Feb. 16, 2010
To the editor:
In the past few days, there have been letters written to the News-Miner pertaining to the adoption of the second verse for our state song, “Alaska’s Flag.” Those letters have dealt exclusively with the content of the words, not the musicality and singing of the second verse.
Last May, I had the privilege to sing “Alaska’s Flag” for the 2009 University of Alaska Fairbanks commencement ceremony. Chancellor Rogers asked if I could sing the second verse in addition to the first and official verse. Immediately, I went to work learning and memorizing the second verse.
While the words may look fine on paper, once set to music, the new verse by Carol Beery Davis is awkward and cumbersome. I was forced to modify the rhythms of our state song in order to fit all of the words in. In addition to altering the music, I had to modify the phrasing of the musical lines to match the phrasing in Davis’ text.
Simply put, the musical lines and Davis’ textual lines are not in harmony with each other. No matter how great you feel about the content of the words in the second verse, they do not fit with the music as well or beautifully as the original. I would urge everyone to call their senator and advise him or her to vote “no” on SB 43. Why turn something that is a pleasure to sing into something that is a burden?
What was wrong with Eight stars of gold on a field of blue?
Alaska's flag. May it mean to you
The blue of the sea, the evening sky,
The mountain lakes, and the flow'rs nearby;
That seems pretty and benign,...
I see, then it has to be the
"The gold of the early sourdough's dreams,
The precious gold of the hills and streams;"
This line clearly shows greedy white man's exploitation, development and an individuals selfish ambition to improve his lot in life at the expense of the natives! Bad white people! now look, they are sucking up black gold.
The brilliant stars in the northern sky,
The "Bear" - the "Dipper" - and, shining high,
The great North Star with its steady light,
Ah yes,.. the North Star navigation aid that helped white men spread their evil imperialistic capitalistic colonialism all over the globe decimating indigenous populations where ever they went over land and sea a beacon to spread their blight! Alaska's flag - to Alaskans dear,
The simple flag that has brought us a today P.C. tear!,. Someone get me a tissue and change the lyrics on this song of cruel Caucasian exploitation!
I'll just mosey along to Israel now to satisfy your xenophobia about outsiders in Alaska... of course, the moment I arrive in my Native homeland, someone living there already will accuse me of stealing the land from them, using many of the same themes you're using here about people moving to Alaska.
Isn't tribal prejudice cool or what?
Agree with the letter and your comment. Good intentions have clouded the discussion of this issue. If it's a song we're debating, then certainly the musicality is a reasonable place to start.
Sometimes I think we're so busy trying to be politically correct that we don't even look at the substance of the idea.
But....don't want to encourage the writing of a better 2d verse, since one simply is not needed.