Our Great Pantheist Epic

Paul Harvey

Here's a belated 4th of July post -- little power outage around here cut off my internet access so we're a little behind on posting. Anyway, in honor of the 4th, what better than Bruce Springsteen doing "This Land Is Your Land," the-song-that-should-be-our-national-anthem. "America the Beautiful" would also be a great national anthem, especially since it was inspired by my local landmark Pike's Peak, honors land, and the latter verses hail both "liberty" and "law." Either one of those would be great, and I'd put my hand over heart every time -- just ANYTHING but the unsingable, militaristic, bombast/drinking song we're stuck with presently.


And this one's for you too, Professor Fea. And for our national parks, under significant threats according to a just-released report which also recommends a number of actions to forestall their possible decline.





Comments

Matt Hedstrom said…
Agreed entirely about our horrible current anthem. Downloaded Ray Charles singing America the Beautiful yesterday. The seldom-sung later verse are fantastic.
M.E.Martin said…
Thanks for this belated and ever relevant post, Paul! And I'd forgotten about Carl Lewis's ...uh-oh. :) I have heard Ray Charles's rendition of America the Beautiful. Beautiful indeed. AND didn't know that about Woody Guthrie's response... another new thing learned today....wow. :)
Paul Harvey said…
Margaret Ellen! Thanks for checking in. In your honor and in remembrance of way too many wasted quarters (or was it dimes?) on the Pizza Hut jukebox, i'll suggest a third alternative besides "This Land" and "Am. the Beautiful." That, of course, would be "If Heaven Ain't a Lot Like Dixie (I Don't Want to Go)." It's as tuneless and jingoistic as the Star-Spangled Banner, but at least it's funny.
Christopher said…
... "Just send me to hell, or New York City. It'd be about the same to me!"
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I don't think I'd ever heard Springsteen's version of "This Land," Paul. Great stuff.

Also, our Mormon congregation sang The Star-Spangled Banner in lieu of a hymn on Sunday. Needless to say, I excused myself.

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