facts behind the star spangled banner song

Praise the power that hath made and preserv’d us a nation! O thus be it ever when freemen shall standīetween their lov’d home and the war’s desolation!īlest with vict’ry and peace may the heav’n rescued land O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave. No refuge could save the hireling and slaveįrom the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,Īnd the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution. That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusionĪ home and a Country should leave us no more? O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!Īnd where is that band who so vauntingly swore, ’Tis the star-spangled banner – O long may it wave In full glory reflected now shines in the stream, Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam, What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,Īs it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses? Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes, On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave? O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there, O’er the ramparts we watch’d were so gallantly streaming?Īnd the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming, O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light, Here’s all four verses, via The Smithsonian: In fact, Key had used the “Anacreon in Heaven” tune for an 1805 poem. Although Key was a poet, he always intended for “The Star Spangled Banner” to be accompanied by music, notes. The song’s tune is derived from the tune for “ Anacreon in Heaven” by John Stafford Smith. Each verse ends with the familiar line “O’er the land of the free and home of the brave.” While the only verse of “The Star Spangled Banner” performed today is the first, Key actually wrote four that went on to describe the scene at Fort McHenry.

Facts behind the star spangled banner song