Our National Anthem

We hear the The Star-Spangled Banner played many times during the year, and it always amazes me how many people don't know the words or meaning of our National Anthem. I'm even more shocked when someone is chosen to sing it and muffs the words. How do you not look up the lyrics and study them before singing in front of thousands or even millions of people?

Our anthem celebrated its bicentennial recently, but I hear that some people think we should dump it because they say it glorifies war and violence. This notion is completely false! Don't people listen to the words? Have they ever read the whole song beyond the first verse?  How do you hear and even sing this great song and not know what it means?

First there's the story behind the anthem. It was written during the only war in which the US was invaded and under attack. Francis Scott Key wrote it while watching the British attack on Fort McHenry in Baltimore harbor during the War of 1812. The lyrics mention "rockets" and "bombs", but these explosives were being shot at us, not by us. The composer was expressing gratitude and amazement that the flag still waved after the fort suffered a bombardment that lasted all through the night. It doesn't glorify war, it glorifies bravery in the face of opposition, the resilience of our nation, and the pride of seeing our flag-- that ol' star-spangled banner-- and knowing that she stands for bravery and freedom in spite of opposition from tyrants.

The first verse basically says this: "Look... it's dawn... can you see if the flag is still there? All through the battle we watched for it and through the night by the light of exploding bombs and the fire of rockets we saw it, but does it still wave over its brave defenders and this free land?"  It is a song about the hope for the reassurance that the flag gives us that our land of liberty is still there

The second verse answers the question. In essence it says "We see it! It catches the light and there it is! May it long wave over this land!" The third verse then gives sympathy to the battle weary soldiers who fought in defense of the fort. But the fourth verse is the verse that I wish we would sing more often.  It is this:

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!


There's a movement among the so-called progressive (aka politically correct) crowd to make America the Beautiful our national anthem. I think it's a great song, too, but this song is also misunderstood by many. I'm sure they think it's a peaceful song about the environment... purple mountains, amber grain waving in the wind, shining seas... aaah...  Well, it starts out that way, but then it gets very religious, something I'm sure they would hate!  The first verse calls upon God to be merciful and to "crown our good"-- in other words, exercise the grace to bless us for obedience, seeing our good and granting us a reward of unity as a nation.

The second verse glorifies pilgrims and explorers who beat a path across the wilderness, the third glorifies war heroes. and the fourth patriots who foresaw urban development. But all verses inject a prayer to God to bless America-- to mend our flaws and to refine our golden goodness ("till all success be nobleness and every gain divine").  In other words, we are beautiful as a land, but God bless the USA for being beautiful in the eyes of God as well!

While I think it's a great song and I would love to have a national anthem that called upon God in the first verse and not the fourth, I still stick by the simple message of the anthem we've had for all these decades which reminds us that the flag we face, place our hand or hat over our heart and pledge our allegiance to is a symbol of our nation's brave defenders (the 13 stripes) and unified freedom (the 50 stars).