Interesting things happen under duress don’t they?
I’ve never really spent much time learning the Star Spangled Banner. You know, the song that is the national anthem for America. Yet I’ve recently been presented with an offer that requires me to put some time in on the song. Thus this morning while preparing to do a bunch of recording for a sports song I penned, I’ve been figuring out a key and set of chords to do the Star Spangled Banner with.
Usually when I do a cover version I like to modify the song pretty drastically to make it more ‘mine’. With a national anthem it’s a tad tough. Especially with a song like the Star Spangled Banner which has a pretty big range for the average singer. Then mix it with the fact that I could not dig up a definitive chord arrangement as penned by Francis Scott Key. It could be that Key never did write chords but rather only words that he then put to the melody of a popular British drinking song. Gotta love that.
There’s also the fact that there are four stanzas to the thing. However we usually only hear the first one. Sadly, I’m going to bet most Americans probably don’t even know all the words to the first stanza. Honestly, I didn’t know there were three more. But I do now.
I’ve determined that I can best represent the song in Bb which is a common key that gets used. The original melody is in G. Way too low for most people. As it now stands if the myth becomes legend, print the legend. That is what has happened to this song…
Classic rock comes from an era gone by. But boy did it produce some of the best music. Even today it gets a lot of play because it sounds good. It feels good. It speaks. Thus comes Citizens of Contrary Knowledge. Here’s a band of what is likely some older gents who are creating some very cool music. Unfortunately in today’s market it’s a major battle to sell this style.
That does not stop me from really diggin what they’re doing. Very cool vibes. Some great production (though I think I’d go with a different guitar tone) makes the ideas they have quite cool. It’s the melodies and the chord structures that I’m really diggin. To the point that I really do wish this could be hugely popular. It’s great stuff.
Lucky for you, you can help spread the word by buying the music!