I learned something new last night that kind of blew my mind!
I’m sort of hesitantly sharing this, because I’m not exactly sure if this SHOULD be new information to me…..I kind of wonder if this is one of those things that everybody else already knew, but I sort of somehow missed the memo??
Last night while Asher was at swim dryland, I decided to sit down with Ethan for a practice session on the piano. I wish I did this more often but I just haven’t been good about making time for this lately.
Anyway, on his assignment list was to “listen to two different versions of the song “America, My Country ‘Tis of Thee” on You Tube in preparation for starting this piece. Our piano teacher’s very talented percussionist daughter is also writing an accompaniment for Asher to play along on his snare drum, so hopefully come the 4th of July we can have a nice little patriotic concert.
So, we pulled up the song- we randomly ended up with one version from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and for some variety, we picked Kelly Clarkson’s version from President Obama’s 2013 Inauguration ceremony as the other. Both very nice.
I would assume most people that live in the U.S. would know this song, but in case you don’t, here is a video link (if reading in email, you need to click through to the site to see videos!):
Well, as we were puttering around on You Tube, we discovered that England’s national and royal anthem, “God Save the Queen”, is the exact same tune!! And, that “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” was actually apparently the United States’ unofficial national anthem until the “Star Spangled Banner” was adopted in 1931.
Well, how about that! I had absolutely no idea about that. I now realize that obviously the “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” was based on the tune of “God Save the Queen” which would have come first, but I just never knew that. Somehow I have lived 36 years in this world and apparently have never actually heard England’s national anthem, either!
We found this nice rendition with beautiful views of St. Paul’s in London in 2012, featuring the Queen. Worth a watch! So pretty!!
This all led us to also watching Canada’s national anthem, since Ethan was curious (I HAD heard this one for sure) and also Mexico’s. Embarrassingly, I also really didn’t know Mexico’s anthem very well, despite being married to a Mexican citizen for almost 13 years now and having traveled to Mexico countless times! I know I’ve heard bits and pieces before but never the whole thing. Very pretty! Also, very peppy! I would expect nothing less from Mexico. 😊
It’s here if you want to listen:
So there you have it! My “I learned something new” moment of the day. It was a nice little time with Ethan, too, just the two of us tinkering around online together.
On a side note, as we watched the videos of the anthems (which all managed to give me chills- I guess I’m just a sucker for anything patriotic and moving videos), it got me thinking about how interesting and sort of odd it must be for Ivan to stand and sing along to “The Star Spangled Banner”.
I mean, he is a U.S. citizen now and has lived here a long time now. But still, as I was listening to the Mexican anthem, I thought, “It would feel REALLY strange to be standing and saluting a different flag and nation!” Not bad or wrong, but it would probably just feel kind of funny if you were born and raised in another country!
He’s never really said anything about it, and being the pretty laid back guy he is, I doubt he really even thinks about it. I’ll have to ask him. But still, it was just another deep thought for the evening.
It’s a another beautiful day out there so we are heading out on our walk soon. Today is technically my last “flex” day off of work before we get to resume full time next week! Yeah! I’ve enjoyed the days off but my pocketbook likes the full time pay better. 😊
Someone, please tell me…. was all of this common knowledge?? Haha! Did you know this about “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” and “God Save the Queen”??
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful that I have a pretty wide, open day ahead of me! I don’t have any big plans, I don’t need to drive the boys anywhere…I’m looking forward to just getting some stuff done and enjoying some time with the kids.
GRATEFUL KAE 
Haha yeah I did know that already. I am not sure when I learned it – probably many years ago. To be fair I do live in Ireland (which also has a lovely anthem but I can’t sing it bc it is in Irish) so we get a lot of news, tv shows, and other influence from the UK/England.Another fun trivia fact: the words of the song actually change depending on whether the monarch is male or female. Right now it’s God Save the Queen. If/when Queen Elizabeth dies and her son Charles ascends to the throne, the song will be God Save the King. There. Did I blow your mind again? ��
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I did NOT know that either, until this morning when I was pulling up the video links…I saw a comment on one of the you tube videos that mentioned that about it being Queen/King depending on who is the reigning monarch!
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My husband and I went on vacation to Scotland and attended the Braemar Highland games. What we did not know when we made the plans is that the Queen attends! She was there with Prince Phillip and Prince Charles. Standing there while everyone sang knowing that she was present brought a tear to my eye-and yes, we sang along. We also left the games early, and as we walked back to our rental car, her car passed within 10 feet of us.
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Oh, wow! That is so cool! How lucky to have that happen all by chance! There is just something about the Queen and the whole Royal Family that is just so intriguing. All the history behind it, I guess!
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I did not know that but I couldn't have hummed the tune for "God Save the Queen" as I haven't heard it very often. The only other national anthem I am somewhat familiar with is "Oh Canada." I do really like national anthems, though! It's nice to have a song that unites the country. And that version of God Save the Queen is very beautiful, especially with the brass! I'd love to hear more about how you met Ivan! You should do a post about that as I imagine many of your readers like me are curious! I think you must be fluent in Spanish as I believe you mentioned reading a book in Spanish recently. So I"m thinking you were fluent before meeting him, perhaps through studying abroad? That's what my husband did (in Spain). He is no longer fluent, though, as he doesn't use his Spanish any more and it's use it or lose it! But our son goes to Spanish Immersion daycare so he is using Spanish more now – he understands everything, he just has a harder time responding but he can get by and it's really helpful to have him speak Spanish as it's the native language of Paul's teachers so it's easiest to talk to them in Spanish.
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That's a good idea, Lisa! I'll make a note of that. That would be a fun post to write. 🙂 I'm always curious about stuff like that too. That's awesome that your son is in a Spanish immersion daycare! That's the best age to learn a language…but I'm sure you already knew that!
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