A weird little pit stop in the brain of a spacebug

[spacebug]

It occurred to me this morning that I have a bit of cognitive dissonance surrounding the fact that the final words of our national anthem pose a question, which, in normal speech patterns would cause the pitch to rise and feel decidedly unresolved (because it is unresolved, it's a question, and it's not even really a rhetorical question: Is our flag still there?) but because it's the end of an anthem, musically, it's about a solid tonic resolution as you can get.

One wonders if this has wider national implications, or if I'm just a theory nerd.

Anyway. Time to mail the 1099s.

Comments

[jodi.livejournal.com]

i heart your theoretical nerdiness. please be as nerdy as your want.

[mooflyfoof.livejournal.com]

Whoa. I never noticed that it was a question... Cause yeah, solid tonic resolution. Verrrrry interesting indeed!

[star5.livejournal.com]

in samoan speech, questions don't rise at the end, they go down.

[harfang.livejournal.com]

Russian too.

[cynthia-french.livejournal.com]

I just checked my memory with another source, and I remembered right from that ole american lit. class back in college. The anthem we sing is actually only the 1st of 4 versus. It sets the scene of the person wondering if they flag was still there and in the following stanzas, yes, the flag is still there - it's realized and celbrated. The tune for the poem was an old drinking song, which makes it a bit odd to me that so many people have problems singing it.

[sarendipatree.livejournal.com]

The text and the melody were forcibly married. FFI See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Anacreon_in_Heaven
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star-Spangled_Banner

Who is the nerd now?! Huh? Huh?! Answer me that! Who is the nerd now?!