Almost everyone knows the words to The Star-Spangled Banner. The national anthem of the United States of America was written in 1814 by Francis Scott Key during the War of 1812. However, did you know that there is more than one verse to the song? Today I learned the second stanza of The Star-Spangled Banner.
Feel free to sing along. You know the tune.
On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,And, for your viewing pleasure, here's an oldie but goodie version of the song:
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!
I learned of this fabled second verse when I was little, but none of my American friends knew about it so I thought it was an urban legend. I guess I should have grown up and Googled!
ReplyDeleteAnd anything Jimi is perfection. This was on the first Hendrix album I ever got.