We arrive once more at the Fourth of July, birthday of Louis Armstrong and George M. Cohan. (Which may not be entirely accurate, but, as the newspaper editor in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" says, "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.")
Our music choices for today are Jimi Hendrix's explosive version of "The Star Spangled Banner," and the even quirkier "Fourth of July" symphony by Charles Ives.
But having neither at hand, we offer Cohan's great song:
I'm a Yankee Doodle dandy--
Yankee Doodle, do or die,
A real live nephew of my Uncle Sam,
Born on the Fourth of July.
I've a Yankee Doodle sweetheart,
She's my Yankee Doodle joy.
Yankee Doodle went to London,
Riding on a pony--
I am that Yankee Doodle boy!
A special wave of the flag to residents of, and descendants of, Bad Axe, Michigan.
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How striking is the contrast between the origin of the United States and that of Canada!
ReplyDeleteThe USA is a thoroughly European ideal, conceived in accordance with the constitutional concepts of Montesquieu's "Esprit Des Lois" and born amid volleys of revolutionary gunfire, the rockets' red glare etc.
(The Dominion of) Canada, by contrast, came into being amid the scratching of quill pens at Whitehall. We've had our bellicose moments too, but we've been wise enough not to chisel our constitutional notions in stone. As in Britain and other commonwealth nations our democracy has evolved smoothly and sedately. Thus the recent attempts to emulate the Independence Day hullaballoo of the USA don't entirely ring true for Canada.
It's interesting to note that if the United State were governed by a parliamentary democracy similar to that of Canada, D. Trump would be heir presumptive to the White House and Paul Ryan would be his prime minister. Hmm! Better to, as Archie Bunker would phrase it, "Let fighting dogs lie."