"The Echo of the Chorus Grand"

A little patriotism is in order this morning. There is no anniversary of its writing to link to or anything like that.  The march had lyrics as many of the marches do.  You can sing along and its kinda fun. "The Echo of the Chorus Grand" is from the second verse.


The Chorus Grand. The nation singing with one voice. (author's message)

The title "Stars and Stripes Forever" sticks in our minds as some sort of patriotic yearning for the flag and that, in part, is true.  Sousa also had a good friend, another musician/composer named Gilmore (if memory serves) who used to end drinking toasts with "...and to the stars and stripes forever".  

I bring this up as apparently I'm the last to catch on or know about  an organist named Cameron Carpenter although he is the rage.  Aside from having  musicalability and showmanship perhaps never seen  since Mozart, if you looked at him - if he wondered in off the street - you might move to a different table or take a different subway.  He is out of the realm of any classical musician I know of.

I got on this subject this morning as I saw endless news clips of GOP candidates trying to figure how to get 14 million people on buses and send them back, how their loathing of the President is something right out of Selma, Alabama and Senator McCain's "worthless scum".  We have a whole gaggle of asses who judge on appearance, who stereotype until they turn blue, and generally look at anyone without a burr haircut and razon burns on their necks as someone who doesn't belong.

We should be celebrating the ability of this nation to include, to make room, to adopt and adapt.

Anyway, here is Mr. Carpenter and an equally compelling performance by the Marine Band.

Sousa's lyrics

[First Strain]
Let martial note in triumph float
And liberty extend its mighty hand
A flag appears 'mid thunderous cheers,
The banner of the Western land.
The emblem of the brave and true
Its folds protect no tyrant crew;
The red and white and starry blue
Is freedom's shield and hope.

[Second Strain]
Other nations may deem their flags the best
And cheer them with fervid elation
But the flag of the North and South and West
Is the flag of flags, the flag of Freedom's nation.

(repeats) Other nations may deem their flags the best
And cheer them with fervid elation,
But the flag of the North and South and West
Is the flag of flags, the flag of Freedom's nation.

[Trio]
Hurrah for the flag of the free!
May it wave as our standard forever,
The gem of the land and the sea,
The banner of the right.
Let despots remember the day
When our fathers with mighty endeavor
Proclaimed as they marched to the fray
That by their might and by their right
It waves forever.

[Repeat of the First Strain]
Let eagle shriek from lofty peak
The never-ending watchword of our land;
Let summer breeze waft through the trees
The echo of the chorus grand.
Sing out for liberty and light,
Sing out for freedom and the right.
Sing out for Union and its might,
O patriotic sons.

[Grandioso]
Hurrah for the flag of the free.
May it wave as our standard forever
The gem of the land and the sea,
The banner of the right.
Let despots remember the day
When our fathers with mighty endeavor
Proclaimed as they marched to the fray,
That by their might and by their right
It waves forever.