In honor of France's national day: La Marseillaise

The late Jessye Norman gives vision and voice to the French national hymn at the 200th anniversary in 1989 of France's revolution against monarchy and privilege. Even cameo appearances by George HW Bush and Barbara Bush don't detract from this extraordinary pageant.

Our national anthem can be off-putting to some of us with all those "bombs bursting in air," though we may be unaware our soldiers were the targets, not the attackers in that song. French peasants incited to slit the throats of the enemies of their freedom don't make an entirely attractive picture either.

But the French know grandeur, at least in this celebration of La Liberté.