Today In History: Oh Say Can You See?
September 13th: Today in 1814 a British fleet in the Chesapeake Bay began the bombardment of Ft. McHenry in Baltimore. For twenty-five hours British ships pounded the fort with everything they had, but at the end of the assault the United States flag was still flying in the fort and the British realised they were stalled in their attempt to capture Baltimore.
Watching the bombardment was a Baltimore resident, Francis Scott Key, who wrote a poem about the attack which was quickly set to music and became a popular patriotic song. In 1934 it officially became the national anthem of the United States.
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 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 vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n - rescued land
Praise the Pow’r that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, for our cause is just,
And this be our motto–”In God is our trust.”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
September 13th, 2006 at 12:59 pm
How about that. I never realized that there were more than two verses. My forth grade teacher taught us the second verse, pointing out that, if you stop at the first, you are at the point of questioning whether the US will prevail, although they way it is usually sung, you can hardly tell that the verse ends with a question. Also, given where it is most often sung, you could take “Play ball!” as the affirming answer.
September 18th, 2006 at 11:19 am
If by some unlikely chain of events I’m called to lead the assembled thong in singing tha national anthem, I’ve always promised myself that I’d sing all four verses. Until then, I usually sing the second verse at ballgames etc., occasionally drawing funny looks from those around me. Somebody did once ask me if I was singing To Anacreon in Heaven.