[SOC] Empire State

[Bob Nielsen]

On Mon, Jun 03, 2002 at 06:46:12PM +0100, Chris Redding wrote:

> By the way, I have heard Americans sometimes sing a hymn to the same tune as
> our anthem, but with different words (I think it's called 'Sweet Land of
> Liberty'). What are the words to this hymn, and what significance does it
> hold in Americans 'hearts'?.

Yes, we stole the tune. It's called "America".  The words (I think) go:

My country tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty
Of thee I sing.
Land where our fathers died,
Land of the Pilgrim's pride
>From every mountainside, 
Let freedom ring.

When I was in school (a long time ago), we sang this and "America the
Beautiful) probably as often as the Star Spangled Banner. It's probably
a bit more singable than the latter (the notes to that are way too high
unless one is a eunuch).  There have been occasional proposals to
replace it, but not many countries seem to make such changes (Canada
excepted).

Bob, N7XY