The Star-Spangled Banner

Words by Francis Scott Key; tune "To Anacreon in Heaven," 1814

1. 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 thro' 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 thro' 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.

2. 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:
Oh, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.

 

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3. 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 heav'n-rescued land
Praise the pow'r 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.
 

 

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