{ I love America!! Part1}

...Just in time for the fourth....and due to the fact that I have very little to do right now I thought it would be fun to post some facts and thoughts on our country and all things America over the next few days. So,

Day 1....The National Anthem

Are you familiar with the other verses of the Star Spangled Banner? They are rarely sung in comparison to the number of times that the first verse is sung. As a teenager I decided to memorize all four, so that whenever it was sung I would be able to participate. I love almost more than anything to sit in Church on the Sunday nearest the fourth and stand and sing the national anthem with the entire congregation. Sadly, this year I will not be able to do that, but surely it will still be a part of me on this day.

(The original newspaper printing of the national anthem, now on display at the Library of Congress.)

The Star Spangled Banner

In 1814, Francis Scott Key wrote the poem, Defense of Fort McHenry. The poem was later put to the tune of (John Stafford Smith's song) The Anacreontic Song, modified somewhat, and retitled The Star Spangled Banner. Congress proclaimed The Star Spangled Banner the U.S. National Anthem in 1931.

Oh, 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, thro' the perilous fight,O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,Gave proof thro' 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 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 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 wash'd 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.

O, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand,Between their lov'd 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 preserv'd us a nation!Then conquer we must, when our cause 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!