James Burke Classic : US National Anthem is Drinking Song

[aeternusero]

haha, we sing an English drinking song. hahaha, somehow they still win



[WickedStick39]

how about put the lyrics side by side you unbiased raggamuffin, all americans have heard english accents in movies thats it

[WickedStick39]

WE JUST KICKED YOUR FUCKIN ASS!!!! ill drink to that

[astalivista121]

hahah yankee wankers .. you guys are funny ..

[BeerGogglesReviews]

The fore-fathers loved a beer. That's why they took a detour and landed early. They ran out of beer.

[jagdpanther1944]

I just thought of a good idea for Britain's Got Talent.....

[narbagepl0x]

no god damn it, our anthem is set to the tune of the tune of an english drinking song

[VodkaAce]

Actually the Anacreontic Society was an 18th-century gentlemen's club of amateur musicians in London, who regularly got together to perform concerts. Although they very well could have got together to drink on occasion that was hardly the purpose of their group.

To Anacreon in Heaven is not even the title of the song, it's merely the opening line, as to which it was refereed to.

The group was composed mostly from well to do professionals-doctors, lawyers etc...

[VodkaAce]

Not to be picky but as an American I seem to know more about the history behind this club and the history of the song then whatever English lad put this video together..Although I am sure the purpose of the video, to put down America and the creation of and origin of the Star spangled Banner is quite clear....

[yerk3]

@VodkaAce LOL! Anything that questions your sentimental myths about this country's founding is "putting down America" to you. Honesty is better than a million teary eyes or a migration of stomach butterflies. We live in a country initially colonized by a theocratic extremist sect, built by the slave trade, expanded by the longest genocide in history. Stealing an English drinking song is the least of our sins.

[RussianAlfonso]

@VodkaAce the song was a drinking song! Even if the Anacreontic Society wasn't specifically a "drinking club," it was certainly sung for that purpose in America. The song doesn't even have an official title, that's why the first line is sometimes used for that purpose. For someone who supposedly knows the history, you seem bent on distorting it.

[SoundWave4000]

@VodkaAce Gotta say, I like Wikipedia myself! xD

[VodkaAce]

@SoundWave4000

no actually I just have studied American history, specifically the 18th and 19th centuries and the Revolutionary war for over 15 years now...

Nothing I said is a secret. All one has to do is take a few minutes to research it.

Something that the creator of this video should have done

[SoundWave4000]

@VodkaAce I don't think he had google mate! (unlike some) ROFLOL!!!

[CassandraTroy]

Actually the Anacreontic Society was a club of amateur musicians who regularly got together to perform concerts. The purpose of the club and the song was to promote a greater appreciation of music, not drinking, so it's unlikely they sang it drunkenly or off key. Don't let the facts get in the way of a good story though.

[RussianAlfonso]

@CassandraTroy When it reached America, it was sung in taverns for entertainment while drinking. The Anacreotic Society never performed this song in concerts, they only sang it informally in pubs. You seem to underestimate the value American colonists placed on tavern socializing.

[OnceAlwaysMarine]

Another great post from the host of an even greater television show! Man, I miss "Connections"! One of the best shows I've ever had the pleasure of watching. It was the kind of show that television SHOULD be.

IMHO.

[SoundWave4000]

As regards the original song....it's great to see it got turned into something more useful!

@OnceAlwaysMarine Thank you very much for mentioning "connections", I am trying to find more about it, and thanks to YT and the users....I can.....what a GREAT show....I wish they bring it back or make anew!

[USASSB4ever]

Thank you for posting this. I've known for some 50 years that the music of our National Anthem started out as a drinking ditty. What I've never did, was hear it performed. I also know that the real who-what-when-why of how Mr. Key's poem got put to this music (with some changes I see now) is a mystery just as deep as who really designed what we call our National Flag.

Thanks for putting this very educational item up.

[JamesBurkeWeb]

You're welcome!

I guess you also noticed that the lyrics are printed out in the video description. And they're quite funny IMHO ;)

- JBW

[sploggon]

@USASSB4ever The Washington family coat of arms,Stars and Stripes,

Northamptonshire ... Fawsley Parish Church - The Church of St Mary ... coat of arms upon which the American flag, the 'Stars and Stripes', is undoubtedly based.

[dondonp12004]

Fascinating. Yes, our national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner" is set to the tune of "The Anacreonetic Song." Either way, I find first verse to that, your national anthem "O Canada" and the British national anthem "God Save the Queen," also your royal anthem, so darn easy to sing IMHO. Thanks for uploading! Greetings from "the land of the free and the home of the brave" that is the United States of America.

[JamesBurkeWeb]

I just thought it was funny. The Canadian one, man... just terrible (as I guess I already said). Anyway, I consider myself a citizen of this planet and maintain my nationality merely for convenience (ie. a passport to anywhere); just dumb luck really. Were I born in Cambodia my passport would be something I'd desperately want to get rid of.

BTW. Their anthem, even though I live in Cambodia, is unknown to me. They're not very nationalistic (unlike the Thais say) and I'm not surprised!

- JBW

[gcaw79]

I never knew that it was originally a drinking song,but it's not a surprise as drinking is our national passtime!! The composer was from Gloucester which is where I live.But at least your National Anthem is unique to your country,Liechtenstein has the same National Anthem as Britain which is strange.

[JamesBurkeWeb]

I'm from Canada actually. The national anthem of Canada is pretty boring and definitely not very inspiring. Which... I guess pretty much sums up the country ;)

- JBW

[B21983]

Actually James, I think O Canada is a beautiful and stirring anthem.

[JamesBurkeWeb]

Just so you know... I am not actually James Burke. I think the channel name often confuses people... it used to be called "JamesBurkeFan" but I closed that channel (for reasons I needn't go into here) so I couldn't reuse that name when I rebuilt it. So I substituted "Web" for "Fan" thinking, at the time, that it sounded appropriate given the knowledge web and all that.

I guess it wasn't!

- JBW

[lindenmeadow]

This is part of the reason why some have suggested that our national anthem should be changed, along with the fact that (so some say) the tune sometimes even gives opera singers trouble. Thus, it's been suggested that we choose "America the Beautiful" as our anthem. I love "To Anacreon in Heaven, though obviously some familiarity with Greek mythology is necessary to understand the lyrics.

[JamesBurkeWeb]

Haha... I don't think any familiarity with Greek mythology should be necessary to understand these lyrics (written by a Brit anyway, and Anacreon was certainly no mythical figure!).

- JBW

[lindenmeadow]

True, Anacreon was a real person. But I had to do a little research to find out the signifcance of the some of the references in the song, such as about Apollo spreading his laurels. But it's really a humorous song... and to think our national anthem is based on that tune! ;-) But thanks for posting this piece. We Americans really need to be educated about such matters!

[JamesBurkeWeb]

Yes, good point. There are a few references in there that aren't familiar to everyone. The episode from which this snippet comes is absolutely hilarious, all the way through (C³ episode 5, Eye believe - "Life is no Picnic" - and why, I hear you ask, do I say Eye? Because 'I' looks just like '1' !).

- JBW

[lindenmeadow]

"Eye" think you have a point there! ;-)