O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' 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 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 on the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner: O, 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 wash'd 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.
O thus be it ever when free-men shall stand
Between their lov'd home and the war's desolation;
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd 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!|||Well, I like the tune. It meanders up and down the scale in a free, lurching style that just sounds like a couple of stiff drinks. And the lyrics, especially the latter ones, have that quintessential spirit of American exceptionalism. Invincibility, self-justification, God on our side, who couldn't like that?|||actually, it is an ugly national anthem, based on an English drinking song.
Do you remember that spanish translation of the Star Spangled Banner? That was f-ing funny as hell.|||I think it is awesome. And if you understand why he wrote it, you will never look at the flag flying over the Twin Towers rubble the same again.
Hey Jack, some of our best church hymns were based on drinking songs. What is your point?|||It was written during the battle that made America a free country by Fransic Scott Key, a man who was so moved by the sight of the American flag, waving high on its staff that he wrote that all from the bottom of his heart =)|||It's perfect in every way.|||It is FINE... as good as anything else. If it were to be rewritten to represent our people it would be a miserable and wretched song about mean, self-centered racist SOB's who live in fear and isolation and all they care about is hording their material wealth and keeping everyone else away from it... and most of all keeping everyone off their land... of course that is the middle class. The upper class is much worse. The lower classes are more giving and loving but the majority are nasty.
or maybe YMCA by the village people, no?
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