A columnist for the Los Angeles Times argued that “The Star-Spangled Banner” should be replaced by the song “Lean on Me.”
Judy Rosen wrote in a column published on Tuesday that he believes the current national anthem for the United States is “racist” and should be replaced by a unifying tune. He argued that “Lean on Me,” which was first released in 1972 by Bill Withers, is the right song to become the new national anthem.
“Bill Withers’ 1972 soul ballad may seem like a curious choice. It has none of the qualities we associate with national anthems. It’s a modest song that puts on no airs. It speaks in plain musical language, without a trace of bombast, in a tidy arrangement that unfolds over a few basic chords,” Rosen wrote.
“It doesn’t march to a martial beat or rise to grand crescendos. The lyrics hold no pastoral images of fruited plains or oceans white with foam, no high-minded invocations of liberty or God. ‘Lean on Me’ is a deeply American song — but it’s not, explicitly at least, a song about America,” he wrote. “Yet it has long been a kind of national anthem.”
Rosen said that Francis Scott Key, the man credited with writing the anthem, was a slaveholder. He noted that the additional verses of the tune, which have been long excluded from the traditional playing of the anthem, included “racist” language about slavery.
He also argued that the song, musically speaking, is not great for an anthem. He said that the high note sang along with the “land of the free” is too high for most common singers to reach. He noted that the tune originated in Britain and argued that the U.S. anthem should be written here.
“A song with words few people understand, which fewer can sing, whose sound and spirit bear no relation to our catchy, witty, unpretentious homegrown musical forms: Is this really what we want to hear when we ‘rise to honor America’?” Rosen questioned.
Rosen eliminated some classic patriotic tunes, including “This Land Is Your Land,” “God Bless America,” and “America the Beautiful.” He claimed those songs could not be used because the lyrics exclude various groups of citizens.
“Irving Berlin’s ‘God Bless America’ has more vernacular punch, but its uncomplicated patriotism (‘God bless America / Land that I love / Stand beside her / And guide her’) doesn’t wash in 2020. ‘This Land Is Your Land,’ written in 1940 by Woody Guthrie as a response to ‘God Bless America,’ is a favorite of many who lean left. Yet Guthrie’s song has its own blind spots: to indigenous Americans, the refrain ‘This land belongs to you and me’ may sound less like an egalitarian vision than a settler-colonialist manifesto,” he wrote. “Nope, none of these songs will do.”
Rosen acknowledged that some have suggested the John Lennon song “Imagine” as an anthem, but he noted that this song is British as well. He said that “Lean on Me” has the right temperament to represent the U.S.
“It’s a message you could build something on, a pretty solid foundation for a decent society. It can bear the load,” he wrote.
The debate over the national anthem was sparked by protests against racial injustice and police brutality following the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died while being arrested. Protesters have removed statues and called into question many of the country’s historical figures and ideas.
