Comments

1. Allen P Schuster says:
   January 13, 2012 at 9:38 am

   I would gladly pay the $25 fine for this man. Tell Indiana to send me the bill. I will pay everytime I listen to this wonderful version.
2. E.A. Blair says:
   January 13, 2012 at 9:55 am

   Does that mean that all four verses must be sung? Everybody knows this one:

   O! 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?

   But how many people can go on to sing these without a cheat sheet?

   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, 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 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.

   O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
   Between their loved home and the war’s desolation.
   Blest with vict’ry 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!

   And then there’s this verse, which was included during the Civil War:

   When our land is illumined with liberty’s smile,
   If a foe from within strikes a blow at her glory,
   Down, down with the traitor that tries to defile
   The flag of the stars, and the page of her story!
   By the millions unchained,
   Who their birthright have gained
   We will keep her bright blazon forever unstained;
   And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave,
   While the land of the free is the home of the brave.

   It’s interesting to note that the Isaac Asimov short story “No Refuge Could Save” takes its title from a line in the third verse. In the story, the protagonist notes that he once ferreted out a German spy during World War II because of the spy’s knowledge of the third verse, which is virtually unknown by Americans.
3. Charlie Sommers says:
   January 13, 2012 at 12:22 pm

   I have an average, or slightly below average, voice range and cannot sing the National Anthem without having my voice crackle on the high notes. I really wish the wonderful, but much less warlike “America the Beautiful” was the National Anthem. I can sing that beautiful song with enthusiasm.
4. Paul Frank says:
   January 14, 2012 at 9:13 am

   Senator Vaneta Baker does not understand freedom, or does not care.