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From the Desk of Garrison Keillor
A prolific writer, Garrison Keillor is a frequent contributor to newspapers and magazines throughout the United States and abroad. To the right, you find a selection of articles published since 1989, and a few unpublished pieces.
Sing the national anthem—and try it in the key of G
July 2, 2004
Dear Friends,
According to a recent Harris Poll, two out of three Americans say they don't know the national anthem. Last spring I went to a convention of the National Association of Music Educators and got to hear them, 3,000 strong, sing "The Star-Spangled Banner," which was rousing and moving and different from what one has come to expect. The difference was that the anthem was sung in G, a good key for most people, and wasn't a vehicle for some aging diva but a terrific piece of music.
All the good folks who've complained about the national anthem over the years—unsingable, full of war imagery—are wrong, wrong, wrong. It's magnificent. And it's not about war. It's about the survival of our flag and all that it stands for. The anthem and the flag do not belong to a particular political agenda. They belong to us all, and so I've been happy to join the music educators in their national campaign to get Americans to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner."
This spring, before every show, I've invited the audience at A Prairie Home Companion to sing it. And they have, gladly. And on that big, resounding "land of the freeeeeeeee," people get really jazzed by it.
Here's a recording of five-thousand people singing the anthem in Guilford, New Hampshire, in June. Listen to it and see what you think.
Listen
Thanks, and have a very happy Fourth of July.
— Garrison Keillor
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Past Articles
GK On Historic Preservation (10/05/07)
Welcome to St. Paul (09/23/06)
"Homegrown Democrat," Chapters 1-4 (08/10/04)
Sing the National Anthem—and Try it in the Key of G (07/02/04)
Holiday Greetings from Garrison Keillor (12/23/03)
Remembering Plimpton (10/01/03)
Crankiness in Decline, Says the Old Guy (04/19/02)
A Governor Works in Mysterious Ways (10/19/01)
In Praise of Laziness (09/10/01)
I Just Needed a Valve Job (09/13/01)
A Eulogy for Chet Atkins (07/03/01)
A Foot Soldier in God's Floating Orchestra (04/01)
Exile on Main Street (10/02/00)
Walking Down the Canyon (07/31/00)
The Mysteries of Prom Night (05/15/00)
How I Write (12/04/99)
The Christmas of the Great Flu (12/99)
Let Jesse Be Jesse (10/10/99)
The Rice, the Bat, the Baby (09/06/99)
Faith at the Speed of Life (06/14/99)
The Republicans Were Right, But (02/15/99)
Minnesota's Excellent Ventura (11/16/98)
The Dangers of Christmas (04/06/98)
Gasgate (11/10/97)
Talk Radio (10/97)
The Seven Principles of a Successful Christmas (09/08/97)
The Seven Deadly Sins—Envy (04/97)
You Say Potato (04/04/96)
The Poetry Judge (02/96)
With All the Trimmings (11/27/95)
In Autumn We Get Older (11/06/95)
Minnesota's Sensible Plan (09/11/95)
The Art of the Embrace (02/95)
The Voters are Angry (08/94)
Word Play (05/18/90)
We Are Still Married (12/18/89)
Elevator Tales
A Graduation Speech
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A national holiday in Lake Wobegon is always gaudy and joyful. But what is going on between Clint Bunsen and Miss Liberty?
Everyone is here—Pastor Ingqvist, the Sons of Knute, Sister Arvonne of Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility and her ocarina band, the Norwegian bachelor farmers, Dorothy and the Chatterbox Café, Wally in the Sidetrack Tap—as crowds converge on the little town to celebrate American independence, even as the chairman of the event broods on the great question of the day: Shall we struggle on valiantly here or shall we burst the bonds and find beautiful life in the golden west?
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Scripts and bits from A Prairie Home Companion celebrate the secret society of men and women who possess excellent spelling and punctuation skills. (You know who you are.)
Selections include "The Six-Minute Hamlet," a tribute to Emily Dickinson, a Guy Noir adventure that exposes an MFA scam, a riveting "Professional Organization of English Majors" drama, and guests Billy Collins, Robert Bly, Roy Blount Jr., and Calvin Trillin.
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