Boomers — did you have to sing 'patriotic' songs in grammar school?

[Oeditpus Rex]

I've been thinking about this a lot lately, with all the fuss about "God Bless America" at ball games.

In sixth grade, we sang one every morning. The flag salute monitor got to pick one of about four or five. I guess they really drummed 'em into us because I still remember most of the lyrics.

Here's one:

We're Americans, all Americans
We're all Americans and proud to be
We will go along with a happy song
For we're grateful for our li-ber-teee

Opportunity and democracy
Spell a land where happiness is free
We're Americans, all Americans
Let's salute our country 'tis of thee

:puke:

[Heidi]

1. Oh, yes.

And we had some nuclear attack drills, too, as though pulling down the black window blinds and cowering under our desks would protect us in any way. :eyes:

Edited to remove extra comma

[SeattleGirl]

3. OMG, I remember those drills!

Yeah, hiding under the desk would have saved me from nuclear radiation! :eyes:

[billyskank]

51. Put your head between your legs...

...and kiss your ass goodbye! :D

[Oeditpus Rex]

4. I used to think those were weird

Much, much later, I realized the "duck and cover" drills would be somewhat effective in areas several miles from the blast. Yeah, the radiation might get ya later, but at least you wouldn't get hacked up by flying glass 'n' stuff. :o

[Heidi]

6. I remember telling my mom

that if our small town in Oklahoma were nuked, I'd rather die quickly than slowly. Her reply, "Duly noted." :eyes:

[SeattleGirl]

2. I don't recall having to do that, but we did do the Pledge of Allegiance

every day, AND we had to say a prayer before eating lunch. (Now you know that I'm OLD!)

[ChoralScholar]

50. Our school still says the POA

Although, I'm one of the few teachers that does not require the kids to stand and participate.

There are some who do, out of their own desire - which is the way it should be.

[otherlander]

57. Here's an interesting bit of information:

If there are more than ten people saying the Pledge, nobody will notice if you say the first sentence of the Port Huron Statement instead.

[Adsos Letter]

5. Oh yeah

My country tis of thee,
sweet land of Liberty,
of thee I sing...
etc. etc.

I forget the others but we had those nuke drills also. I was in 2nd grade and I remember asking my dad if we were all going to die. He assured me we weren't because we would "take cover" in the broomcloset under the stairs...it was enough reassurance for a second grader, but I can still remember the feeling. :scared:

[dEMOK]

7. What a great (and timely) question!...

I actually have been hearing the Navy song, "Anchors Aweigh" in my head tonight. I'm a blues/rock musician :wtf:?

[Oeditpus Rex]

9. Replace the lyrics with these

remembered from a long-ago issue of MAD:


Our kid's away, thank god
Our kid's away
We're sending him to camp
at thirty bucks a day-ay-ay-ay

Though it's a lot to pay
We raise no fuss
If we complain, then they might
send him back, might send him back to us

:D

[VenusRising]

8. We were saddled with the classic

Fifty nifty United States from thirteen original colonies;
Fifty nifty stars in the flag that billows so beautif'ly in the breeze.
Each individual state contributes a quality that is great.
Each individual state deserves a bow, we salute them now.
Fifty nifty United States from thirteen original colonies,
Shout 'em, scout 'em, Tell all about 'em,
One by one till we've given a day to ev'ry state in the U.S.A.
Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut;
Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana;
Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan;
Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada;
New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina,
North Dakota, Ohio;
Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas;
Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming,
Al -a -o ming.
North, south, east, west, in our calm, objective opinion,
(name of home state) is the best of the
Fifty nifty United States from thirteen original colonies,
Shout 'em, scout 'em, Tell all about 'em,
One by one till we've given a day to ev'ry state in the good old U. S. A.

So fun for kids. :eyes:

Edited to add: I'm not a Boomer, but they made us do it anyway.

[Oeditpus Rex]

10. Good lord

That's horrible! :puke:

Sounds like a camp cheer.

[Hand]

21. Man... that is... um... Atrocious? Unspeakable? Nauseating? Uh...

I have no words. I think the Geneva Conventions address this kind of thing, though. :scared:

[otherlander]

38. Gah, we had to sing that one too!

:puke: I hated that song. So embarassing. I liked This Land, though. :)

[VenusRising]

39. We sang This Land, too.

I liked that one. :)

[Hand]

44. Woody Guthrie!

I guess the school board never got around to exploring his political viewpoints... :toast:

[otherlander]

56. Is he wearing a yahmica?

[querelle]

11. No

But then again, I attended a French school in Montreal. Canadians overall are not that patriotic. We love our country and all that, but we just see no need to wear it on our sleeve all the time. Call it a quiet patriotism if you will.

Q

[Hand]

45. I've always said...

...that Canada doesn't exactly do patriotism--we seem to have settled for an ongoing national identity crisis, which leads to far less trouble. :rofl:

[MissMillie]

12. daily? no, just the pledge

but at concerts there was always one or two patriotic numbers.... and certainly at the Memorial Day pagent.

[raccoon]

13. You mean they don't sing them in school any more?

Yes, we certainly did in my school.

[catmandu57]

14. Yes

and we had to stand beside our desks every morning face the flag cover our hearts and recite the pledge of allegiance with far away thought of a better tomorrow and Murikan dominance of all the worlds resources.

[reyd reid reed]

15. I don't remember the patriotic songs per se

but I do remember, in the third grade, learning all kinds of them in music...like "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and having to enunciate.

What stands out more prominently was, when I was in the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eigth grades in Alabama (Bynum Elementary School and Welborn High School), having to say the Lord's Prayer before we said the Pledge at an official flag ceremony every morning. And getting paddled in the principal's office (Mr. Tinney -- and we had just given him that paddle as a 'going-away' gift because we were in the sixth grade).

[skygazer]

16. Oh, yeah, I remember those

We had a music teacher named Mrs. Witt and she would hit the starting note on the piano and sing, "Readyyyyy...." in this high, flutey voice.

We sang all that stuff. We also memorized poetry -

T'was the eighteenth of April in '75
And hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year
And the midnight ride of Paul Revere...

[Jokerman]

17. Yes, right after the daily prayer. (in public school)

That is, right up until my parents threatened to sue.

[doggyboy]

18. Yes, and I remember nuclear bomb drills

I even remember sitting in the hall, with my head between my knees, thinking "Yeah, this is the last thing I wanna see before I'm nuked"

[Zomby Woof]

19. I am an X'er and we did

After saying the Pledge, we all sang "My Country 'Tis of Thee". This was during the Nixon and Ford years, 1st through 3rd grade.

We also learned to sing on occasion "It's A Grand Old Flag" and "America The Beautiful".

The indoctrination never took. By high school, I no longer recited the Pledge because I saw it as mindless groupthink - no one knew why we were doing it, and it was just mouthing the words because it was expected of us.

[Left Is Write]

29. My daughter's first grade class sang "It's A Grand Old Flag" for Veteran's Day

last fall.

I have to say that they were pretty darned cute. However, I had to stifle myself every time she sang the line, "...where there's never a boast or a brag!"

[Zomby Woof]

32. lol

Yeah, luckily most kids are unspoiled by our ironic times. :-)

[Twillig]

20. When we moved to Oregon in '74

the elementary school I went to had a dedicated music teacher (good old days).

The regular teacher, 4th grade in my case, would march us up to the music room, drop us off and go regain her sanity.

Our (young) music teacher was very much into Joan Baez, Bob Dylan and all that. So, thats what we sang. I seem to also remember 'Billy don't be a hero' being sung.

So, I never sang a 'patriotic' song in school.

[grasswire]

26. let's hear it for music teachers!

Because of my elementary school music teacher, I learned the latin words to "Adeste Fideles", and many old-time folk songs such as "Erie Canal" and "Arkansas Traveler" and "Wait For the Wagon" and all those other songs that describe the American experience. Perhaps the reason I am in a longtime love affair with American popular song is due to that teacher. I have 12,000 pieces of sheet music, heh.

[datasuspect]

49. i went to elementary school in the early/mid 70s

our teacher has us singing peace train while she played an acoustic guitar.

that time wasn't too far off from the hippie era, i imagine some of them became teachers.

[Hand]

22. We got away with "My Country 'tis of Thee"--and a prayer.

This was in California in the early 1960s.

"Our Father
Help us to be kind and good
And (something something) the things we should
In all we do at work or play
To grow more loving every day."

This was in junior high--12-14 year olds, roughly. Effing ridiculous. :puke:

ON EDIT: Plus the damn pledge of allegiance. First thing in the morning. Feh. School sux.

[supernova]

23. At appropriate times of the year yes

Like Memorial Day or Veterans Day, that sort of thing. Also we did them in the band during those times. But I don't recall having to sing patriotic songs as a matter of habit every day. :wtf:

[Lars39]

24. I remember a school assembly once in elementary school

where we sang the usual lineup AND This Land is Your Land. :)

[grasswire]

25. what the hell is the fuss about God Bless America at baseball games?

Aren't baseball games privately owned? Yes. And are ticket-holders forced to sing? No. So what's the fuss???!!

There's precious little collective sentimental memory in this country as it is. And I'm definitely sentimental over the America of Irving Berlin.

"While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,
Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free,
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer.
God bless America..."

Irving Berlin, RIP 1888 - 1989

[Oeditpus Rex]

30. Guess you missed it

At Yankee Stadium, where "God Bless America" is played during every game, ushers hold up chains to prevent people from leaving their seats while it's played.

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/printedition/cs-0705120141may13,1,6688179.story?coll=cs-sports-print

[Bjornsdotter]

27. Oh yeah

Every morning....K-2 "My Country tis of Thee"
3-8 "The Star Spangled Banner"

...and every freakin' music lesson we sang some kind of patriotic song.

We also sang "Shortin' Bread" ....the Civil Rights Movement meant nothing at our school.

Cheers

[Left Is Write]

28. I am not a Boomer. We did, however, say the Pledge of Allegiance

and I also remember singing My Country 'Tis Of Thee and America The Beautiful in elementary school.

I turned ten in 1976, so 4th and 5th grade were full of bicentennial patriotic stuff.

[leftofthedial]

31. My Country 'Tis of Thee

and the pledge

every day

[Joe Fields]

33. Oh yeah, but being patriotic back then was way different than the

Kool aid drinking shit that passes for patriotism these days.

[Zoigal]

34. Consider myself lucky

Taught for forty years but never in a school ( or district) that had

compulsory prayer, daily pledge, or the mandatory singing of any

patriotic songs. Of course, we said the pledge, and when the occasion

was appropriate sang patriotic songs. Never prayer. Taught in MO, AZ,

CA, and OR. Did do the bomb drill stuff though in the fifties in AZ.

[bikebloke]

35. My country tiz a vee

This Land is Our Land. Though later one teacher moved us from Woody Guthrie to Arlo Guthrie.

Air raid drills under the desk or in the hallway. And once they crammed us into a dirt cellar.

[mitchum]

36. Born in 1960. We only sang "This Land is Your Land' (with all of the verses)...

They even knocked off that Pledge of Allegiance nonsense by about 1970 or so

[otherlander]

42. You got to sing the last verse?

Lucky. :)That side was made for you and me...

[mitchum]

43. Yes, and believe it or not, this was in the deep south in the late 60s

[ChickMagic]

37. Oh yeah, we sang them

All the better to show the Soviets. We didn't actually learn the pledge with "under God" in it and I still don't say it today. It messes up the flow. One nation, indivisible, is lovely. Sticking under God in there is unwieldy and is pretty darned divisive.

We also had prayers over the PA system. When I balked at that and made one of my many fusses, my punishment was to read the prayer. I would ditch the prayer and start reading some of the raunchiest parts of the Bible.

Ooh on edit. Did you guys get dog tags? We did and the rumor was they would withstand a certain amount of heat. Gas mask that didn't fit and ass to the window. That's a great way to win a war. :)

[Mutley]

40. Yup

God Bless America 'n' all those regular ones. I don't think I remember the words anymore. :P

[billyskank]

52. !!!!!

mutley!!!!!!1

:loveya:

[billyskank]

53. Oh poo I just noticed the date/time

:(

[Manifestor_of_Light]

41. We had to sing "Texas, Our Texas". YUCK!!!

[NewWaveChick1981]

46. Yep.

God Bless America, America the Beautiful, and a whole assortment of patriotic songs. We also had to recite the Pledge of Allegiance every morning and then have the morning prayer (in public school, mind you) until the school board outlawed it when I was in second grade.

[SPKrazy]

47. My country 'tis of thee

God bless America

seems like more

yes

cold war creating little patriots i guess? :shrug:

[derby378]

48. Yeah, I had to do it, too...

...on stage, with my class, in front of a whole bunch of women whom I didn't recognize. One woman just staring at us with this beaming but somewhat creepy smile on her face. And my teacher threatened to "tear me apart" because I complained that other kids were being put in front of me despite the fact that I was first in line that day. Not a good day.

[riona]

54. Yes indeedy

And one teacher, a former Marine, made us sing many of them while marching in place next to our desks.

[Downtown Hound]

55. I was on the tail end of Generation X

and we still had to sing 'em. Also recited the Pledge of Allegiance every day until I got to high school. The funny thing is, I never even gave a moments thought to what any of that shit meant, and I don't think any of the other kids did as well. It was just something we were told to do, so we did it.

As an indoctrination method, it sucks ass.

[Inchworm]

58. Memorized Luke 2 : 8-14

I'm not a boomer, but I still remember a lot of it because I had to memorize it (its the "and there were, shepherds yadada field by night" passages). It was in a public school in Ohio.

:puke:

I'm glad all that changed by the time my daughter went through school.

:hi: