Talk:My Country, 'Tis of Thee

message: I don't want to start an edit war by reverting the Latest reinstatement of the Obama inauguration reference], but I don't believe this (or the Marian Anderson Lincoln Memorial performance) belong in a Cultural References section. They are not references to the song <B>within other creative works</B>, which both on this page and on others is the purpose of the section.
I suggest we separate them out into a Notable Performances section. Do any editors have an objection to this?
We don't seem to have a guideline on Cultural References sections, although the essay WP:POPCULTURE is worth reading. Barnabypage (talk) 18:33, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: I've now created a Notable Performances section. Barnabypage (talk) 18:18, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Cultural references

message: under notable performances it read: 
"On January 20, 2009 Aretha Franklin sang the song at the inauguration of President Barack Obama while wearing a fabulous hat."
Entertaining as this line is I have removed it because it doesn't really fit with the style of an encyclopedia, it was a very nice hat though! 92.22.22.44 (talk) 10:35, 24 April 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: while wearing a fabulous hat.

message: The link to the music on this page is not "My Country Tis of Thee".  It is "America the Beautiful".  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.27.177.191 (talk) 00:29, 29 April 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: Wrong Music

message: As far as I know, its not a commonly used song in any large public/private congregation (eg:  Sporting events, large political events, or regularly scheduled events).  However I do remember every K-6, 6-8, 7-8, and K-5 schools in my county routinely used this song in congregations of students.  I figure that this is relevant to the article, and I know that other people in my locale will agree with me, but I am unsure if this is a local trend (Southern California) or if its a national trend.  I also do not know of an easy way to reference this as applicable to a large audience.68.6.76.31 (talk) 10:42, 12 November 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: I remember it being the only patriotic song we sang in elementary school in Eastern Massachusetts. I suspect it was preferred over the Star Spangled Banner, because it is much easier to sing. Bostoner (talk) 01:03, 18 August 2016 (UTC)
thread_title: Modern Usage?

message: The History section as written does not seem to make sense.  It says the lyrics were written for music in a German song-book, but also seems to imply the tune came from Muzio Clementi's Symphony No. 3.  And then it jumps to the first performance and publication, with no mention of when or how the lyrics became attached to the God Save the King/Queen melody.  Someone who knows the history ought to clarify and expand this. DSZ (talk) 04:03, 16 January 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree with this 2012 comment and was just about to post something similar. "His friend Lowell Mason had asked him to translate the lyrics in some German school songbooks or to write new lyrics. A melody in Muzio Clementi's Symphony No. 3 (also called 'The Great National' and contains the melody of 'God Save the Queen' as a tribute to Clementi's adopted country) caught his attention. Rather than translating the lyrics from German, Smith wrote his own American patriotic hymn to the melody, [...]" This doesn't actually say the lyrics were written, or were to be written, for music in a German songbook, so it's even less clear than indicated in the 2012 post. If the translation or translations were for the July 4 performance, this could be clarified and the section would thus be improved. I can't do this myself, however, as I'm not familiar with the topic and presently have no sources (at least not printed ones) at my disposal. I'll try to touch this up a bit regardless, but I think something else is needed. –Roy McCoy (talk) 00:05, 28 May 2019 (UTC)
replies: text: Clementi's Symphony No. 3 contains a variation on the God Save the Queen melody. The editor might have meant that My County Tis of Thee is meant to be sung to Clementi's arangement of the British national anthem, but Clementi did not write the tune himself. Often, Americans seem to dislike the idea that My Country 'Tis of Thee is based on the British national anthem and try to attribute alternative sources to it; including suggesting it was invented by an American. Clementi had a particular love of Britain, and I think symphony no. 3 is explicitly nationalistic. I think originally the tune for God Save the Queen comes from an old Scottish carol, from the 17th century.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.9.13.226 (talk) 07:40, 8 July 2012 (UTC)
replies: text:  I always thought of it as a matter of the Americans giving a tongue-in-cheek ribbing to the British: rewriting old-world British monarchy as new-world American liberty and freedom. Antinoos69 (talk) 07:31, 31 May 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  History 

message: Relevant as I'm sure they are, I really wouldn't consider the abolitionist verses as 'additional' so much as a straightforward parody of the first verses of the song.  They match up nearly one-for-one save for the references to slavery.  I really don't think anyone would consider those verses to be in succession of one another, but rather a differing version of the song reflecting the nation's colored past, a choice of words I may regret.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2620:0:1004:0:BE30:5BFF:FED0:7B26 (talk) 21:54, 9 October 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: I had never heard of the abolitionist versions of various songs until a recent YouTube video pointed this out.  It seems like this deserves a mention or at least a See Also link, but I can't really find a page under Wikipedia that discusses it.  Speed8ump (talk) 01:36, 7 December 2015 (UTC)

text: I know this is an old discussion, but I wholeheartedly agree with OP.  The abolitionist version is definitely not just some set of "additional versus" as it's called in the article.  The alternative version even starts with the same exact first line, but then goes on to present a different message entirely.  I'm not sure parody is the right word, but it's certainly not just a continuation of the original song. — Satori Son 16:07, 6 November 2019 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree and changed it.--The Eloquent Peasant (talk) 16:47, 6 November 2019 (UTC)
replies: text: Thanks, looks good.  Whether it's notable enough to be in the article at all is probably another conversation for another time...  — Satori Son 16:37, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Additional" Verses 

message: The tune God Save the Queen has remarkably been used for the national anthem of some 14 countries. This will have been deliberate. I would question the statement that a German melody caught the arrangers eye. He must have known that it was God Save the Queen.Royalcourtier (talk) 00:46, 18 October 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  God save the Queen