Posted on 05/30/2004 10:09:54 AM PDT by Libertina
The Star Spangled Banner
What does it mean...
The Star Spangled Banner, What does it do for you? It's been through a lot.
Composed September 14th, 1814 By Francis Scott Key after going through
extraordinary circumstances gave this nation a great gift. But it wasn't recognized as
the national anthem until 1916 when it was so by President Woodrow Wilson
by executive order,and then it was mostly played at military events.
Later, the Star-Spangled Banner became the official national anthem
of the United States. But it wasn't till 1931,
and then only due largely to the efforts of
Mrs. Reuben Ross Holloway, president of the Maryland State Society,
United States Daughters of 1812, and Congressman J. Charles Linthicum
of Baltimore. It was only following an Act of Congress, and
Herbert Hoover's signature, that it truly became America's 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.
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!
When I think of all the places in this great nation,
and other places that I've heard those familiar notes,
the one I shall never forget was at Klamath Falls, Oregon.
It was July 20th, 2001, the day that Klamath Falls Calvary,
Head Gate Detachment rode. They rode in over the
ridge 143 strong, in two lines about 150 yards apart converging,
so that two riders crested the ridge every few seconds,
and crossed about two thirds of the way down the hill.
Each horseman had an American flag and the Star Spangled
Banner playing crystal clear. Even the federal agents, stopped and
observed colors, I don't believe there was a dry eye at the site.
Thus was my official introduction to the beginning
of a very long protest in K - Falls.
We were not protesting against our country, but for America, and a way of life,
because we love this nation, and go to great lengths to protect it from harm.
We've seen what it does for our nation....
but what does it do for you?
I hope it makes your heart skip a beat.
I'm sure there are some great stories out there of
where the heart goes when that first note is hit....
Where does yours take you?
How does our National Anthem touch your heart?
It warms my heart and I am overwhelemed at the men and women who fight to keep us free.
short list ping
I just finished singing it before I saw your post.
I'm leaving for a Memorial Day Celebration, and I sang it for my Dad and my brother.
I'm still wiping tears.
EVERYTIME I hear it, or even read the words to "The Star Spangled Banner" I feel the quickening of the Holy Spirit, it was God's chosen song for this country. As former military reserve it gives me a special boost of patriotic pride to know I was born American....in the greatest nation on earth. God Bless America!
Thank you for your touching posts. After 9-11 I was reminded how powerful this song is, and how much it meant to me. My local radio host Kirby Wilbur starts his morning program by playing a different rendition of this song EVERY DAY! It gives me goosebumps and stirs my heart as well! Once, Michael Savage had everyone stop their cars and listen in silence on their way home after work... FReedom is so precious, I urge every citizen to NOT give away what others died to protect...and was given to us by God.
It is ronic, isn't it, that our national anthem has been edited in practice so that its expressed emphasis upon faith in God need not be an issue?
It would be a good thing at Freeps to sing the whole thing.
BTTT IssaquahKing, our thread is up. I know you are in the Utah high country, but post when you make it down and Happy Memorial Day weekend! ONe story I have to relate is from Seattle during another of the left's demonstrations... After saying the Pledge of Allegiance, our little group of 30 patriots sang the National Anthem to the 1000 unwashed across the street. Talk about the POWER of words and ideas... It was as if Holy Water had been poured on a werewolf. LOL
The Star Spangled Banner BUMP
BTTT!!!!!!
After four years of brutally hard work, I arrived at the U.S. Army Aviation Center at Ft. Rucker. A relatively new Lieutenant, I was about to trade my Infantry crossed rifles for aviators' wings- if I was able.
In the subsequent 20 years, I have been a Flight Instructor, Charter Pilot, Corporate Jet Pilot, and for the last eight years, a television news Helicopter Pilot / Reporter.
As Lilly Tomlin said, "If every child grew up to be what he or she dreamed, then the world would have nothing but Firemen and Ballerinas."
I achieved a long forgotten childhood dream to be an aviator. Likewise, I learned what really makes this world go 'round. And it wasn't what those Marxist losers were trying to shove down our throats in college.
God Bless the United States. It certainly has blessed me.
Thru all the battles, wars and protests the Flag is US, it represents who we are.
This song proves that it won't fall !
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
That is what we are !
Not the right song, but, I still love this gif !
From Publius:
As a classical musician, I have some information about the musical side of the piece that might be useful for your thread.
The song began its existence as the opening anthem for the ceremonies of London’s Anachreotic Society in the 1750's. It was titled "To Anachreon in Heaven" and consisted of twelve verses of a debate between Anachreon and Bacchus over the benefits of alcohol. This was fitting because the Anachreotic Society was a gentleman’s drinking club, one of many gentlemen’s societies that dotted the London social scene in the second half of the 18th Century. (There were other societies such the Wig Club and the Hellfire Society that we don’t discuss in the presence of the fairer sex.)
The song was arranged for mixed strings and continuo (harpsichord and cello as rhythm instruments) with a choral complement of two tenor lines and two baritone or bass lines. (In choral-speak it is designated TTBB.) The accidentals (sharps and flats) did not exist in the original melody, nor were there the dotted notes (syncopations) that we’re used to hearing. In its original arrangement in 3/4 minuet time, it sounds like something George Frederick Handel would have written on a bad day. (Some scores attribute the melody to Sidney Smith, but that is incorrect. Smith was an arranger whose gift was writing piano reductions of opera tunes. His only contribution here was to write one of many piano arrangements of the Star Spangled Banner.)
The song came to America without its gentility. It became a favorite anthem of tavern drunks but with different, more vulgar words. In shedding its choral arrangement and becoming a tavern song, a single vocal line was distilled from bits of the tenor and baritone lines, so that the song now began deep in the bass register and ended up several octaves higher in the tenor register. While this made it difficult to impossible for sober people to sing, drunks had no trouble with it.
By a stroke of luck, Francis Scott Key’s poem fit the old song whose melody everybody knew. Thus a new patriotic song was born. In 1931 Congress officially made it the national anthem.
Most wind band arrangements are in B-flat. Vocal arrangements are in the key that permits the singer to do a reasonable job. The best known piano arrangement is in C and was written around 1905 by the piano virtuoso Josef Hoffmann who used it to open his concerts. (When played well, it sounds like there are two pianos playing.)
LOL That's our Publius! (Thank you ;)
Great post.
Mayor, what a beautiful graphic you contributed :) Glad to see you again, I'll be stopping by later at FR's Finest! (And you are :)
: )
It takes me from Concord Bridge till this day. Having worn a uniform myself when I hear the Star Spangeled Banner or see the Flag I feel proud to be part of such a wonderful country. I have an extended family that includes all who were or are presently in uniform and their families. America has her problems but she is the most wonderful country in the world. God Bless America and all who have and will fight to protect her in or out of uniform.
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