Robert Fryar
Prof. Santos
1st Year Sem
February 8th 2019

The National Anthem In All It’s Glory: 

first week of February

So far I feel like I am enjoying this class and am starting to learn a few things along the way. Albeit, I only was only able to attend one of the two classes this week due to sudden back pains I feel like I learned plenty from the first class. I was unaware of the fact that the portion of the national anthem that we listen and recite is actually only one fourth of the entire piece. It makes sense as to why we only really know that portion because of the negative message towards the black soldiers who sided with the british. To be totally honest I had no idea and it kind of fits poorly in my stomach. I understand that it is about the war and they were on the british side but I do not really blame black or generally people of color for feeling off put by the part of the anthem that we do not hear. I also found it interesting the different spins people can put on similar songs about america whether it be the country song, the national anthem or a protest song at woodstock. I thought the Jimi Hendrix version of the national anthem was very interesting mostly because he was playing the most patriotic song in a less than patriotic way. The national anthem is a song in which it shows a great pride in what it means to be an american however the origins of the song itself is somewhat tricky.