shocking : Star Spangled Banner sung at Maine legislature.... IN FRENCH

[tocqueville]

http://www.maine.gov/tools/whatsnew/index.php?topic=HouseDems+News&id=14770&v=Article

"The day began with Fort Kent’s 10-year-old singing sensation Melanie Saucier, who serenaded the House and Senate by singing the national anthems for the United States, Canada and France, in French and English."

this said related to the debate about the Spanish version of the US national anthem...

[long_green]

1. Render Them! One and all!

nm

[uppityperson]

2. French is OK since they don't send over illegal immigrants&terrorists

but France is bad because they don't support the USA. So perhaps we need to sing it in FreedomFrench(tm).

[ShaneGR]

3. Your title is misleading...

That could mean she sung the US and Canadian anthems in English and the French anthem in French.

I really don't care how she sang them, just pointing out your title may be misleading.

[tocqueville]

10. I got it from a French source where ...

the French resident in Maine said that it was really cool that the national anthems could be sung in BOTH RESPECTIVE languages. The Canadian one is bilingual BTW. So I checked if there was an official source, and I found the link in my post above. I think that the manifestation wants to point out that there is a common heritage, despite two different languages. I think we could find similar manifestations in Vermont and Louisiana for example...

[ShaneGR]

11. true...

Who knows, I personally enjoy listening to the french language, very beautiful. English is nice too. I even like Italian opera. :-) Spanish is ok I guess, being a yankee I haven't been exposed to it as much though. I think this whole language thing is rather silly though, no one is really arguing that English is the main language of the United States. Whether people sing the national anthem in spanish doesn't matter, but I think we can all agree that Hispanic communities need to know english or their success in this country is threatened economically in the long run.

[ColdWarVet]

4. Do we have a problem

with Canadians trying to take over this country, blockading our cities, and ranting half the country is rightfully theirs?

[jeff30997]

6. Hey,you discovered our secret plan!

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

9. Nope.

But we've got a problem with a bunch of unamerican bastards not respecting other people's rights to freedom of speech.

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

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[jeff30997]

5. Send her to Gitmo!!!

If French Fries are now called Freedom Fries,then the French peoples are Freedom peoples.:)

[Broken_Hero]

7. oh shit...

my wife, and countless others, have sung the national anthem in cherokee, damn it!! We better run away, before the idiots and pitch forks get here....

[Nikki Stone 1]

8. Yes, but did she transpose it down a 3rd?

That high note is a killer on "the rocket's red glare". We really need a more democratic national anthem that everyone can sing.

[tocqueville]

12. OK here are the French lyrics... you know the music

Oh ! Regardez dans la clarté du matin
Le drapeau par vos chants célèbre dans la gloire
Dont les étoiles brillent dans un ciel d'azur
Flottant sur nos remparts annonçant la victoire.
L'éclair brillant des bombes éclatant dans les airs
Nous prouva dans la nuit cet étendard si cher !
Que notre bannière étoilée flotte encore,
Emblême de la liberté, de la liberté.
Sur les côtes obscures à travers le brouillard épais
Quand l'ennemi hautain, dans le silence arme;
Quelle est cette douce brise qui doucement s'élevait
Nous le fit découvrir dans le lointain caché !
Les premières lueurs de l'aurore matinale
Rayons de gloire brillèrent au lointain.
Que notre bannière étoilée flotte longtemps
Sur le pays de la liberté, au pays des braves !
Oh ! Toujours tant que l'homme libre vivra
Entre son foyer et la désolation de la guerre
Béni par la victoire et la paix, secouru par le ciel
Célébrons le pouvoir qui a su préserver la nation
Et confiant dans la justice de notre cause
Répétons notre devise "En Dieu est notre espoir".
Et la bannière étoilée en triomphe flottera
Sur le pays de la liberté au pays des braves !

http://www.amb-usa.fr/az/h/hymne.htm

(free translation)

[slaveplanet]

13. and here's the French anthem

we should be singing in English

Arise children of our fatherland,
The day of glory has arrived!
Against us, tyranny,
Has raised its bloodied banner, (1)
Do you hear in the fields
The howling of these fearsome soldiers?
They are coming into your midst (2)
To slit the throats of your sons and consorts!

Chorus
To arms, citizens!
Form your battalions!
Let us march, let us march!
Let impure blood (of our enemies)
Soak the furrows (of our fields)

Verse II
What does this horde of slaves,
Traitors, and plotting kings want?
For whom these vile chains
These long-prepared irons?
Frenchmen, for us, ah! What outrage,
What fury must it arouse?
It is us they dare plan
To return to the old slavery!

Chorus

Verse III
What! These foreign cohorts!
They would make laws in our courts!
What! These mercenary phalanxes
Would cut down our warrior sons
Good Lord! By chained hands
Our brow would yield under the yoke
The vile despots would have themselves be
The masters of destiny

Chorus

Verse IV
Tremble, tyrants and traitors
The shame of all good men
Tremble! Your parricidal schemes
Will receive their just reward
Against you we are all soldiers
If they fall, our young heroes
France will bear new ones
Ready to join the fight against you

Chorus

Verse V
Frenchmen, as magnanimous warriors
Bear or hold back your blows
Spare these sad victims
That they regret taking up arms against us
But not these bloody despots
These accomplices of Bouillé
All these tigers who mercilessly
Ripped out their mothers' wombs

Chorus

Verse VI
Sacred patriotic love
Lead support our avenging arms
Liberty, cherished liberty
Fight back with your defenders
Under our flags, let victory
Hurry to your manly tone
So that your enemies, in their last breath
See your triumph and our glory!

Chorus

Verse VII
We shall enter the career (3)
When our elders will no longer be there
There we shall find their ashes
And the mark of their virtues
Much less jealous of surviving them
Than of sharing their coffins
We shall have the sublime pride
Of avenging or joining them

Chorus