|
THE STAR SPANGLED
BANNER
Words by Francis Scott Key
Music b John Stafford Smith
On Sept. 13, 1814, Francis Scott
Key visited the British fleet in
Chesapeake Bay to secure the
release of Dr. William Beanes,
who had been captured after the
burning of Washington, DC.
 The
release was secured, but Key was
detained on ship overnight
during the shelling of Fort
McHenry, one of the forts
defending Baltimore. In the
morning, he was so delighted to
see the American flag still
flying over the fort that he
began a poem to commemorate the
occasion.
The melody was first published
in England circa 1780 as To
Anacreon in Heaven. The
melody was probably written by
British composer John Stafford
Smith
In 1916, President Woodrow
Wilson ordered that it be played
at military and naval occasions.
In 1931, the Star-Spangled
Banner became our national
anthem.
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, 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, now
conceals, now 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 wiped 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.
Oh! thus be it
ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and
the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace,
may the heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made
and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, for our
cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God
is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner
forever shall wave
O'er the land of the free and
the home of the brave!
|