Stephen Longfellow Fiske, Michael Jackson, et al. – 2017-12-26 18:54:29
Special from Environmentalists Against War
Earth Anthems: Imagine a New National Anthem:
One that Celebrates Peace and Not War
Stephen Longfellow Fiske, Michael Jackson, et al.
Earth Anthem: The Earth Verse
Sung to the melody of The Star Spangled Banner
Words and performance by Stephen Longfellow Fiske
The Evolution of a Song — A Brief History
(June 24, 2014) — The Star Spangled Banner was written as a poem by Francis Scott Key on the deck of a small boat September 14, 1814, as he observed the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British during the War of 1812.
After having already burned Washington, D.C., the British entered the harbor intent on sacking Baltimore. Inspired by the heroic American stand which turned back the powerful British Fleet — and by the sight of the American flag still flying after a day and night of heavy rocket exchange — Key jotted down some lines on an envelope and wrote out the verses when he later returned to shore.
It was published the very next day on a handbill entitled, “Defense of Ft. McHenry,” and quickly met with wide public approval.
The melody to which the stanzas were written was that of an English drinking song, To Anacreon In Heaven. Anacreon was the convivial Greek poet whose verses celebrated love and wine, and who became the patron saint of The Anacreontic Society, a gentlemen’s club, whose enthusiastic and bawdy meetings had gained quite a reputation, and from whence the song became popular.
To Anacreon In Heaven was sung in the taverns of Colonial America, and by 1814 was an American standby. To that tune, in 1798, Tom Paine’s son had written a patriotic verse, Adams and Liberty, which became well known around the young nation. But when Francis Scott Key’s verses were tacked on the doors of Baltimore’s taverns, his song was heartfully sung as a celebration of victory in war and national pride. [Read the complete lyrics for Paine’s pugnacious and war-like song below. — EAW.]
As the popularity of Key’s song grew, the original Anacreontic song, Paine’s version, and other attempts to write verses (including one by Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes), were forgotten and Key’s most popular verse, The Star Spangled Banner, became the favorite national song.
In 1931, Congress officially designated it as the United States National Anthem.
Now, in the ongoing folk tradition of adding new verses to old songs, visionary singer, songwriter Stephen Longfellow Fiske brings the evolution of the song to the global perspective of the 21st century, blending democratic ideals, peace, and environmental harmony with his Earth Anthem.
A descendant of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Stephen is a poet in his own right, and has produced nine albums of his music. His CD, Earth Anthem, How Do You Want Your World? features Stephen’s acapella/string arrangement of Earth Anthem, as well as ten other songs of peace, environmental, spiritual and social concerns.
The CD has been getting rave reviews and is being well received by the buying public. Stephen and his partners are currently building Earth Anthem Enterprises to help promote Earth Anthem and create a socially responsible business serving a sustainable future.
Stephen Longfellow Fiske. stephenfiske.wordpress.com @StephenLFiske www.stephenfiskemusic.com
Sunday Morning Gatherings of Creative Community
Earth Song
Michael Jackson
(October 2, 2009) — Music video with Michael Jackson performing Earth Song. Copyright 1995 MJJ Productions Inc.
Earth Anthem (2009)
Created by Paul Sretenovic and Aaron Nebauer
Earth Anthem
Music and Lyrics by David Gentry (2013)
Earth Anthem
(Published on June 10, 2013) — Earth Anthem written and produced by poet-diplomat Abhay K. (www.abhayk.com) is in eight world languages including six official UN languages viz. Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish as well as Hindi &Nepali. Singer: Shreya Sotang, Music: Sapan Ghimire.
A Song for Planet Earth
(West Los Angeles Children’s Choir, March 27, 2017. A Song for Planet Earth was sung by children in Africa, New Zealand, Nova Scotia, America, Australia and Above the Arctic Circle and beamed to the astronauts in the International Space Station.)
Anthem For The World — Rhythm Of The Universe
(Rotu Entertainment. December 25, 2011. Rhythm Of The Universe is a musical collaboration project that houses the voices and sounds of musicians from more than 90 different countries. It was created to promote unity through music and further promote the value of music education.)
For as long as popular music has been around, artists have been writing songs for Mother Earth, asking listeners to respect this planet as best you can. Here are 15 songs dedicated to the world and keeping it sustainable.
1. Carbon Monoxide — Cake
2. O Green World — Gorillaz
3. Virtual Insanity — Jamiroquai
4. Radioactive — Kings Of Leon
5. Waiting On The World To Change — John Mayer
6. Hey You — Madonna
7. Earth Song — Michael Jackson
8. Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) — Marvin Gaye
9. Ball Of Confusion (That’s What The World Is Today) — The Temptations
10. Big Yellow Taxi — Joni Mitchell
11. Wake Up America — Miley Cyrus
12. Mother Nature’s Son — Sheryl Crow
13. This Land Is Your Land — Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
14. Earth — Imogen Heap
15. Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth — Neko Case
Read more and listen to the playlist at: 15 Eco-Friendly Anthems for Earth Day | MetroLyrics
ODE — ADAMS AND LIBERTY
Written by Robert Treat Paine for the fourth Anniversary of the Massachusetts Charitable Fire Society, 1798
YE sons of Columbia, who bravely have fought,
For those rights, which unstained from your Sires had descended,
May you long taste the blessings your valour has brought,
And your sons reap the soil which their fathers defended.
‘Mid the reign of mild Peace,
May your nation increase,
With the glory of Rome, and the wisdom of Greece;
And ne’er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves,
While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves.
In a clime, whose rich vales feed the marts of the world,
Whose shores are unshaken by Europe’s commotion,
The trident of Commerce should never be hurled,
To incense the legitimate powers of the ocean.
But should pirates invade,
Though in thunder arrayed,
Let your cannon declare the free charter of trade.
For ne’er shall the sons, &c.
The fame of our arms, of our laws the mild sway,
Had justly ennobled our nation in story,
‘Till the dark clouds of faction obscured our young day,
And enveloped the sun of American glory.
But let traitors be told,
Who their country have sold,
And bartered their God for his image in gold,
That ne’er will the sons, &c.
While France her huge limbs bathes recumbent in blood,
And Society’s base threats with wide dissolution;
May Peace like the dove, who returned from the flood,
Find an ark of abode in our mild constitution
But though Peace is our aim,
Yet the boon we disclaim,
If bought by our Sov’reignty, Justice or Fame.
For ne’er shall the sons, &c.
‘Tis the fire of the flint, each American warms;
Let Rome’s haughty victors beware of collision,
Let them bring all the vassals of Europe in arms,
We’re a world by ourselves, and disdain a division.
While with patriot pride,
To our laws we’re allied,
No foe can subdue us, no faction divide.
For ne’er shall the sons, &c.
Our mountains are crowned with imperial oak;
Whose roots, like our liberties, ages have nourished;
But lone e’er our nation submits to the yoke,
Not a tree shall be left on the field where it flourished.
Should invasion impend,
Every grove would descend,
From the hill-tops, they shaded, our shores to defend.
For ne’er shall the sons, &c.
Let our patriots destroy Anarch’s pestilent worm;
Lest our Liberty’s growth should be checked by corrosion;
Then let clouds thicken round us; we heed not the storm;
Our realm fears no shock, but the earth’s own explosion.
Foes assail us in vain,
Though their fleets bridge the main,
For our altars and laws with our lives we’ll maintain.
For ne’er shall the sons, &c.
Should the Tempest of War overshadow our land,
Its bolts could ne’er rend Freedom’s temple asunder;
For, unmoved, at its portal, would Washington stand,
And repulse, with his Breast, the assaults of the thunder!
His sword, from the sleep
Of its scabbard would leap,
And conduct, with its point, ev’ry flash to the deep!
For ne’er shall the sons, &c.
Let Fame to the world sound America’s voice;
No intrigues can her sons from their government sever;
Her pride is her Adams; Her laws are his choice,
And shall flourish, till Liberty slumbers for ever.
Then unite heart and hand,
Like Leonidas’ band,
And swear to the God of the ocean and land;
That ne’er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves,
While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves.
