Posted on 06/05/2010 6:40:12 PM PDT by scottfactor
“The Star-Spangled Banner” is the national anthem of the United States of America. The lyrics come from “Defence of Fort McHenry”, a poem written in 1814 by the 35-year-old amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy ships in Chesapeake Bay during the Battle of Fort McHenry in the War of 1812 (“Defence” proper spelling for time period). Most people can recite the first verse of the poem, as it is the verse our National Anthem is based on. However, at a recent Tea Party event, a man began singing the most important verse…Read the lyrics then give a listen:
(Excerpt) Read more at scottfactor.com ...
The second verse was always my favorite.
Mine also. The first verse is a question. “Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?”
The second verse says what is required for the answer to be “Yes”.
Our National Anthem is a perpetual question, just as the continued existence of this land of the free is a perpetual question, dependent entirely upon the vigilance and will of the people who guard (or don’t guard) it.
If we sing the National Anthem and forget that the question is perpetual, it won’t be long before the answer is “no”.
My favorite is the third verse—which contains a reference to Job 7:2.
He sang the FOURTH verse.
there is an actual missing verse to the song it self that spoke about blood in the streets....I published it in 1974 in our first ever cable TV guide as an extra article....I don’t have the time to find it now as I’m off to work, but if any one you want to google the picture of the written copy you can see the verse for yourself....
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!
most excellent...thank you
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