Change the tune

I have a simple solution to all the controversy and protests regarding the playing of our national anthem before NFL games. And it’s an alternative that even Donald Trump would likely agree with. For those of us who are either tone deaf or have voices like a cement mixer, “The Star-Spangled Banner” is extremely difficult to sing anyway. So let’s simply replace Francis Scott Key’s 200-year-old standard with a more appropriate tune that summarizes the real American dream of players, owners and spectators alike.

My choice would be Barrett Strong’s original Motown recording of “Money.” It’s pretty easy to visualize the Stars and Stripes flapping gently in the breeze, with 60,000-plus people bonding together in harmony and happily vocalizing, “Money don’t get everything, it’s true. But what it can’t get, I can’t use. I need money, that’s what I want!”

Dave Ayres

Spokane