Not having any children, I really am in the dark as to whether or not classic American patriotic songs are taught to kids in school or whether it is up to parents to expose their children to the music of Sousa, Cohan, Irving Berlin, and others. It would not surprise me in the slightest if schools had stopped the practice long ago. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me to find out that schools no longer teach music to classes of primary grade kids at all. Or if they do, I’d bet that American music is the absolute last thing they would be willing to teach.
I reflect on these questions today, June 14, 2007 because it is Flag Day – a day to proudly fly the flag to honor both the symbol of our country and what it stands for. And one way to honor the flag is to enjoy listening to patriotic songs.
I think my mother used to play a record with about 15 different songs on patriotic holidays like the 4th of July and Flag Day. “Songs of Americana” I think was the name of the album (one of my lurking family members, help me out here). It featured Sousa marches like The Washington Post March, The Stars and Stripes Forever, as well as God Bless America by Irving Berlin. There were also Civil War songs like Tenting Tonight , and Battle Cry of Freedom.
And then there was “You’re a Grand Old Flag” by George M. Cohan. Anyone who has seen James Cagney in the film Yankee Doodle Dandy perform this tune knows the raw power and emotion the song can inspire. Cagney, who consciously imitated Cohan’s half singing/half talking song presentation, along with director Michael Curtiz, faithfully recreated the stage version first seen in Cohan’s George Washington, Jr. for the screen.
Indeed, reports were that the performance of the song brought down the house. The song also became the first tune to sell a million copies of sheet music. Clearly, the lyrics in the chorus touch something deep down in all of us:
You’re a grand old flag,
You’re a high flying flag
And forever in peace may you wave.
You’re the emblem of
The land I love.
The home of the free and the brave.
Ev’ry heart beats true
‘neath the Red, White and Blue,3
Where there’s never a boast or brag.
But should auld acquaintance be forgot,
Keep your eye on the grand old flag.
The story behind the song is interesting:
The original lyric for this perennial George M. Cohan favorite came, as Cohan later explained, from an encounter he had with a Civil War veteran who fought at Gettysburg. The two men found themselves next to each other and Cohan noticed the vet held a carefully folded but ragged old flag. The man reportedly then turned to Cohan and said, “She’s a grand old rag.” Cohan thought it was a great line and originally named his tune “You’re a Grand Old Rag.” So many groups and individuals objected to calling the flag a “rag,” however, that he “gave ‘em what they wanted” and switched words, renaming the song “You’re a Grand Old Flag.”It was in George Washington, Jr. that Cohan worked out a routine with this song that he would repeat in many subsequent shows. He took an American flag, started singing the patriotic song, and marched back and forth across the stage. Music such as Cohan’s “You’re a Grand Old Flag” helped create a shared popular cultural identity as such songs spread beyond the stage, through sheet music and records, to the homes and street corners of America.
You’re a Grand Old Flag and all the other Patriotic ditties are a large part of the American Songbook. They used to be the primary means by which each generation was connected to another in patriotic devotion. For patriotism cannot be taught. It must be instilled by culturalizing children and exposing them to the sentiments and ideas that we all share about the United States; what it should stand for, how fortunate we are to have been born here, and the glorious ideas of liberty and freedom that so many have given their lives to defend.
Yes, she’s a “Grand Old Flag.” A little tattered perhaps. A little careworn as a result of neglecting some of the principles on which our nation was founded; self reliance, tolerance, and that fighting for freedom is a good and sometimes necessary thing. But despite her appearance, she still flies proudly, snapping in the breeze as a reminder to all that choose to see it, that this is still the greatest country ever created filled with the most remarkable people ever born. And despite all of our problems, disagreements, mistakes, and failures, there is still no place on earth I’d rather live.
9:26 am
I’m laughing out loud, Rick. My 20 year old daughter had minimum contacts with U.S. history, much less patriotic songs. She wasn’t exposed to post-Revolutionary War history in high school until the second half of her sophomore year. Prior to that, her school district (which was otherwise outstanding) chose to focus on a politically safer topic- American Indians. Lots of teepees. You know the drill. Sousa is as relevant as Benny Goodman.
11:04 am
When I saw the space shuttle launch last week on TV, I turned to my wife and asked, rhetorically, how anyone in this country could see something like that and not be proud to be an American.
We have much to be proud of, and even more to be grateful for. But it’s a shame that it this wonderful age of moral relativism, trying to instill a sense of patriotism in our children through institutions like public schools has become an anachronism.
11:51 am
Rick, that should be “You’re a Grand Old Flag”, not “Your”. Sorry, I can’t get the email form to work or I would have emailed privately. Please feel free to delete this after the correction.
12:07 pm
[...] Asks Rick Moran [...]
12:37 pm
Thank you for these great song memories. Those of us of a “certain age” remember these being played in school on a regular basis, and feeling pride in our country. On this Flag Day, I wonder if school kids routinely recite the Pledge of Allegiance? Going against the grain of my usual comments, educators are far too liberal to help our kids find solid values and patriotism.
12:43 pm
Just reading this post almost brought tears to my eyes. “YANKEE DOODLE DANDY” is one of my favorite movies. I look for it on TV every 4th of July. As a military brat, I also was raised on patriotic songs and a deep pride and love for this country. Every evening around 4 or 5, there would be a flag lowering ceremony on the base where we were living at the time. All foot and motorized traffic, and outdoor activities would cease. Folks would automatically stop what they were doing, turn to face the flags’ location, and come to attention if active duty, and stand respectfully still if civilan. I remember singing patriotic songs like “This Land is Your Land”, and “Yankee Doodle” and “The Battle of New Orleans” and “Home on the Range” and “Over There!” both at home and in school. I don’t beleive the younger generations are taught to revere our country, and to recognize it’s unique exceptionalism anymore. Probably just the opposite. Thanks for this post. God Bless America!
12:51 pm
My son is about to finish kindergarten in a Clark County, Nevada elementary school. Not only does he have music classes a few times a month, he’s learned many patriotic songs including who wrote the lyrics/music. Students begin their day with The Pledge of Allegiance. The hallways have been hand painted with excerpts from The Declaration of Independence, The Emancipation Proclamation and The Constitution. There are murals of the flag, firemen, police and members of the military, I believe. They even had a “military day” on which the kids could dress in camoflauge or anything military.
5:35 pm
The title of this post was particularly intriguing to me, in that I had the same question rise to the forefront of my mind just last week, as I sat watching the Twilight Tattoo on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.( For those that might not know, as I did not until visiting our nation’s capital, the “Twilight Tatoo is an hour-long sunset military pageant that features Soldiers of the 3 rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) troop units and ceremonial units – The Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps and The U.S. Army Drill Team; The U.S. Army Band Blues jazz ensemble, vocalists from The United States Army Chorus and The U.S. Army Chorale.” that is performed May through June annually. If interested, more information can be found here: http://www.mdw.army.mil/tlt/tlt.htm)
My apologies for the length of my digression! It was during this performance that I noticed what, to me, was a curious thing. The Army vocalists sang a number of songs near the beginning of the Tattoo, in a variety of genres from around 1970 to present day, most of with which the audience sang along. Interestingly enough, the audience of several thousand was mostly comprised of middle and high school students (who were apparently on school trips, as their school names were announced during the performance), most of whom knew the lyrics to everything, even the “oldies†from the seventies (being in my forties, it’s the music I grew up with, and so should rightfully be called classic rock, but…), as was evidenced by their joining together with most of the crowd in singing enthusiastically. Later in the Tattoo, after the Drill Team and soldiers dressed in every uniform of the Army from the Revolution to the present day had performed their parts, the vocalists came back to sing a medley of songs including the songs associated with each branch of the military and other patriotic songs from My Country, ‘Tis of Thee to The Star Spangled Banner. That’s when I noticed that the vast majority of the kids in the audience weren’t singing along. It wasn’t that they were acting disrespectfully – as each service theme was sung, service members and their families in the audience stood for recognition and the students were respectful – rather, they seemed lost, as if they had never been exposed to the songs before. I must say that the exception to this was, thankfully, the national anthem. It was thought-provoking, to say the least.
So, now I wonder, is it pervasive throughout the younger generation? These school groups came from all over the nation, Alaska to Texas to Delaware. Is it that, as you suggested, schools focus on teaching anything but American patriotic music? Do schools avoid these songs because they “glorify militaristic values†and might just mention God? When did parents stop sharing these traditional songs with their children? Have they lost their relevancy as our ability to listen to virtually any form of music at any time has increased (not that I am anti-technology in any way… my iPod and laptop go with me most places!)? What does our failure to pass along these traditions that bind us together as a society presage for our nation?
5:42 pm
Jay:
Sadly, this I believe has been the idea all along – since the late seventies anyway when the school systems of this country were finally being run by refugees from the 1960’s.
I’m sure they honestly believe that inculcating patriotism is a dangerous thing. But disconnecting generations of kids from the past in this way will serve only to make it impossible to unite the country in any meaningful way in a time of crisis. We saw this on 9/11. Kids were confused. They weren’t sure how to feel. The rest of us felt real anger at the attack but the kids were more worried about whether it could happen to them.
Patriotism may indeed by the last refuge of scoundrels. But it should also be the first thing our children learn about in school.
11:19 am
rick—
Interesting thread. Perhaps this is why I was annoyed in the Bury My Heart thread—I thought, “oh, not for the 13012th time!”
What I learned in history in the public schools was simple. The Indians got screwed, the blacks got screwed, and then the Jews got screwed in WWII. In college I learned how the powers at be don’t want me to know this happened because of imperialism.
Perhaps the older people think this needs to be taught to correct prejudices. But I’m pushing 30, and like many my age and younger, I have yet to watch a single John Wayne flick. That should give boomers perspective. All I’ve ever learned was that Western civilization—the civilization that produced Mozart, Newton, Euler, and Rembrandt—is inherently racist, elitist, sexist, and hegemonic.
Anything I know to the contrary is due to my own effort. Many are not as curious as I am, and think the West is always something to be indicted, not admired.
4:30 pm
J.H.- thanks for the comment. One advantage in growing up before Vietnam was that there was still a healthy & unapologetic American pride. (I remember the thrill of watching ‘Patton’ in 1970.) Now, for some, patriotic songs would evoke embarrassment or worse. On the flip side, Lee Greenwood has had a modestly successful career built on one patriotic tune. Maybe there’s still a thirst out there.
As for Western civilization, using a scale of absolute metaphysical perfection, its performance has been dismal. But it has stacked up rather well using the measure of historical realism.
12:10 am
I just began teaching 1st grade at a year round school. Its my first time teaching 1st grade so I am researching the California standards right now. Social Studies Standard 1.3 for 1st grade is this:
Students know and understand the symbols, icons, and traditions of the United States that provide continuity and a sense of community across time. 1.3.1 Recite the Pledge of Allegiance and sing songs that express American ideals (e.g., “My Country ‘Tis of Thee”). 1.3.2 Understand the significance of our national holidays and the heroism and achievements of the people associated with them. 1.3.3 Identify American symbols, landmarks, and essential documents, such as the flag, bald eagle, Statue of Liberty, U.S. Constitution, and Declaration of Independence, and know the people and events associated with them.
In education their are needs of the learner and needs of society. Needs of Society include the need to build patriotism and pride for the country in which the student lives. They do this around the world. There are of course, the crazies who don’t like it, but too bad, it’s a California standard and I’m gonna play my piano and teach my patriotic songs to the class!
11:58 am
I just wanted to comment on the first question. I am a Kindergarten teacher and yes I do teach patriotic songs! In Sept/Oct we learn, “You’re a Grand Old Flag”. In Nov/Dec we learn “America”. In Jan/Feb we learn, “The Star-Spangled Banner.” (And yes, you can teach a 5 year old that song. They sing it loud and proud!) In March we learn, “The Alaska Flag Song” and in Apr/May we learn, “God Bless America.” We sing most of these songs to the parents at our Celebration of Kindergarten in May. You can’t lump all teachers together and wonder if “they” still teach these songs. It all depends on the teacher.
PS We start each day with the entire school saying the Pledge of Allegiance. If they don’t want to participate, they must at least stand.
9:34 am
I am an elementary music teacher and have taught at 4 different schools over the years both in Tennessee and Arkansas. All of my schools have made sure to include patriotic songs. In fact, my daughters public school begins everyday singing the National Anthem. So as a Kindergartener my daughter could sing the National Anthem! The school where I’m working now even has a program that is just for patriotic music. Each class learns several songs each as well as the National Anthem. It’s exciting!