PRIZE FOR A SONG.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XLIX, Issue 149, 7 September 1928, Page 3

PRIZE FOR A SONG.

NATIONAL ANTHEM FOR AMERICA. NEW YORK. August 8. A prize of 000(1 dollars for the best new national anthdm for the United States is offered by Mrs Florence JBrooks-Aten, who established the Brooks-Bright Foundation for the promotion of a hotter understanding between the United States and Great Britain.

For many years there has been rivalry in American popular taste between “My Country, ’Tis of Thee” and “The Star-Spangled Banner,” for first place as a national anthem. The line, “Land of the Pilgrims’ Pride” in the former did not appeal very strongly to a certain sectiqn of the country, which looked with suspicion on New Zealand’s claim to be paramount. Against this, “O say, can you see hv the dawn’s early light,” the first line df “The Star-Spangled Banner,” was written about a single incident in the nation’s history and to music of an ancient drinking song nnsingable except by trained vocalists.

Foreigners naturally mistook “Mv Country, ’Tis of Thee” for “God Save the King” owing to the music being the same, recognising England’s jtrior right to the tunc. Other nations also had claims on it. So a militaryorder made “The Star-Spangled Banner” the official national anthem of the army and navy.

During the Spanish-American War, “There’ll he a Hot Time in the Old Town To-night” was so favored by American service bands that the troops stood at the salute while it was played,