A woman invited to the State of the City address in Denver to sing the American national anthem, decided instead to sing what is knows as the "Black National Anthem" and solicited an angry response.
The State of the City address in Denver Colorado turned into a venue for "artistic expression" yesterday. Chanteuse René Marie, a local Jazz singer, was invited to sing "The Star Spangled Banner." Instead she sang a hybrid of the lyrics to "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" to the tune of "The Star Spangled Banner." Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing is often referred to as the Black National Anthem.
Mayor John Hickenlooper was deeply disappointed and offended at the singer's action that over shadowed his speech. He expressed a wish that Rene Marie would have discussed the song with him before hand. Marie apologized for offending, saying she was only trying to show her love for her country in a unique way.
Rocky Mountain News reports:
Marie said she had no regrets. She deliberately didn't tell anybody about her song choice "because I don't think it is necessary for an artist to ask permission to express themselves artistically," she said
Some felt Marie's expression was rude to say the least, and that there is no substitution for the National Anthem. City officials have also received hate mail over the incident.
LIFT EV'RY VOICE AND SING
also known as "The Black National Anthem"
by James Weldon Johnson
Lift ev'ry voice and sing,
Till earth and heaven ring.
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise,
High as the list'ning skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.
Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chast'ning rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet,
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who has by Thy might,
Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee,
Shadowed beneath thy hand,
May we forever stand,
True to our God,
True to our native land.
