"Star Spangled Banner" concert. 6 p.m. Sunday. First Baptist Church of Decatur, 308 Clairmont Ave., Decatur. decaturcivicchorus.org.
Oh, say can you siiiiiing, all those long drawn-out words?
What so loooooudly you howl, at each stan-za’s weak end-ing?
Whose high notes and …
OK, enough. With apologies to Francis Scott Key, this lame spoof on the national anthem he wrote underscores a musical fact: "The Star-Spangled Banner" is a much-mangled challenge. The passage of two centuries hasn't made it any easier to sing, either.
On Sept. 14, 1814, Key wrote a poem that became the song now synonymous with sporting events across the country. The 200th anniversary of that day is Sunday.
To honor the anthem's bicentennial, the Decatur Civic Chorus, Chorale II and the choir of First Baptist Church of Decatur will perform the old song, plus other patriotic standards. The show will take place at 6 p.m. Sunday in the church sanctuary in downtown Decatur. It's free, but donations are welcome. All money raised at the performance will be given to the Wounded Warrior Project.
Come one, come all, but be warned: The program calls for some audience participation.
You can thank James T. McRaney for this concert. A retired music educator, McRaney is the founder and director of Chorale II, a chorus comprising former music students and others who like to make a joyful noise.
“I thought there needed to be some sort of celebration in Atlanta” to commemorate the song’s anniversary, McRaney said.
Then he got the April issue of the Choral Journal, the American Choral Directors Association’s monthly magazine. It contained an article about choral groups across the country combining forces to sing the anthem on its 200th birthday.
McRaney got busy. He contacted Mary Anne Sharp, who directs the Decatur chorus. Why not sing together? She said OK. Then they recruited Peggy Ray, who directs First Baptist’s church choir. Suddenly, they had about 150 voices, ready to sing.
The song is worth the effort, Sharp said. She’s directed the civic chorus for 55 years, and the “Star-Spangled Banner” is one of her all-time favorites. Sharp takes issue with people who don’t try to hit the high notes, or get the words wrong. She once wrote former U.S. Rep. John Linder, suggesting he sponsor legislation specifying how the song should be sung. He declined, politely.
“But he did write back,” she said. “I have this real thing about ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ being maligned.”
The song does stir passions, said Scott Dorsey, director of education and communication for the American Choral Directors Association. The concert in Decatur is one of "scores being performed all over the country," he said. "Scores. And that's not intended as a pun."
The song highlights a tense time in the United States. Our young nation was embroiled in the War of 1812, and things weren’t going so well. The British, no doubt smarting from the whomping we gave them a few decades earlier in the War for Independence, were pressing the U.S. on several fronts. British frigates prowled shipping lanes. British soldiers had taken Detroit. Not long after that, our capital fell to them.
Then, on Sept. 13, 1814, British forces began shelling Baltimore’s Fort McHenry. Key, like others, watched the bombs bursting in air. He fretted at the rockets’ red glare. The barrage lasted 25 hours.
When the sun rose Sept. 14, he saw the flag — our flag — waving over the bruised fort. A lawyer and poet, Key was so moved by the sight that he scribbled words that have become immortal.
He originally called his four-stanza work "Defense of Fort McHenry." That was a crummy name. When a music store published the poem under the title "Star-Spangled Banner," we were given a title for the ages. The song became our official national anthem in 1931.
For better or worse, it's still sung to the tune of an old drinking song — a British song.
Take that, mate!
