Bagpipes play Amazing Grace at the 8/28 Restoring Honor Rally

[artificer]

That said, given that he was playing before a general audience in the USA, I would be hard pressed to suggest any other pipe tune that would not have been ethno-specific.

Rod Stewart's "If You Think I'm Sexy" is quite nice when played on the pipes
And not at all ethno-centric
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-e1dYIWu2ME

a pal of mine used to do a ripping version of it that he'd sometimes bust out.

ith:

[Lallans]

For those outside this continent who may not know about Glenn Beck, he's a Fox News commentator with a one hour late afternoon show with a huge following and who believes that the USA must return to its founding values if it is to survive as a democracy. The founding values in question are the Constitution and the practice of trust in God aka faith, combined with a withdrawal of government from managing the lives of the people. Some people really like Mr Beck and some really do not.

[ggibby]

"Amazing Grace" is a funeral song, borderline dirge, on any instrument.
Playing it at any other occasion just brings the vibe waaay down. IMHO.

[artificer]

"Amazing Grace" is a funeral song, borderline dirge, on any instrument.
Playing it at any other occasion just brings the vibe waaay down. IMHO.

That's why "If You Think I'm Sexy" is so great! It's an "Up" song

[castledangerous]

Come on stop. You really think that tune is appropriate for that occasion?

[artificer]

Come on stop. You really think that tune is appropriate for that occasion?

I suppose it depends on what you think of the occasion.
They could have chosen "Battle Hymn of the Republic", which is a bit plodding, but is certainly less of a downer than "Amazing Grace".

The other option is "America (My Country, Tis of Thee)" which has the same tune as the British national anthem "God Save the Queen". Hopefully some piper somewhere would know it.

[castledangerous]

I don't think much of the occasion, and would never pipe for such, so I guess I get your joke

[SteveB]

Amazing Grace was not written as a pipe tune. The fact that it plays well on the Highland Bagpipe has made it instant recognition here in the U.S. There are many tunes that I prefer to play, but good ol' A.G. is what brings in the pay.

The tune is uplifting to some people. I have played it for A.A. groups, and for other spin-off recovery type organizations.

The public seems to know of only two tunes of the pipes - Amazing Grace and Scotland The Brave. These are the two tunes reserved in my book to request only status. I enjoy opening with something like Hey Jude, or America the Beautiful.

[Lallans]

...and the event was somewhat of a religious one. Mr Beck had something like 250 pastors, imans, and rabbis there. He has a somewhat humourous reference to the group that has escaped me, but he intends them to be part of his message. While the selected tune is Christian by tradition, the words (the ones I know anyway) could actually apply to any religion in the Abramic tradition. And speaking of the words, don't I remember that they were written by a former slave trader from the 19th Century, who had some sort of Road To Damascas experience and became an anti-slavery activist? If so, then the tune was appropriate to the anniversary and location of ML King Jr's "I have a dream" speech. (This is going to make for a BIG edit, if I'm wrong about the song....)

[wildrover]

Attn Crowd: LISTEN for the BEAT! Gawd! We're worse than the Scots singing along to Flower of Scotland at a rugby match!

Well, it's more overplayed than the Macarena, and I need a bag full of Q-tips to clean the cheese from my ears, but I don't think there was a more appropriate tune at the time. They needed something recognizable by everyone. Nobody in the crowd would've been emotionally moved by The 79th Farewell to Gibraltar.

Shoulda played "Is Fhada Mar So Tha Sinn" as an ensemble piece .

The most important thing to ask is, was anyone wearing white kilt socks?

-Sean