have given this serious column space to review it and prove it's horrible.
If Obama had done it, there would have been swooning from half the country and reactions from the other half as if ipecac had been injected into their drinking water. The media would have said the National Anthem never sounded this good. Videos of him singing would trend #1. Music critics would have given this serious column space to review it and prove it's heaven-sent and without peer.
In Russia they still love their country and feel that national pride is a positive. In American half of the country actually despises their own country and thinks Nationalism is akin to Nazism. The other half loves America and thinks Nationalism means only that you have pride in your own country above all others.
We're nowhere close to agreeing on anything. And the Russians and Chinese like it that way.
God Bless America should be our national anthem. When that's sung at baseball games in the 7th inning the crowd looks like this. Not so much w/ our national anthem.
he was too fat to sing; but President Taft DID create the 7th inning stretch
We prefer the Battle Hymn of the Republic by Judy Garland.
That Thomas Sowell quite keeps coming back to me:
“Much of the social history of the Western world over the past three decades has involved replacing what worked with what sounded good."
America was working extremely well for Ms. Griner. Despite being Black!, Woman!, and Lesbian!, she became rich and somewhat famous playing a game. But playing in Russia, and bringing in an illicit substance, sounded so good, so enticing, that she found it irresistible. Maybe she did it for money, maybe she did it to raise a metaphoric finger to all us deplorables, maybe she was just foolish. Probably some of all 3. It just sounded like a good idea at the time.
Sorry, not sorry. It is ironic, but I do not see the grisliness in it. The grisly part is that I fully expect Biden to do the trade- an arms merchant for an idiot, and I fully expect Putin to put the arms merchant back in business, leading to the deaths of more innocents.
Nixon could play the piano.
I don’t need it but sure I would like it quite a lot. I love the anthem. I love it at sporting games. I used to LOVE how most if not all of the Dallas Mavericks put their hands over their hearts during play.
I must admit I had a lot more faith in our government now than then.
I'm sure Biden could hum a few bars, but he might need the teleprompter.
That was some full throated singing. Quite beautiful.
The Chinese National Anthem sounds like a bad John Williams ripoff. IP theft!
Russia is our sacred state,
Russia is our beloved land.
Don't do the crime
If you can't do the time.
In the Nixon - Eisenhower era, I remember them singing God Bless America. I think the Star Spangled Banner is just too challenging a song for a normally talented person.
I’d pay money to see and hear Biden struggle through our national anthem.
No joke.
Putin’s charisma—perhaps manufactured—comes through in this clip. If Russia were fighting a truly defensive war against, say, Turkey, we would all be cheering him and them on.
"Slava Rodina" (Glory of the Motherland) is one of the greatest military marches of all time.
I don't care that it was written in 1945 by a Red (Tschernitski).
The Russ have always been great singers. The Tsar's army made their long marches behind singers--"Singers to the head of the column!"
The Russian men on view look about average in terms of looks. The Russian women, however, are strikingly good looking. How does it work out that the women are so conspicuously pretty and the men are standard issue. My guess is that the photographer is biased in favor or pretty women and faces that display patriotic fervor. Perhaps another photographer could have found many in the crowd shifting their feet and waiting patiently for the games to begin.....Thanks to the first poster for giving us the lyrics. "Land of the free." Maybe not, but it's a fact that serfs served in the army that defeated Napoleon and returned to their serfdom afterwards. Stalin recruited some of his army among the prisoners in the Gulags. The Russians truly are patriotic, but more when the homeland is being invaded than at other times. There's no mad dash to sign up for service in Ukraine.
"prisoners must sing the anthem, “Glory to Our Free Fatherland,” every morning at 6:05 a.m."
What's the problem? Isn't singing the Russian national anthem bright and early the ideal way to express prog hatred for raaacccist Amerikkka?
I'm sure Biden's version of the anthem will end with......"C'mon man!!! You know the thing!"
Getting the chills in spite of yourself is the whole point. It goes beyond rationality, analysis or irony. The music is magnificent, and it reaches something grand and beautiful in people, and that’s why it works. That it is in the service of a corrupt regime is regrettable. Also in a particular Russian case, that was the anthem of the Soviet union, with different lyrics. Putin‘s regime has use it to invoke memories of the great patriotic war, and the sacrifice and victory of that generation, which are still revered by many people in Russia. The American national anthem is harder to sing, most ordinary singers can hit the notes if they try, but they don’t sound particularly good singing it. Just as well if American presidents leave it to the professionals.
Obama also sang Sweet Home Chicago with Buddy Guy and B.B. King.
"Buncha bombs in the air!"
The media, the chi coms and Russia agree - they all hate Rand Paul.
Look at the faces of the people, in that clip with Putin. It's reaching them deeply and merging them in shared resolve.
Resolve to do what?
Do what? Please the authorities and avoid having to sing it in a penal colony.
Putin likes to sing. Here he is doing Blueberry Hill.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekeq4szDmJo (starts at 0:13)
I'm not sure that Russian "shared resolve" is as real as Ukrainian shared resolve. For example, Russia is recruiting volunteers for their Army to fight in the Ukraine because Russian casualties have been enormous. It's been estimated that a third of the troops that marched in back in February are dead, sick from camping in Chernobyl or wounded. There's been no patriotic rush from the "Greater Russia" area to replace these casualties. Instead the Russians are getting regiments from impoverished tribal and Muslim areas, from other nationalities conquered between the Seventeenth and Nineteenth centuries in a wave of Russian colonialism. These colonial "regiments" do not have barracks, officers' quarters, or training areas. Instead, they are sent for a month to some regular Army regiment's quarters where they train for a month and then are sent to the Ukraine. They are told that Ukrainians subjected to Russian heavy artillery bombardment will come out of their trenches - the five or six left - with their hands up and that these dazed Ukrainian soldiers can be captured with a pistol by members of these rabble regiments (aged 20 to 50, some released from prison on agreeing to enlist) and that that's why not much training is needed. They get a very large bonus for signing up but the bonus isn't paid till they get to the Ukraine because they might desert with it. The whole spectacle showing that everyone in Russia understands everything without being told. It's only someone like an American soccer star who suffers painful surprises.
The Star Spangled Banner is a tough song to sing well right from the start. I can't imagine a politician risking ridicule by giving it a try.
I'd be ok with dropping it from most sporting events. When it's played everywhere, it loses its value. The exception would be if our national team is playing in some tournament like the World Cup.
"That’s the stuff of the left which always seems to need to raise Democrat presidents to Demi-god status."
Yes...we can blame the Dems for electing the demi-god (to his idolators) Donald Trump.
How refreshing to see patriotic leaders singing their anthem. Its good to see love of country. It reminds me when the US congress broke into tears at the sight of an Israeli flag and Nathan yahoo. As Nancy said, even if Congress is destroyed, our love for Israel will still be standing. OUr sacred land. Or something.
And poor little Miss NBA, sittting in the gulag. Its like she's a man without a country.
"Remember, Girl, that behind all these men... behind officers and government, and people even, there is the Country Herself, your Country, and that you belong to her as you belong to your own mother. Dunk on her, girl, as you would dunk on your mother...!"
Patrick said..
Brittany Griener, like all leftist scum, hate America until they need America.
Indeed. I don't want her to spend any time in prison. but perhaps a small stint will wise her up and give her some needed gratitude for her US citizenship. I doubt she is smart enough to make the connection between her beloved Washington Post party ideals - and how they parallel Russia and China's totalitarianism.
IRC, the Russian national anthem is just the old USSR anthem with different and better words. Anyway, its a stirring song.
The Jan 6th protesters still rotting in jail, were singing "God Bless America" every morning. To keep their spirits up.
Maybe Miss NBA can do the same.
Maybe she did it for money, maybe she did it to raise a metaphoric finger to all us deplorables...
It's amazing, the lengths some people will go to, to make themselves the aggrieved victim in literally any news story.
Since you asked, I'd prefer to have Barkie Obama singing the Russian national anthem every morning in a Russian penal colony.
"What does the Chinese National Anthem sound like?"
To Western ears, it's a little tsing-tsong.
My opinion is that the national anthem is grossly overplayed in the United States. Seems like every single sporting event (baseball, basketball, football anyway), regardless of importance merits a singing or playing of the anthem. High school and college graduations as well.These events are not "national" undertakings. Save the anthem for the Super Bowl, the World Heavyweight Championship, the World Series, and the NBA Finals, and it would have much more meaning.
Then the President could sing it occasionally, if he / she is up to it, and it would have an impact.
As for Putin, my limited exposure to him suggests he is a superb and exceedingly capable politician, far better than most of the Clown Crowd we labor under here. Russian culture, history, and politics is so vastly different from the Halcyon American experience, and Putin seems to be the right man for his country and his time.
singing Amazing Grace vs showing simple grace are 2 different things.
one needs to be without anger in both cases.
Q: which one defines a man?
Meh. I liked the Internationale better. Even “Deutschland uber Alles” was better...not sure if Hitler ever sang it.
Trump relies on the song "Proud to be an American," and that's unlike a national anthem because it's not about joining together as one and adulating government power.
The singer minimizes what he's getting from the country: "at least I know I'm free." And he's devoted to "just my children and my wife" and plans to work hard for them. He also honors those who've fought and died, specifically for this freedom.
Of course, our actual national anthem doesn't have much to do with the government. It's about the way the flag looks under different lighting conditions — battle and sunrise.
We only sing the first verse. Who knows what's in the other 3 verses? The second verse is a rewording of the first verse. The third verse is about killing British soldiers. The 4th verse credits God with the victory.
I wouldn’t be surprised that as part of the negotiations to trade for Griner, if at the last second, Putin’s final demand of Biden to seal the deal is that Biden must sing the Russian National anthem live on TV from the White House just before the prisoner swap. And considering how Biden has done a number of things to undermine and humiliate our country in the last 18 months, he would do it, just for Britney. C’mon, man!
Try rewriting "The Star-Spangled Banner" to insert the very un-anthem-y phrase "at least."
Can you at least see, by the dawn's early light,
What at least we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were at least streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof that at least our flag was still there;
O say is that star-spangled banner you see
O'er the land of the people who are at least free?
The point ought not to be Putin singing, but the crowd. Stalin abides!
Trump would have got Griener out awhile ago, assuming they even detained her in the first place.
The NBA schills for China and their female subsidiary is no better.
Let them pay Putin to spring her. $500 million.
The point ought not to be Putin singing, but the crowd. Stalin abides!
OTOH, I'm guessing Trump knows our anthem, Obama doesn't and QuidProJoe can't remember it.
HBTPFH said...
Obama is a fake Christian. How do I know? He picked a crook as his running mate and still supports that crook.
I will never get over the stupid reasoning that everyone is a crook except TFG.
But what we know for sure is that Biden lifted a speech given by Neil Kinnock back during the 1988 Presidential Primary and used it as his own. Who is Neil Kinnock? Google it if you don't know.
Beyond that, we have only the Trump acolyte "First Big Lie" version of Joe Biden given by Bannon, Giuliani, and their "friends" and cheered on by Trump.
As for Obama, he suddenly resigned after years of attending the all-black Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago after many controversial sermons by Rev. Jeremiah Wright and his weird substitute, Father Michael Pfleger, dived into the deepest waters of the leftist pool. And I'll bet you thought Obama was Muslim but only his daddy was.
Re: JamieRoberto:
The Star Spangled Banner is a tough song to sing well right from the start. I can't imagine a politician risking ridicule by giving it a try.
Agreed. The required range is quite big for a song ordinary people are actually supposed to sing -- about 1.5 octaves, which is enough that depending on the key, a lot of people (e.g. me) won't be able to reach all the notes. There are some normal songs (e.g. Jerusalem) with a similar range And there are some pretty huge leaps, particularly the leap to "and the rocket's red glare," where I, at least, would not be confident of hitting the right note. It's possible to fudge that by doing just that part one octave lower, but then the song ends up covering a full two octaves, which leaves basically no cushion for a normal person's vocal range.
For a national anthem, it's pretty awful. If you compare with God Save The King / Heil Dir im Siegerkranz / My Country Tis of Thee, the latter fits into just under an octave, and the biggest leap ("send him/her victorious") is about half an octave, much easier for normal people. Other anthems, like Vive Henri IV (one octave) or Kimigayo (one note over an octave) don't require quite so much range. On the other hand God Save Franz the Kaiser requires almost as much range as the Star Spangled Banner, so the US isn't alone in having a difficult anthem.
I know it's cheesy, but I like SCTVs version of the The Star Spangled Banner where they have Rick Moranis singing it as Mel Torme.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FceiU9DVPQ
Ann Althouse said...
Of course, our actual national anthem doesn't have much to do with the government. It's about the way the flag looks under different lighting conditions — battle and sunrise.
We only sing the first verse.
Thank goodness! Most singers, even a great many so-called professionals, don't have the vocal range to get through the damn thing - and after all, the crowd's interest is detectable when they provide the final words, "Play Ball!"
I'd be happy if Brittney Griner became the new Philip Nolan for the 21st Century. Nolan was the man without a country in Edward Everett Hale's story. Brittney doesn't like the USA--or at least the National Anthem. Nolan never set foot in the USA again after he was sentenced. Ms. Griner has 9 years in the Russian slammer to think about things. Of course Slow Joe will bail her out--can't leave a WNBA player to wither away in Russia. OTOH Joe doesn't seem to care much about other Americans locked up around the world--often for political reasons.
Brittney did the crime--the Russkis want her to do the time. Seems appropriate to me.
"Listening to a formal presentation of the Russian anthem, in spite of myself, I get chills. It's in the music. Look at the faces of the people, in that clip with Putin. It's reaching them deeply and merging them in shared resolve."
It's called patriotism.
Most people in this country don't know what that is.
You can look it up in the OED...
'My guess is that the photographer is biased in favor or pretty women and faces that display patriotic fervor.'
You should have seen the hotties in the stands at the World Cup : )
Putin can have you sent to prison for not appreciating his vocal skills.
Biden, not so much.
So perhaps there is a difference in response between the US and Russia towards our leadership.
Patriotism is the last vestige of a scoundrel.
Resolve to do what?
The most basic and powerful human drive a the biological level is acceptance with the tribe.
People fear being cast out and othered more than anything. For most of our time as a species it meant dying fairly soon afterwards.
The research showing the lengths people will go to to be accepted is a group is interesting.
Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
Conservatives seem to understand instinctively the value of culture and all those symbols, icons, and memes that make up healthy society while progressives don't appear to understand the concept and we dismiss these rituals and such at our peril.
Denmark is Denmark because it has Danes and Danes are Danes because they are united by a monarchy, history, special language, national religion, and folklore. Holger Dansk. Engineering pigs with a red stripe to copy the Danish flag. All these things are stupid on some level, and easy to mock, but they hold society together and people tend to be happier, and more efficient, in a such a culture. As we toss aside the old Declaration, Constitution, flag, anthem, etc., we are tossing society and not replacing anything. Well, we are united by our slave-based history, I guess. Maybe CRT can reunite us. Unified by hatred. Like Shiites and Sunnis.
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.
I actually like this better than the 1st verse. I love how unpatriotic AMericans are. Its why its such a clown country - and doomed to decline. Here's how it goes:
Topic: Patriotism
First Response: Y'know what I hate about the Star spangeled banner?
LOL! when are you Boomers going to understand it isn't 1968 anymore. You're pushing back against air. You're subverting a phantom. There is no country. There is no patriotism. You won. Are you happy?
Let's see. The Russian national anthem sings about the Fatherland, but it is usually known as Mother Russia?
This whole gender identity thing is really confusing.
My wife and I were in the Russian Federation 6 years ago this August. Spent a week in Saint Petersburg, then took a train to Moscow for another week. Our first night in Moscow there was a big concert on Red Square. We didn't have tickets, but walked as close as we could get, and I will never forget the huge crowd singing their national anthem. It gave me chills and almost made me cry, even though I didn't know the words. The people there were so kind. My last day in Moscow I got broadsided by a bicyclist when leaving Gorky Park (no bike paths there). Literally knocked me out for a few seconds. Several young Russians rushed to my aid, called an ambulance (it was free), I was then treated by a paramedic on scene and released.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, I was hoping that America could form a much better relationship with the Russian Federation, an alliance against China and the radical Muslim countries. Maybe once this Ukraine mess is cleared up it can happen. All the Russians we met, even the soldiers and everyday people, were friendly and helpful.
It is a soul stirring song and that's beautiful video footage of the heartfelt looks of those in the crowd singing patriotically. It actually reminded me of something Obama said about everybody thinking their own country is special.
The Star Spangled Banner is difficult to sing because the range is 1.6 octaves, which is a challenge to most casual singers. A key suitable for an average casual vocal range is too high for a singer with a low range and too low for a singer of a higher range. I do appreciate the words, but I much prefer to hear it performed by a military band rather than sung. "America the Beautiful" has some advantages over SSB as a US National Anthem.
The "Happy Birthday" song is often sung by groups and is much easier because it is only one octave in range. The copyright on "Happy Birthday" was disallowed several years ago. It can now be sung in restaurants and at public events without a fee to the copyright owners. Marilyn Monroe likely violated the copyright when she publicly sang it to JFK.
lonejustice @134pm is obviously a Putin plant!
Don't go tryin' to peddle that thar pigswaller around here.
We got folks can spot a Putin-symp from miles away.
The national anthem would be a start. Followed by the Declaration, the Constitution, and federal statutes, and proceeding with their State counterparts in context.
Patriotism is the last vestige of a scoundrel.L
Refuge...last refuge.
If Putin is worried about losing a Black lesbian foreign woman, we could always give him KJP.
I suspect if he could get away with it Putin would change the lyrics back to Stalin's version but without mentioning Stalin.
Wikipedia sez: A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or territory. A nation is thus the collective identity of a group of people understood as defined by those features.
That sounds like Russia.
What we have in USA is almost the opposite. A bunch of mongrels, disconnected from all the other half breeds residing here.
"Would we Americans want a President who would sing our national anthem . . . ?" "Would" or "could"? Yes, the SSB is tough to sing, but anyone can do it in a crowd -- you just take a deep breath in the hard parts. But anyone who aspires to lead this country should be willing to stand up before the world and sing "Oh say can you see, by the dawn's early light . . . ." And mean it. Shameless patriotism ought to be the minimum qualification for our Presidency.
As found on the CD, "Music to be Liquidated By."
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