The Star-Spangled Banner
Two hundred years ago this day and night, attorney Frank Key – known to us today as Francis Scott Key – thought he was witnessing the end of the American dream. Opposed to the brutality of war and regarding the U. S. endeavor to take on Great Britain as utter foolishness, Key nevertheless volunteered to be part of an emissary to the British to secure the release of a captive. All went well, except that the British, who had already bombed Washington to pieces and now were intent on destroying Baltimore, felt that Key and his party knew too much about their plans and could not be released. And so Key and his companions were kept aboard a British ship, watched the bombardment of the city, and wondered if this dream of democracy and independence would survive another day. When the shelling stopped at some point through the long night, Key feared that dream was over. But, come morning, when he caught a glimpse of the American flag still flying, his spirits soared and he was moved to pen the words of a poem that was later set to music and much later was named our national anthem.
With this brief background in mind, read Key’s lines again and be moved by the sense of gratitude he must have felt. And, if you have time, listen to Fred Child’s interview of historian and author Steven Vogel, whose book Through the Perilous Fight
I’ll fess up that most of what I know about the history of our national anthem I learned from this interview. But even before hearing the interview I already knew firsthand the power of song. Whether it’s this nation’s anthem or Luther’s “A Mighty Fortress” or the Civil Right’s enduring “We Shall Overcome,” songs move us and unite us and forge us together as a people bound by a common purpose. Which is why, by the way, our Sunday gatherings are so important, as they are one of the last places where public singing – not listening to headphones or downloading songs but actually singing with other people – takes place.
Read Key’s lyrics, listen to the interview if you have time, borrow or buy Vogel’s book if you want to learn more. But in addition to these things, at least once this weekend pause to give thanks to God that is experiment in freedom and democracy, though far from perfect, yet endures.
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!
Francis Scott Key, 1814.
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