national anthem was Re: [Shotimes] New Mustang commercial

[John Stout]

Art is open to interpretation ???  Spouting crap like that is the mentality that the flag can be art and therefore by your reasoning it can be subject to interpretation. That will get your ass whooped in most parts of the Country.  I may not think about buying every "Artist" a drink, but I damn sure try and buy one for the Protectors of MY FREEDOMS, and if it wasn't for them we sure as hell would not be discussing this.

Ian Fisher <dataflash@yahoo.com> wrote:While I tend to agree that a country's national anthem
should not be used for commercialization (in this
instance, an ad for a new Mustang) I do feel that the
ad was very creative and it did get the point across
very well that the Mustang is "America's car". Whether
or not you agree with that sentiment is another story.
I know I couldn't post this on a Vette forum and get
away without getting flamed (not that I care). Perhaps
I am walking the double standard line; the Mustang
commercial itself did not offend me but if Victoria's
Secret used it to sell bras I may find the choice of
music a bit "off". (I'd probably turn off the sound
and watch it anyway.)

One point I wanted to address after discussing it with
a list member privately was how the Star Spangled
Banner has been performed over the years. Although I
may not like every single rendition that I have heard,
I feel that a national anthem first starts off as a
song (in this case a poem) and therefore is art. Art
in my mind is always open to interpretation. Art that
is performed is always open to the interpretation of
the performer. We may not always like the
interpretation but that is an aside. As a musician I
know how many different ways a single song can be sung
or performed. As a child, I competed in many piano
competitions against other people my age. In most
cases, we all performed the same song; most of the
students were taught by different teachers. It was
amazing how different each song sounded; I always
thought that my rendition was the most correct but
that was only because that was the rendition that I
was used to hearing. 

After doing some research on the Star Spangled Banner
itself, I found some interesting facts. Most of us
know that it was written by Francis Scott Key after
the attack on Fort McHenry in the war of 1812.
Obviously Key did not have an orchestra with him when
he jotted his poem down so it wasn't immediately put
to music. When he had come close to finalizing it, his
brother in law suggested that he put the lyrics to the
tune of a popular English drinking song called "To
Anacreon in Heaven". I also saw a reference that "To
Anacreon in Heaven" was somehow related to the
national anthem of Luxembourg but I don't yet
understand that connection. 

I also found it interesting that the entire anthem is
usually not performed as it was originally written. 

All of these wonderful factoids can be viewed at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star-Spangled_Banner

My point is that the Star Spangled Banner as we know
it now as evolved through time and isn't even the same
song that Key envisioned (if he even envisioned one)
when he wrote it. There is nothing that says that the
national anthem is set in stone and can only be
performed a certain way. As a musician and a self
proclaimed artist of sorts, I find this concept
important to the advancement of culture and society.
If we become stagnant and close our minds to other
forms of expression (I'm not saying that anyone here
said that) than what are we to become?

Ian




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John Stout
90 Titanium (Cone Killer) Back to everyday duty
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People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.  Orwell


















		
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