Thats right. 200 years ago this year Francis Scott key wrote the words to a poem, the defense of ft. Mchenry, and set it to a british tune, and together they form our National Anthem, the starspangled banner. Here at the National Museum of American History, we explore americas history through collections, research and public outreach. We help people understand the past to better make sense of the present and to shape a more humane future. Were hoping that our program will be able to do much of that by bringing the nation together around our National Anthem. By the way, were not just bringing people together here in washington, d. C. , on the National Mall, but also all over our country and indeed world. Id like to send a special welcome to our streaming audience who is watching us via youtube stream and cspan3. Speaking of bringing people together, its very appropriate our opening conductor is well known bringing together singers with his infamous and well done virtual choir projects.
On the surface of things, we , t dont stand a chance. Hat but i cant believe that. I have to believe that there is hope. I have to believe that the y. Upcoming generations will see through all this buying of democracy, will see through the neocons always going for their gun first. I think the kids today are smart, i think that they will see through on this, and i think eventually they will find their, way of protesting. Ontin the way i was brought up is to speak my mind through music. And thats what ill continue to do as long as im on this side of the grass. M let me respeak myself. The idea that crosby, stillsr nash, crosby, stills, nash young, youve had different combinations, but theres alwayb been great harmonies of songs that moved us, made us think a a little more. Youre 72 years old, as you said, and clearly youve had a t long career. Whats next with the relevance of the songs you perform and music you continue to write speaks not just to our. Generation but to younger nned gene
Dillon, we learned blowing in the wind. The answer, my freiend, is blowing in the wind. Pop could literally live it because it was real with him. He would tell us a lot of stories. Between pops and my grandmother, man, those were the best times sitting on the floor listening to stories. But hed sing, if i had a hammer, id hammer in the oh, he was something. Just genius. Just genius. And it was such an honor to meet a man like pete seger. Just like we were invited to blues festivals, we were invited to folk festivals. I didnt understand, i was a young girl. Daddy, these people invited us we would go to the folk festival and all of a sudden we would hear folk songs. I said, well, thats the closest to gospel. Theyre singing truth. Then you look out and you see all these flower children with the flower oh, man, i just loved it. Newport, i would have the best time. Newport this year, newport, rhode island festival in my birthday party. Yeah. [applause] everybody is invited. Everybody is inv
Another pair of sneakers, buy another soda, and leave us alone while we rob you. Thats whats going on today. On a very, very subtle level and sometimes not so subtle. There are many protest songs still being written. If you go to neal youngs website, living with war, youll see about 3,000 of them. But the people that control the media dont want to hear any of that. It used to be that most of the societal changes came from universities, especially the sarbonne in paris and berkeley in Northern California and london to a certain extent. We have trained our kids to be doing this. Thats all they do all day. And its great for them. But its not really a part of the real world about whats going on. We have distracted ourselves from the importance of whats really going on. We are much more interested in Justin Biebers monkey and the size of Kim Kardashians ass than we are in afghanistan, in yemen, in somalia, in iraq. On the surface of things, we dont stand a chance. But i cant believe that. I
200th anniversary of the starspangled banner with speeches and a variety of performances. The program ends with the simultaneous singing of the National Anthem. This event is about an hour and a half. How is everybody doing today . Pretty good. I want to welcome you all to my name is xavier. Today, we are celebrating our national and International Flag day singalong for the 200th anniversary of our starspangled banner. [applause] years ago this00 year, Francis Scott key wrote the words to a poem in the defense of fort mchenry and set it to a british tune. Together, they form our National Anthem, the starspangled banner. Here we explore americas history through collections, research, and public outreach. We help people understand the past to better make sense of the present and to shape a more humane future. We are hoping that our program will be able to do much of that by bringing the nation together around our National Anthem. By the way, we are not just bringing to the people togethe