Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Happy 4th of July!

I really came to love our National Anthem when I began serving in the Army. I prefer our National Anthem performed straight, with no jazzing up:


Mrs. AOW loves choral music, so here is her favorite version:


All the verses of "The Star Spangled Banner":
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 thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, 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 in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh 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 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!

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n 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!

5 comments:

Woodsterman (Odie) said...

Happy 4th of July to you and the Mrs.

Mike's America said...

Thank you for your Happy 4th greetings at Mike's America. I'm glad you enjoyed the photo. I'll probably never take one I like better than that.

Hope you had a Happy 4th!

Z said...

I hope you had fun today!
And I hope you've got AC at home again?
Big hugs to you! xxx Z

Brooke said...

I hope you had a wonderful Independence Day!

Black Sheep said...

And Happy Independence Day, too. Personally I think we should stop saying 4th of July and say Independence Day, since that's what we're celebrating. It's like saying Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. The central point gets lost.