[Rhodes22-list] Drugs, Fex, and Rock 'n Roll

Steve Alm salm at mn.rr.com
Thu Feb 5 15:03:43 EST 2004


Bill,

Good research, and no, I can't sing the subsequent 3 (or 4?) stanzas from
memory.  A note about Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land," there's a
"lost verse" that MAY have been written by him or it could have been his
son, Arlo.  It goes like this:

As I was walking, I saw a sign there,
And on the sign, it said No Tresspassin'
But on the other side, it didn't say nothin'
THAT side was made for you and me.

Ya gotta love it!  A verse about a legal loophole has to be American as
apple pie.  8-)

Slim

On 2/5/04 10:26 AM, "Bill Effros" <bill at effros.com> wrote:

> Tom,
> 
> I don't know if I'm answering your question.
> 
> The music had been around for 50 some odd years.  Key wrote his poem to match
> the meter of the music in 18...14 (thank you, Google, thank you).  The poem
> probably would have been forgotten (the subject matter certainly has been--it
> was about the British Invasion of 1812, it was not about the Revolutionary War
> as most people assume--look at coverage of 9/11--"The first time a war has
> been fought on our own shores..." etc.)  had it not been for the music.  The
> only stanza somewhat remembered is the first.  Slim, can you sing it all the
> way through--from memory?
> 
> Anyhow, it did not become "The National Anthem" until 1931.  There was a
> dispute at the time about whether it was appropriate for us to use a bawdy
> British drinking song as our National Anthem.
> 
> "My Country T'is of Thee" was also suggested, but rejected because it used the
> same music as the British National Anthem, "God Save the Queen".
> 
> Many people felt "America the Beautiful" would have been a better choice
> because both words and music were of American origin, it was easy to sing, it
> did not have a military theme, it was a very positive and inspirational song
> that encompassed the whole country -- "from sea to shining sea".
> 
> "God Bless America" (in the form popularized by Kate Smith) and "This Land is
> Your Land" were both written after Congress decided "The Star Spangled Banner"
> would be the National Anthem.
> 
> Bill
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: SVTRITON at aol.com
> To: rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org
> Sent: Thursday, February 05, 2004 9:00 AM
> Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Drugs, Fex, and Rock 'n Roll
> 
> 
> bill
> im confused..whatever happened to francis scott key 's poem
> tom
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