‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ turning 200: lyrics remembered, lyrics forgotten On the morning of Sept. 14, Fort McHenry’s flag, with 15 stars and 15 stripes to represent the Union at the time, still flew. By Josh Dulaney, Redlands Daily Facts Posted: 07/03/14, LYRICS TO “THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER” 1814. Manuscript by Francis Scott Key, 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 through the perilous fight O’er the ramparts we watch’d 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, 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 wash’d out their foul footstep’s 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 lov’d home and the war’s desolation! Blest with vict’ry and peace may the heav’n rescued land Praise the power 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. Maybe it was the pressure of being put on the spot. Like many a seasoned performer before an American ballgame, Addison Nguyen, taking a break between classes at Chaffey Community College in Rancho Cucamonga, froze part way through an impromptu version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” when asked if she could sing the national anthem. Just before the twilight’s last gleaming, she giggled and gave up. “I didn’t even know there were four verses,” Nguyen said. She’s not alone. With the 200th anniversary of Francis Scott Key’s patriotic anthem approaching in September, millions of Americans will sing the song this summer, be it on Independence Day, at sporting events or during patriotic rallies. Like Nguyen, who first learned it at Hemlock Elementary School in Fontana, most will flub a line two and laugh at themselves for forgetting lyrics they’ve sung countless times. What they may not know is that “The Star-Spangled Banner” as sung today is a truncated version of a four-verse War of 1812 song. And with its approaching anniversary, those often-forgotten verses are seeing a new dawn. Key was a 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet in 1814, tasked with obtaining the release of William Beanes, a physician from Upper Marlboro, Md., who was taken by the British after they withdrew from Washington, D.C. From a truce ship in the Chesapeake Bay, Key watched on Sept. 13 as bombs from British vessels fired through the night on Fort McHenry in Baltimore, which, with 50,000 residents, was the nation’s third-largest city at the time. According to the Maryland Historical Society, the keeper of Key’s final draft, the city, drenched with rain, was dark except for the rockets and bombs exploding overhead. On the morning of Sept. 14, Fort McHenry’s flag, with 15 stars and 15 stripes to represent the Union at the time, still flew. It inspired Key to write the “The Star-Spangled Banner” as Baltimore’s residents were looking for a sign they were still free. redlandsdailyfacts/lifestyle/20140914/the-star-spangled-banner-turning-200-lyrics-remembered-lyrics-forgotten
Posted on: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 20:08:01 +0000