comment: >
  
  You have just heard your anthem over and over and over, and now you are just fed up with it.
context: Ok, I agree it's a poorly-written tune but this opinion is rife with misinformation.
  The base of the melody is not a marching song and predates Sousa by about 75 years. It was written as kind of the theme song for the Anacreontic Society and was originally penned "To Anacreon in Heaven". It's more of a drinking tune, a rabble-rouser if you will.
  The lyrics are about the unsuccessful British bombardment of Ft. McHenry during the War of 1812. Francis Scott Key was inspired that the flag was still standing at the end of the battle, meaning the Americans didn't quit, and wrote the poem "Defence of Fort M'Henry" later adapted using the familiar melodic line. >
  
  Musically it’s all or nothing. Most people can’t do it justice, but a great singer with time to practice can turn it into something special.
  Lyrically, I think you miss the point. The lyrics boil down to this: “Hey! See that fuck you massive flag over there!? Well the best navy on earth just spent the entire night trying to make us furl it up, but we’re a nation of absolute savages. So why don’t you take a look and tell me if it’s still there.”
  It’s a story of bravery and defiance from when the fledgling US stared down the most powerful nation on earth and won the day. >
  
  I was just going to comment in another sub that playing this during every warm-up would be just as annoying as Flight of the Bumblebee! >
  
  Nah anyone with any sense of pitch and melody who practices can probably nail it easily >
  
  I dont know.  The majority of people do not regularly practice singing, and plenty of people ar just tone deaf.   It sounds pretty damn out of tune when I hear people in the crowd singing it. >
  
  It’s a crowd not a chorus of 20,000. >
  
  I've never seen someone bring this up but I have literally always felt this way >
  
  Agreed. That shit don’t slap!!