A confusing moment...

I was watching Barbara Walter's special on the British monarchy last night when I suddenly became confused about the music played during several ceremonies. Why on earth would the Queen walk down a carpeted aisle to the American patriotic tune of "My Country Tis' of Thee"?? Every time I heard it, I started singing...well, the few lines of lyrics that I could remember anyway.

By the end of the program, I was guessing that the colonists had taken a British tune and made up our own lyrics to spite their former homeland. But after some googling, I discovered that I wasn't quite accurate on that assumption.

What really happened was an accident: Samuel Francis Smith, a seminary student, had received some German music from a colleague (to translate) when he ran across that tune and created lyrics to it, not knowing that it's also the British national anthem, known as "God Save the King/Queen".

No wonder I was confused!!