Four

O 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, through the perilous fight

O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?

And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;

O 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 thro’ the mist 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 on 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 homes and the war’s desolation,

Blest with vict’ry 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.

More “Star Spangled Banner” trivia:

When he wrote the poem, not song, Key was technically a prisoner of war aboard a Royal Navy warship. He was overlooking Ft McHenry which was having “bombs bursting in air” over it due to the warships fighting with the fort. Also, the flag that was “still there” is still there today in the Smithsonian where it is undergoing a massive restoration. Most vistors think it is the flag Betsy Ross sewed, but it’s actually the one flown at the fort. Some stars are missing from it cause they were given out to certain persons who were invovled in the fighting as commendations or something or other. It was not until the conductor/director of the “President’s Own” USMC Band John Philip Sousa came along that the words of the poem were set to music. And, I think, it was FDR that finally adopted the song as the US National Anthem.

All I know is that when I am somewhere that it is being played and can see our flag blwoing in the wind that I stand with my back a little straighter and my shoulders a little more squared.

Yes. And I sing it at each and every dwelling recreation of the Las Vegas 51s baseball crew that I attend: “Oh Say, are you able to see through the daybreak’s early gentle, What so proudly we hailed on the twilight’s final glowing? Whose huge stripes and brilliant stars via the perilous combat, O’er the ramparts we watched have been so gallantly streaming. And the rocket’s pink glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave evidence via the night time that our flag used to be nonetheless there. Oh say, does that famous person spangled banner but wave, Oe’r the land of the loose and the dwelling of the courageous.”. It is the country wide anthem of my nation and the musical image of the freest country on the earth.

There are four verses, but most people barely know the first verse