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Official Lyrics (and
a bit of history) for
"The Star Spangled Banner"
Listen to the Music
Sheet Music
The Star Spangled Banner is
Word and
PDF format
It was the valiant defense of Fort McHenry by American
forces during the British attack on September 13, 1814 that inspired
35-year old, poet-lawyer Francis Scott Key to write the poem which was
to become our national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner." The
poem was written to match the meter of the English drinking song, "To
Anacreon in Heaven" which is kind of weird as it was the English
that they were fighting at the time. In 1931 the Congress of The United
States of America enacted legislation that made "The Star-Spangled
Banner" the official national anthem. Americans like Canadians don't
like to make rush decisions on their nation anthem's either.
While there are 4 official verses to this anthem
generally only the first one is sung. If you have American visitors and
you try to sing all 4 verses, chances are they won't know them.
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, 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 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, when our cause it 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!
Francis Scott Key (1779 - 1843)
"Then, in that hour of deliverance, my heart spoke. Does not such a
country, and such defenders of their country, deserve a song?..."
Francis Scott Key, son of an established Maryland family, was born on
August 1, 1779, in western Maryland (Frederick, MD) on the family estate
of "Terra Rubra." He attended grammar school and later graduated from
St. Johns College in Annapolis at age 17.
Key was a religious man and was involved in the Episcopal church.
Although opposed to the war, he served for a brief period in the
Georgetown Light Field Artillery (1813-14). During the Battle of
Bladensburg, Key assigned field positions to American troops - a duty he
had no expertise in!
In August 1814, Key's friend Dr. William Beanes was taken prisoner by
the British army soon after its departure from Washington. Key left for
Baltimore to obtain the services of Colonel John Skinner, the
government's prisoner of war exchange agent. Together they sailed down
the bay on a truce ship and met the British fleet. Key successfully
negotiated the doctor's release, but was detained with Skinner and
Beanes by the British until after the attack on Baltimore.
Key's vessel (name unknown) was 8 miles below the fort during the
bombardment, under the watchful care of a British warship. It was from
this site that he witnessed the British attack on Fort McHenry, after
which he was inspired to write the words to "The Star-Spangled Banner."
The Star Spangled Banner is
Word and
PDF format
For our American members we present
O Canada
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