This is something we need...

[Dhalgren]

Battle Hymn of the Republic
by Julia Howe


Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword;
His truth is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on.

I have seen Him in the watch fires of a hundred circling camps
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps;
His day is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His day is marching on.

I have read a fiery Gospel writ in burnished rows of steel;
“As ye deal with My contemners, so with you My grace shall deal”;
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with His heel,
Since God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Since God is marching on.

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat;
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet;
Our God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Our God is marching on.

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free;

While God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! While God is marching on.

He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is wisdom to the mighty, He is honor to the brave;
So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of wrong His slave,
Our God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Our God is marching on.



This was the anthem that carried the nation to victory when last this nation was taxed by the forces of evil and degeneracy. Let us take it up now, Atheist and Christian, Jew and Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu. This is the anthem of our nation...

[Jackpine Radical]

1. Sadly, the people who sang that song in 1863

were imposing a harsh and unforgiving rule on the crushed South by 1866, thereby fertilizing the ground for many of the noxious weeds that still bedevil our political garden.

[Dhalgren]

3. I was born and bread in Alabama and I will tell you, that I have taken

this anthem to freedom to heart early on. I am atheist, but this anthem speaks to the core of the evil that beset our nation from it's beginnings until the end of the first phase of the evil in 1865. After that the evil persisted and MLK fought against it and died fighting the evil. It is something that we still must fight, even today. There was no measure harsh enough for the unspeakable inhumanity that the South, through slavery, brought upon this nation. We are now faced with another horrible evil that we must face up against. I just hope that this great anthem can lead us to crush this current evil, as it lead our nation to crush the evil in 1865.

Peace...

[Jackpine Radical]

7. I don't dispute the evils of slavery or the inhumanity of the slave owners,

but I think the policies of Reconstruction kept wounds open much longer than need have been. If Lincoln had lived (and I think he may have been assassinated by the machinations of rabid northerners like Stanton), I think American history would have been much the better.

Incidentally, I see a parallel between Reconstruction and the aftermath of World War I, which created the conditions in Germany that gave rise to Hitler. We were much wiser with the Marshall Plan after WWII.

[wundermaus]

2. ... to be inspired... patriots arise!

Chorus... US Army...
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/natlib/ihas/service/patriotic/100010422/100010422.mp3

Instrumental... US Air Force...
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/natlib/ihas/service/patriotic/100010421/100010421.mp3

[Dhalgren]

4. I stand with you, patriot! Glory...

[blondeatlast]

5. Keep your "Eyes on the Prize" and keep the inspiration coming, DU

Eyes on the Prize
Solo:
Last night I had a dream,
(Choir: Ooooo)
About a light that was so bright,
I don't know why,
It has to be a dream.

All:
Why can't I,
Where will I,
God help me,
Help me find a home.

Just keep your eyes on the prize,
Don't be dismayed,
Don't be dismayed.
Deep in your heart,
You must believe:
Everything is gonna be alright,
Everything is gonna be alright,
Everything is gonna be alright someday!

Solo:
Sometimes it's hard,
Sometimes it's cold.
(Choir: Ooooo)
Sometimes I'm in,
Sometimes I'm out.

All:
No! I haven't had much to eat,
Lord knows I haven't had much sleep!

So keep your eyes on the prize,
Don't be dismayed,
Don't be dismayed.
Deep in your heart,
You must believe:
Everything is gonna be alright,
Everything is gonna be alright,
Everything is gonna be alright someday!

Men:
Dum dum dum duuuuum (repeat)

Women:
We shall overcome, (x2)

All:
Everything is gonna be alright,
Everything is gonna be alright,
Everything is gonna be alright someday!

Men:
Everything is gonna,
Everything is gonna,
Everything is gonna be alright, say!
Joined by altos and then sopranos

Basses:
Dum dum-ba dum-ba dum dum-ba dum, a-dooba-dooba-dooba (repeat)

All:
Everything is gonna be alright,
Everything is gonna be alright,
Everything is gonna be alright someday!

[Dhalgren]

6. Thank you, patriot!