I think that almost all the factors you list have the potential to make a song patriotic (well, not so much "stirring music" or "religious references" -- the first can apply to almost any genre of music, and the second better applies to hymnody, though granted, there's some overlap). But I also think that almost all of them can be taken to extremes and/or misappropriated. For instance, "lyrics that inspire national pride" may be perfectly fine, because there's basically nothing wrong with being proud of your country. But the line between "national pride" and jingoism is very, VERY blurry.
As for my song choice, I picked "America the Beautiful." I like that song because I do like celebrations of the land itself and its beauty, and because I like imagery for the ideals on which the country was founded: "Oh beautiful for patriot dream / that sees beyond the years / thine alabaster cities gleam, / undimm'd by human tears." Other parts of it are unsettling, though: "Oh beautiful for pilgrim feet / whose stern, impassioned stress / a thoroughfare for freedom beat / across the wilderness" (and in the meantime displaced thousands of indigenous peoples and destroyed elements of the very natural beauty we just sang about in the last verse...). I can't think of a flawless patriotic song, truth be told -- American or otherwise. I think the very genre of "patriotic music" necessitates that a piece of music be comprised largely of propaganda.
I agree with you -- Ted was pissed, not just towing the party line. Also, I'm in love with you, because you said "noblesse oblige." ♥
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-31 10:15 pm (UTC)As for my song choice, I picked "America the Beautiful." I like that song because I do like celebrations of the land itself and its beauty, and because I like imagery for the ideals on which the country was founded: "Oh beautiful for patriot dream / that sees beyond the years / thine alabaster cities gleam, / undimm'd by human tears." Other parts of it are unsettling, though: "Oh beautiful for pilgrim feet / whose stern, impassioned stress / a thoroughfare for freedom beat / across the wilderness" (and in the meantime displaced thousands of indigenous peoples and destroyed elements of the very natural beauty we just sang about in the last verse...). I can't think of a flawless patriotic song, truth be told -- American or otherwise. I think the very genre of "patriotic music" necessitates that a piece of music be comprised largely of propaganda.
I agree with you -- Ted was pissed, not just towing the party line. Also, I'm in love with you, because you said "noblesse oblige." ♥