Don't Stop Believin'

An online friend, Joshua Zachariah Ellis, wrote this short one below. Perhaps "The Star-Spangled Banner" should be retired. I never have been too comfortable with bombs bursting in air, not to mention the land of the free and home of the brave, which now seems like a cruel joke. Both of those things - freedom and bravery - seem to be in shorter and shorter supply these days, especially considering our current Congress. Bravery? LOL.

And the other verses, besides the first verse that everyone knows, are in fairly Old English and are a bit difficult to decipher. And then we have the 3rd verse which seems to praise slavery, and I think we could use an update. Just because something "used to be" doesn't mean it should always "be."

I feel like this might be the right moment to once again float my absolutely serious idea that "The Star-Spangled Banner", the national anthem of the United States of America for almost a century, should immediately be replaced by "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey.

You think I'm joking? I'm not joking. It's the most American song of all time - a small-town girl and a city boy meet on a train going anywhere and fall in love. OK so there's not actually such a place as south Detroit - that dismissal of actual reality for what sounds good is American as hell too.

And, let's be honest, it'd weed out a lot of potential awful singers at baseball games too. You think that one high note near the end of "Banner" is rough? Imagine that shmuck kid from your local high school's glee club tryna keep up with Steve Perry on that "streetlight peopu-oh-uh-WUUUUUUUUHHHHHLLLLL".

And let's face it, which one would fill you with more joy to sing along to badly with your hand over your heart at the stadium? Which song makes you prouder to be a god damned American?

So let's make a change, America. Because in these fraught and uncertain times, now more than ever, as a people, as a nation... don't we need, more than anything, to hold on to that feeling?