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Date Posted: 15:28:56 06/05/10 Sat
Author: We3Kings (I still can't sing this song without tearing up)
Subject: Star Spangled Banner

If there is one song that remains my favorite out of all the songs I have heard, it is probably this one. Everything about it speaks volumes: its history, its message, its emotion.

Sooooooo many people feel it isn't FASHIONABLE to tear up and be patriotic anymore, let alone sing the song at games, but not me. I love it! I stand up with my children, put my hand over my heart and think about my great grandfather in the "Battle of the Bulge", or my grandfather fighting on the enterprise during World War II, or my cousin who died just days before his release date in Vietnam.

So many gave so much so we can treat it sooooo lightly. I don't care if it is unfashionable to sing along with them! I will do it and I will continue to do it, until I no longer can.

**** STAR SPANGLED BANNER ****

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 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, 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 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.

O! 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!


Additional Civil War period lyrics
In indignation over the start of the Civil War, Oliver Wendell Holmes added a fifth stanza to the song in 1861 which appeared in songbooks of the era.

When our land is illumined with liberty's smile,
If a foe from within strikes a blow at her glory,
Down, down with the traitor that tries to defile
The flag of the stars, and the page of her story!
By the millions unchained,
Who their birthright have gained
We will keep her bright blazon forever unstained;
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave,
While the land of the free is the home of the brave.

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Replies:

[> Grover Henson Feels Forgotten -- Debbie S., 16:16:12 06/05/10 Sat

One of our local Christian radio stations collected over 1,000 care packages this week and sent them to single soldiers. It reminded me of this song from my childhood about a single, lonely soldier in Vietnam.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j03MlnVEoH0

I have my flag flying outside my house and I was glad no one burned it, as too many did across the nation on Memorial Day Weekend. I keep it up until after Flag Day.

When I put it up, I too think of:

My many greats grandfather, Patrick Maguire, who fought with George Washington (yes, I still respect this man), during the Revolutionary War and was with the army during the terrible winter at Valley Forge

My many ancestors who fought in other American Wars, in particular, the Civil War

My grandfather, Huston Sims, Sr. who was an ammunition runner during World War II and who saw many of his friends killed. He fought at the Battle of the Somme.

My uncle, R. Kinion, who was nearly blinded during World War II. He earned a Purple Heart and saved the life of many in his platoon.

My dad's cousin, D. Cheney, who fought at Iwo Jima and his young brother, M. Cheney, who was wounded and captured by then murdered while a prisoner of the Germans.

My cousin, R. Maxey, who few recon and bombing missions over Vietnam.

My "big buddy" D. Russell who wrote to me when I was a kid from Vietnam, where he was a grunt. He was never the same happy guy again that he was before he left.

And a family friend, Aaron, who is to return soon for a fourth tour of duty in Iran and several former students in Iran and Afghanistan.

Greater love has no man (or woman) than to lay down his life for his friends(or fellow countrymen and women).

Patriotism my not be en vogue right now, but I don't care, I am proud to say: "God bless America and her soldiers!"

Debbie S.


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[> [> Ballad of the Green Berets -- Debbie S., 17:41:51 06/05/10 Sat

Also liked this one when I was a kid. A classic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH4-tOqLH94&feature=related


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[> Re: Star Spangled Banner -- En Pointe, 08:29:47 06/06/10 Sun

Cathy:

I have to agree with you that patriotism (in whatever form people tend to see it as these days) doesn't seem to be very much in fashion. But I too love our national anthem! Musically speaking, it's a very difficult song to sing, since it has a relatively wide octave range. It's fun to hear people trying to hit that high note at athletic events. Few make, many don't! I prefer the good ole fashion version without the flourishes added by contemporary singers, which can really butcher the melody and make the song unrecognizable. Although Francis Scott Key didn't intend for his poem to be set to an old English drinking song ("To Anacreon in Heaven"), it's befitting and poetic justice, so to speak, to take an 'old boys' song from a 'gentleman's social club' to represent the anthem of the everyman, as our founders intended for the U.S.

BTW, I also love Sousa marches. Nothing more patriotic than hearing the U.S. Marine Corps Band playing a Sousa march! Also befitting, since at one point in his career, Sousa was a Marine ^_^

Love on y'all!
Joanna


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[> [> Re: Star Spangled Banner -- We3Kings, 17:09:26 06/06/10 Sun

I love Sousa--but that is because I play brass. He favors us trumpeters and euphonists! I often marched to them in parades and so forth, but when we moved to Greenville there was a station that played band music from 7am -8am.

I don't know about you, but that is the WORST time to be listening to sousa!!


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[> [> [> Re: Star Spangled Banner -- En Pointe, 19:05:39 06/06/10 Sun

He may favor brass instruments (they are the 'meat' of marching bands, after all), but he sure manages to put in some difficult stuff for us clarinetists. Lots of mundane background stuff which sounds deceptively easy ^_^ Gotta say though that I love to listen to anything upbeat in the morning. It's the only way I can actually wake up sometimes!

Here on one of the local radio channels, they play the Star Spangled Banner at 07:30 each day, just after someone calls in to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Gets me right there everytime (in the heart that is)....

Love ya!
Joanna


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