pudge's Journal: Spanish Star-Spangled Banner

I've heard several people say the Spanish version of the Star-Spangled Banner means the same thing as the English version.

If this were true, I'd have virtually no problem with it. The fact, however, that it virtually eliminates references to the actual events witnessed by Francis Scott Key -- that is, you know, the whole point of the anthem -- means I have a huge problem with it.

There's nothing in there about rockets or bombs or, most importantly, the fact that the flag still waving was a sign the fight was not yet over.

And, worse, this important feature of the Star-Spangled Banner is replaced by a call to continue to "fight on" and "march toward liberty." Now, there's nothing wrong with those things, but they seem to be an expression of contemporaneousness that is missing from the Star-Spangled Banner, which is all about what happened before and the hope it provided at the time. To turn that into an explicit call for civil action today perverts it.

Also, the fact that it is called "Our Anthem," which is a way segregating people by language even further, so they have their National Anthem and we have Our Anthem, is more than a little disturbing.

The fact that it is in Spanish bothers me the least of all the bothersome things about it. It's that it is changed significantly and is being used to cause more separation and division is what is dangerous about it.

Bah...

[Jhon]

It bothers me a bit. Mostly the use of the anthem to further a cause which ignores US sovereignty and asks us not to enforce laws that are strictly enforced in their nations of origin by their home governments.

It's not like WE haven't monkeyed around with another nations tunes in our past... such as My Country, 'Tis of Thee vs. God Save the Queen/King. Or took Beethoven's 5th (a symbol of German nationalism/pride) and used it as a symbol of victory against Nazi Germany. However, usually we just took ins

Indeed.

[pokeyburro]

Its language didn't bother me, either. In fact, if I saw our anthem done in ten languages, with the lyrics' meaning made as close as possible to the original while making compromises to fit the melody, I'd think that was pretty neat, and illustrative of something distinctly American.

Extra points if ten people could sing all the versions together, and have it sound like a harmonious whole.

When I heard about this anthem for the very first time, this in fact was the impression I had - that it was a strict tra

load of crap

[robi2106]

I read those stories as well adn thought .... well that is a good idea... until I read the title. Then I knew they were trying to screw with it for political purposes and had no intention of actually making a spanish version of the US National Anthem. Pathetic.

jason