Sweet Freedom's Song: "My Country 'Tis of Thee" and Democracy in AmericaAlthough it isn't the official national anthem, America may be the most important and interesting patriotic song in our national repertoire. Sweet Freedom's Song: "My Country 'Tis of Thee" and Democracy in America is a celebration and critical exploration of the complicated musical, cultural and political roles played by the song America over the past 250 years. Popularly known as My Country 'Tis of Thee and as God Save the King/Queen before that this tune has a history as rich as the country it extols. In Sweet Freedom's Song, Robert Branham and Stephen Hartnett chronicle this song's many incarnations over the centuries. Colonial Americans, Southern slaveowners, abolitionists, temperance campaigners and labor leaders, among others, appropriated and adapted the tune to create anthems for their own struggles. Because the song has been invoked by nearly every grassroots movement in American history, the story of America offers important insights on the story of democracy in the United States. An examination of America as a historical artifact and cultural text, Sweet Freedoms Song is a reflection of the rebellious spirit of Americans throughout our nations history. The late Robert James Branham and his collaborator, Stephen Hartnett, have produced a thoroughly-researched, delightfully written book that will appeal to scholars and patriots of all stripes. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 42
Page 5
... sung, every time we find ourselves awash in a sea of "vibrating notes" filling the air with sound, we listen beyond the song, thus hearing not so much the song itself, trite and simple, but the promise of democracy, grand and complex ...
... sung, every time we find ourselves awash in a sea of "vibrating notes" filling the air with sound, we listen beyond the song, thus hearing not so much the song itself, trite and simple, but the promise of democracy, grand and complex ...
Page 7
... sung to the tune of the 'President's March' and served unofficially as the national anthem."9 Written by Joseph Hopkins, "Hail Columbia," "swept the country, arousing fervent patriotic emotions."10 Along with "Yankee Doodle," which ...
... sung to the tune of the 'President's March' and served unofficially as the national anthem."9 Written by Joseph Hopkins, "Hail Columbia," "swept the country, arousing fervent patriotic emotions."10 Along with "Yankee Doodle," which ...
Page 10
... sung. God save Cotton, our King! God save our noble King! God save the King! Send him the sway he craves, Britons his willing slaves, "Rule," Cotton! "Rule the waves!" God save the King! Later verses (see appendix A) decry the hypocrisy ...
... sung. God save Cotton, our King! God save our noble King! God save the King! Send him the sway he craves, Britons his willing slaves, "Rule," Cotton! "Rule the waves!" God save the King! Later verses (see appendix A) decry the hypocrisy ...
Page 12
... sung today as a damning lullaby for those who justify labor relations in much of the world that amount to little more than slavery. Indeed, given the fact that America's military and economic interests now straddle the globe, patriotism ...
... sung today as a damning lullaby for those who justify labor relations in much of the world that amount to little more than slavery. Indeed, given the fact that America's military and economic interests now straddle the globe, patriotism ...
Page 13
... sung since 1744 and has thus accrued a deep and resonant series of voicings, all offering nuanced versions not only of what it means to love your nation, but of how patriotism has always been the subject of heated contestation. Indeed ...
... sung since 1744 and has thus accrued a deep and resonant series of voicings, all offering nuanced versions not only of what it means to love your nation, but of how patriotism has always been the subject of heated contestation. Indeed ...
Contents
3 | |
14 | |
The Subordination of the Different Parts and Voices Popularizing America through Grassroots Activism 18261850 | 45 |
Bombast Fraud Deception Impiety and Hypocrisy in the Dark Land of Slavery 18301859 | 86 |
Teach Us True Liberty America in the Civil War and Reconstruction 18611869 | 119 |
Reforming the Sweet Land of Knavery America and Political Protest 18701932 | 163 |
America God Save the Queen and Postmodernity | 197 |
Sixteen Versions of God Save the King and My Country Tis of Thee Organized Chronologically 17441891 | 205 |
Selective List of Alternative American Versions of God Save the King and America 17591900 | 221 |
Notes | 229 |
Index | 259 |
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Common terms and phrases
abolitionists activists Address African American America anthem antislavery appeal appropriation argued audience bands Beecher Book Boston British cause celebrations century ceremonies Church Civil claims collection cultural demonstrate early efforts emancipation example expressed fact figure Fourth of July freedom gathered George God Save hand History hundred Hymn important Independence James John join Journal Jubilee July Fourth Labor land later Liberator liberty Lincoln March Mason mass means meetings melody moral movement national songs observed occasion opening organizations original patriotic performed played political popular Press printed produced promises published quoted reform reprinted rhetorical sang Save the King sense singing slavery slaves Smith’s social Society soldiers South speeches Street suffrage sung temperance thousand tion Tis of Thee tune Union United University University Press verse voice women’s writes York
Popular passages
Page 64 - My native country! thee, Land of the noble free, Thy name I love; I love thy rocks and rills, Thy woods and templed hills; My heart with rapture thrills, .Like that above.
Page 104 - But such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you has brought stripes...
Page 205 - King, Long live our noble King, God save the King. Send him victorious, Happy and glorious, Long to reign over us: God save the King!
Page 106 - BY THE rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
Page 210 - tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty, Of thee I sing : Land where my fathers died ! Land of the Pilgrim's pride From every mountain side Let Freedom ring ! My native country, thee, Land of the noble free, Thy name I love...
Page 88 - I am in earnest — I will not equivocate — I will not excuse — I will not retreat a single inch— AND I WILL BE HEARD.
Page 126 - GOD bless our native land ; Firm may she ever stand, Through storm and night ; When the wild tempests rave, Ruler of wind and wave, Do thou our country save By thy great might ! 2 For her our prayer shall rise To God above the skies ; On him we wait.
Page 102 - To him your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass-fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy — a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a...
Page 9 - This order is now bound to the technical and economic conditions of machine production which today determine the lives of all the individuals who are born into this mechanism, not only those directly concerned with economic acquisition, with irresistible force.