Cobb: Spangled Music

July 04, 2004

Spangled Music

Oh say can you see any music for me? Putting together a CD for the day, I discovered that among those of us independent enough to share music, Hendrix, Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey outnumber the USMC Band by a factor of about 20 to 1.

There's not nearly enough Sousa out there to satisfy anyone, and the quality is dodgy. Thank goodness for the Boston Pops. There seems to be plenty of Ray Charles, and a raft of stuff that says 9/11. There's about 45 people ahead of me in line to get Frank Sinatra's version of America the Beautiful but I did get Elvis.

There's a bunch of Lee Greenwood & Billy Ray Cyrus and even though I prefer the independence of Johnny Cash I can spare some room for those Americans. I've got a great recording of Taps followed by the Star Spangled Banner when you can clearly hear the click in the vinyl. Nice touch, although unintentional.

Where on earth is Kate Smith?

Posted by mbowen at July 4, 2004 10:52 AM

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Comments

how could you miss marvin gaye's la performance?

Posted by: Lester Spence at July 4, 2004 02:47 PM

I listened to that today. I hate it. I'm surprised that I do but I do.

Posted by: cobb at July 5, 2004 11:26 AM

For me the music is almost secondary; it is remarkably unsingable by the average Joe or Josephine. The words are the real message, and if a performer can "hook up" emotionally with me, in spite of the angular melody, that's what I want to hear.

Too bad so many Anthem singers insist on embellishments making this difficult song even more virtuosic; to do so gets in the way of the lyrical line, and misses the whole point.

Posted by: True_Liberal at July 5, 2004 12:16 PM