SPEAKER 1: MCGREW Welcome to the 6th Grade Patriotic Concert!  Today we will be celebrating our American Pride, our Tennessee Pride, and our Karns Pride!  We’ve got some great songs for you, and you might learn a thing or two! Enjoy the show!

SPEAKER 2 : BELFORD Please Stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. (pause)  Salute.  Pledge.
                              (Pledge)
                             Please Remain Standing for the singing of our National Anthem.

SPEAKER 3: LEATHERS(Before SSB)  The Star Spangled Banner is actually a poem set to music by Francis Scott Key. On September 14^th, this song celebrated its 206th birthday! You’re invited to stand and sing the most well known 1^st verse with us!

Star Spangled Banner

O say can you see by the dawn’s early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave

SPEAKER 4:  FLETCHER Our next piece, “My Country Tis of Thee” was our unofficial national anthem for almost 100 years!  Ironically, Samuel Francis Smith remixed this song by taking England’s National Anthem “God Save the Queen” & adding new words after we severed ties with them to become our own country.  We sing this in celebration of Constitution Day that occurred this month on September 16^th.

My Country Tis of Thee

SPEAKER 5:  CASTRO Many people think this next song should be our National Anthem.  “America the Beautiful” was written by Katharine Lee Bates, and it showcases some of the beautiful landscapes in our country like purple mountains and amber grain.

SPEAKER 6: HILL In our own state, we have 3 completely different regions with varying landscapes. That’s why we have three stars on our flag – one for each region. Middle Tennessee is known for the Cumberland Plateau. East Tennessee is known for the Smoky Mountains, all kinds of wildlife, and Bluegrass. In West Tennessee, Jackson is the home of Rockabilly, Memphis is known for it’s Jazz & Barbecue, and the landscape there is perfect for farming & agriculture. 

America the Beautiful

SPEAKER 9:  BROWN Our next few songs are tunes that are our Tennessee state songs. Tennessee might as well hold the record for the greatest number of official state songs. As of 2012, the State of Tennessee lists nine official state songs on its webpage

SPEAKER 10: MAYNOR  The State flower is the Iris, and the state bird is the mockingbird. Tennessee is tied with Missouri for the title as the, “most-bordered state.” Weirdly, Reelfoot Lake in West TN is known as the “Turtle Capital of the World.” There are also a lot of weird laws still on the books in TN from way back in the day. 

SPEAKER 11: LOPEZ You can’t carry a skunk over state lines, it’s illegal to lasso a fish, and the only animal you’re allowed to hunt while in a moving car is a whale. Here’s another contender for state song that’s as quirky as those laws – “Chattanooga Choo Choo.”

>CHATTANOOGA CHOO:  SOLOISTS!

Only learn this one if you want to audition for a solo:

Pardon me boy, is that the Chattanooga Choo Choo?
Track twenty nine, boy you can gimme a shine
I can afford to board a Chattanooga Choo Choo
I’ve got my fare and just a trifle to spare
You leave the Pennsylvania station ’bout a quarter to four
Read a magazine and then you’re in Baltimore
Dinner in the diner, nothing could be finer
Than to have your ham ‘n’ eggs in Carolina
When you hear the whistle blowin’ eight to the bar
Then you know that Tennessee is not very far
Shovel all the coal in, gotta keep it rollin’
Woo, woo, Chattanooga, there you are
There’s gonna be a certain party at the station
Satin and lace, I used to call funny face
She’s gonna cry until I tell her that I’ll never roam 

So Chattanooga Choo Choo – Won’t you Choo choo me home!!!

SPEAKER 12:  HANKINS Our State Capital is Nashville, but Kingston was the state capital for one day during this very week in 1807. Nashville is known as the home of country music, although Knoxville & Bristol are considered the birthplaces, where country music got its start. The Grand Ole Opry holds the title as the longest radio show in history.

SPEAKER 13: STANLEY Famous musicians who were born on Tennessee Soil include Dolly Parton, Justin Timberlake, Aretha Franklin, and Tina Turner! Roy Acuff, Jessica Andrews, Greg Allman, Billy Ray Cyrus, Miley Cyrus, Kesha, Al Green, Isaac Hayes, Bessie Smith, Mary Costa, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, WC Handy, Minnie Pearl, Usher, 36 Mafia, Big Star, the Band Perry, and the Fisk Jubilee Singers. Many of them have covered this next song, “Tennessee Waltz,” the most well-known state song from our long list.

>SOLO OPPORTUNITY: Only learn this one if you are auditioning to do a solo:

Tennessee Waltz

ROCKY TOP!

SPEAKER 12: Thank you for …..LUNSFORD