Just a post of the roots to our national anthem. We all learned the words to the question it asks of us, but they never bothered to teach us what the answer is. In fact it has been so ingrained in us that we don't even listen to the meaning.
The Star Spangled banner is neither a song of the revolution, nor a song for our independence day; it is a poem about the defense of our freedoms and the duty of all men to protect their Country and their homes.
It was written 36 years after the revolution, near the end of the war of 1812.
The flag had not flown over the ramparts that night, it had been replaced with a storm warning flag and as they raised the star spangled banner the next morning it was seen by the poet onboard a truce ship eight miles away. He pulled a letter out of his pocket and began composing what was to be our anthem.
The Star Spangled Banner
By Francis Scott Key

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?


On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!


And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!


Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

I wonder how many U.S. citizens don't know that The Star Spangled Banner is a poem, and that it has 4 verses?

Thanks for posting this PeaShooter.  
[:)]

Thanks for posting the words to the Star Spangled Banner, I haven't seen since my days in grade school many years ago.

I saw the original flag that hung over Ft. McHenry that inspired the Star Spangled Banner in the American History Museum of the Smithsonian in Washington DC this past summer.  There were pieces that were cut out of it for before the Smithsonsian gained possession of it.  The Museum has taken the flag down for a restoration and maintence.

doesnt get any better than that.

The third verse sends shudders through my spine, but the fourth is my favorite.
You know, I read an article by some POS who said he won't be singing the National Anthem on July 4th because of the Civil War...what a complete moron.

The Civil War left hard feeling for decades down south. I'm told that the folks in Vicksburg, Mississippi wouldn't celebrate the
4th of July until some time in the 1970's. Vicksburg fell to Grants army after a long brutal siege on July 4th 1863, the day after the battle at Gettysburg ended.

The last verse is my favorite.  It always chokes me up.

I also get a bit choked up by parts of America The Beautiful, particularly:

O beautiful for heroes proved
in liberating strife
who more then self their country loved
and mercy more than life

and

O beautiful for patriot's dream
that lives beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam,
undimmed by human tears.

Those always get me.

Wasn't there a band that did a song called "Scar Strangled Banger"?

I believe that the South had some cause for a bit of ill feeling following the War Between the States.  Never has any other part of the country felt the boot of a conquering army of occupation!

But we should remember that Mr. Key was, after all, a Southern lawyer from Maryland. As a penitent Southern slave-owner, he was one of the founders of the American Colonization Society, a group that attempted to end slavery in the South by sending African slaves back to Africa.

Who among us, now, has not thought of rebellion against this government?

Why, the country is almost 225 years old?  Just think what the South must have thought when the country was a mere 80 years of age.

Eric The(PutAllThingsInPerspective)Hun[>]:)]

Excellent,

Its a shame that most people have never read the whole thing.

Happy 4th

Seeing this brings back memories of reciting all four verses while running in place and doing manual of arms with an M1 Garand.  You bet I memorized it.  That and a few other pieces.

Norm

Most of us have seen the inside of a theater on a military installation.  I always enjoyed the National Anthem before the show started.  It was usually accompanied by a film showing things like Arlington, marines/corpmen raising the flag on Mount Suribachi, a jet doing victory rolls, etc.  Now I attend a ballgame and see people of all ages picking their noses during the National Anthem.  I detest people who disrespect the flag, but will hide behind it whenever they feel the need.  COWARDS, all!




My favorite line.  Gives me chills and makes my eyes burn

Speaking of Mount Suribachi, I recently read the last of the flag raisers had died.  :(

Eddie

btt

Anyone who wants an MP3 copy of the song:
USMC band:
[url]http://www.snedegar.net/ryan/USMC-SSB.mp3[/url]
or, with words by the mormon chior:
[url]http://www.snedegar.net/ryan/SSB-Mormon_Tabernacle_Chior.mp3[/url]
They make two verses in their version, first and last.