Vincent Lopez, solemn, rotund dance-band maestro, has always been the soul of patriotism. For years he began or ended each night-club dance program with The Star-Spangled Banner, inviting his starched & spangled customers to clear their throats and sing. Nobody knew the words, and only a few sang; it usually sounded terrible. Finally, sensitive night-club owners asked him not to play it any more.
This worried Patriot Lopez, and he decided then & there that something must be done to make the national anthem more singable. Crux of the problem was to reduce its twelve-note range to something more like the average...