A Song for All Seasons; L. Linford

LLOYDJ. LINFORD on!} lor all gea90n9 01 say can you see by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming . ... RING familiar? It should, for that is the opening of what is probably the. most "played" song in America, and perhaps in all history. How about it? Can you fill in the rest of the words? The number of Americans who stumble trying to do so might surprise you. American officialdom dillydallied for many years over the question of a national anthem. It was not until.1931-some 155 years after the Declaration of Independence that Congress put its official stamp of approval on "The Star-Spangled Banner." President Herbert AHoover signed the measure into law on March 3, 1931. Critics of Francis Scott Key's classic - and there have been some over the years - say that Congress still acted hastily and unwisely. Mr. Linford, now free lancing, worked many years in various phases of the newspaper and publishing business.

They contend that further consid eration might have resulted in the selection of a more appropriate song as the symbol of the nation's heartbeat. The tune's wide vocal range makes it difficult to sing, they claim, and its belligerent yet ob scure message is out of step with modern tastes and needs. The on coming generation, we ar.e jok ingly told, finds the song so closely identified with football games and the like that it is regarded as some kind of· a sports tune. Defenders of the anthem agree ,vith some of the shortcomings 388 THE FREEMAN July cited, but insist that it serves the nation adequately and well, and that its enormous prestige and worldwide familiarity preclude any serious thoughts of change. To them, junking "The Star Spangled Banner" would be like destroying a vital part of the na tion itself, and therefore is un thinkable. The silent majority we hear so much about these da.ys ha,sn't been heard from lately, but silence in this case can only signify at least a certain satisfaction with the status quo.

The fact is, Congress hesitated to act as long as it did simply because of doubts and uncertain ties as to the best selection. Many efforts to force legislative action over the years came to naught. A whole series of bills on the subject were allowed to die in committee, with scarcely a hearing, unt.il tha,t august assemblage finally decided to act and gave the United States of America at long last an official national anthem. Despite obvious reluctance in high places, there was little real room for doubt as to what the selection would be. When Congress finally acted, it was only recogniz ing and confirming the obvious. For Francis Scott Key's patriotic song had held the honor, in prac tice and spirit if not in fact, for a half-century or more and had been a favorite of the people ever since 1814 when it was composed. Making It Offic;al History strongly suggests that "The Star-Spangled Banner" had the inside track almost from the time it first took the young and shaky nation by storm during the War of 1812. Within. a matter of days after Key was inspired to wax poetic about the successful defense of Fort McHenry against the British, the song was a popu lar hit with the American public, and it was soon being played and sung all over the country.

The tune, which had been bor rowed from a British ballad, was already well-known and popular, and the fiery lyrics inspired the hard-pressed patriots to new heights of national pride and dedi cation. "The Star-Spangled Banner's" popularity never waned, even when time began to blur the image of its ardent message. It. became and remained THE song for patriotic occasions, sometimes sharing the honor with other favorites but! seemingly always holding its own. The song moved importantly toward official status in the 1890's when Army and Navy regulations were amended to require that it be used as the national anthem at appropriate functions. President Woodrow Wilson reaffirmed this 1970 A SONG FOR ALL SEASONS 389 requirement in 1916 as the nation strived for stature among world powers and inched toward involve ment in World War I. Thus. it was little more than a formality 15 years later when Congress and President Hoover made the selection official.

Other Candidates Other popularly-acclaimed songs were available - several, in fact. But serious challengers to the su premacy of "The Star-Spangled Banner" seemed to suffer handi caps that worked against them. The old favorite "America" (My country, 'tis of thee) , for instance, has been widely heralded for its hymn-like melody and tranquil lyrics ever since it was written in 1832. But the fact that the tune was the same as that of the Brit ish national anthem, "God Save the King," tended to lessen its chances of becoming the official anthem of this country. Should this have made a differ ence? Perhaps not. But it did make a difference, especially to .. Americans of an earlier day who more than once felt the sting of hostile British barbs and power. The melody of the song in ques tion, incidentally, at one time or another has been copied and used by as many as 20 other nations, and historians are in doubt as to its exact origins. Samuel Francis Smith, who wrote the words to "America," for example, first found the tune in an old German song book, unaware of any British claims to it at the time.