Canada. The United States' northern neighbor. Home to a beautiful and very singable national anthem, "O Canada". When I hear "O Canada", I always wonder why we adopted such a singer-unfriendly national anthem. I do not mean to be unpatriotic. I respect our national anthem, stand correctly (unlike many) when it is performed, and sing with gusto when I am supposed to sing along. But, if there was ever a devilish melody to sing, it is our national anthem. I did a little research into "The Star-Spangled Banner" and discovered that we have a Brit to blame for the disjointed melody. The Brits have long been a fly in America's ointment, since the 1700's, and now we will forever have to live with their musical legacy whenever we sing our national anthem.
It is widely known that Francis Scott Key is responsible for "The Star-Spangled Banner", but I, mistakenly, thought he wrote both the lyrics and music. The original poem, written by Key in 1814, was titled "Defence of Fort McHenry", after he witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry by British Royal Navy ships during the War of 1812. Key's poem was later set to the melody (by whom I could not discover) of a popular British song written by one John Stafford Smith, for the Anacreontic Society, a men's social club in London. "The Anacreontic Song" was already popular in America when it became "married" to Key's poem, "Defence of Fort McHenry". All I can say is that there had to have been a pub crawl involved somewhere in the joining of Key's poem to Smith's melody.
Back to Canada. While Canada has given the world some remarkable things, right now, what the country is sending the U.S. is some cold Canadian air. The temperature has dropped a good fifteen to twenty degrees in the last two hours AND a strong and stiff Canadian blast of wind is accompanying the cold air. While others are cursing Canada right now, I am relishing the absence of heat and humidity. Besides, were it not for Canada, the world would not have had Wayne Gretzky, fabulous chocolate, some very funny comedians, maple syrup to die for, geese, and, most importantly, bacon.
Oh, Canada! I am forever grateful!
Ancora imparo
