I don’t know, while that one is iconic I’m not sure it actually synthesizes the true spirit of america quite like starting off the Oscar Mayer Weiner 500 like that…
I heard that we were able to identify spies because of this. Apparently they were taught the full anthem whereas Americans do not recite the full one. It’s funny to imagine these spies thinking they’re absolutely killing it and the Americans looking at each other like “we gotta get rid of them, huh”.
O say, does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave,
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
Second stanza answers it.
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 on 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!
This verse is referring to the british, not menial laborers or chattel slaves. “Hirelings” was (is?) an insulting term to describe a mercenary, and the implication is that they are either brigands who are only in it for a pittance wage, rubes who do it because of a loyalty to the monarchy and/or impressed soldiers of the british (a practice with many parallels to chattel slavery, for what that’s worth). A modern version might call them “sheep” with a similar implication.
And it’s important to add, one of the cassi belli for the war of 1812 was the british impressment of sailors on American vessels, including American citizens.
The song was written about the war of 1812, not the revolutionary war.
As the wikipedia article points out, during the revolutionary war most of the black Patriots were recruited from the north already as free men of color and were at the time lionized for their actions (albeit in predictably racist terms) - and abolition would take over the north quite quickly afterwards (most having some form of abolition well before 1800). The first continental congress also banned the import of slaves in 1774 (though abolitionists cheered it at the time and rightly so, it should be said that this was primairly a method of applying economic pressure to the british), and would set up the civil war by doing so.
And this is how I learned there were 4 verses to the star spangled banner https://www.lyricsondemand.com/n/nationalanthemlyrics/usanationalanthemlyrics.html
I thought verse two was: “Play ball!”
No, it’s “Gentleman, start your engines!!”
True americans know that it’s…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBYdJjcoo4A
The most patrioticly american moment ever on television.
I also would’ve accepted “Boogity, Boogity, Boogity, Amen.”
I don’t know, while that one is iconic I’m not sure it actually synthesizes the true spirit of america quite like starting off the Oscar Mayer Weiner 500 like that…
I heard that we were able to identify spies because of this. Apparently they were taught the full anthem whereas Americans do not recite the full one. It’s funny to imagine these spies thinking they’re absolutely killing it and the Americans looking at each other like “we gotta get rid of them, huh”.
The full length is the poem, the anthem is just the first verse.
Same. I have never in my life heard anything after “O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave”
The song sucks anyway, there I said it.
If you think about it, it ends in a question.
O say, does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave,
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
Second stanza answers it.
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 on 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!
Do the other 3 verses count if nobody knows them?
Yeah its pretty fucked up.
The fuck?
This verse is referring to the british, not menial laborers or chattel slaves. “Hirelings” was (is?) an insulting term to describe a mercenary, and the implication is that they are either brigands who are only in it for a pittance wage, rubes who do it because of a loyalty to the monarchy and/or impressed soldiers of the british (a practice with many parallels to chattel slavery, for what that’s worth). A modern version might call them “sheep” with a similar implication.
And it’s important to add, one of the cassi belli for the war of 1812 was the british impressment of sailors on American vessels, including American citizens.
Well, except Britain promised freedom to slaves that fought for their cause, so I still assume it means slaves in the literal sense.
Kinda fucked the US didn’t do the same given the whole fight for freedom bit…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Americans_in_the_Revolutionary_War
The song was written about the war of 1812, not the revolutionary war.
As the wikipedia article points out, during the revolutionary war most of the black Patriots were recruited from the north already as free men of color and were at the time lionized for their actions (albeit in predictably racist terms) - and abolition would take over the north quite quickly afterwards (most having some form of abolition well before 1800). The first continental congress also banned the import of slaves in 1774 (though abolitionists cheered it at the time and rightly so, it should be said that this was primairly a method of applying economic pressure to the british), and would set up the civil war by doing so.