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Old 04-06-2007, 01:02 PM   #12
LateNight
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AnimeSpirit
Actually, it was written as a poem by Francis Scott Key in 1814 but didn't become our anthem until March 3, 1931. Women have had the right to vote longer than we've had this song as our anthem. We have elderly people still alive today what were kids when Star Spangled Banner was made the anthem.

I just feel that the national anthem should be patriotically inspiring. I like God Bless the USA because it's just a more powerful song and addresses not just wars and flags, but the true spirit of the nation. Watch the video if you haven't seen it yet. I'm sure Star Spangled Banner was inspiring in its day, because Francis Key tailored its message to the age he lived in. Reversely, I feel this new age we live in needs a different message.
O.k. So I watched the video. You said be honest... , it was more than I could stand. Please don't take this the wrong way. So the guy loves his country and wrote a song about it. And I'm happy for him. But that song is just too much in the vain, of what is to me what makes up the worst part of country music. Maybe if Hank Williams Sr. had sung it, in a more "americana" genre, I could go for it. But for me, this new song sounds like Canned Country Music to me. I'm sure I'll get flamed for it, but that's just how I feel.

Give me some of that old country music, Americana, alt country, blues, rock, soul, gospel, R&B.

Quote:
On September 3, 1814, Key and John S. Skinner, an American prisoner-exchange agent, set sail from Baltimore aboard the sloop HMS Minden flying a flag of truce on a mission approved by U.S. President James Madison. Their objective was to secure the release of Dr. William Beanes, the elderly and popular town physician of Upper Marlboro, a friend of Key’s who had been captured in his home. He was being accused of aiding in the arrest of British soldiers. Key and Skinner boarded the British flagship, HMS Tonnant, on 7 September and spoke with Major General Robert Ross and Admiral Alexander Cochrane over dinner, while they discussed war plans. At first, Ross and Cochrane refused to release Beanes, but relented after Key and Skinner revealed to them letters written by wounded British prisoners praising Beanes and other Americans for their kind treatment.
Because Key and Michle Skinner had heard details of the plans for the attack on Baltimore, they were held captive until after the battle, first aboard HMS Surprise, and later back on Minden, after which certain British gunboats attempted to slip past the fort and effect a landing in a cove to the west of it, but they were turned away by gunners at nearby Fort Covington, the city's last line of defense. During the rainy night, Key had witnessed the bombardment and observed that the fort’s smaller "storm flag" continued to fly, but once the shelling had stopped, he would not know how the battle had turned out until dawn. By then, the storm flag had been lowered, and the larger flag had been raised.

15-star, 15-stripe "Star-Spangled Banner" flag



Francis Scott Key's original manuscript copy of his Star-Spangled Banner poem. It is now on display at the Maryland Historical Society.


Key was inspired by the American victory and the sight of the large American flag flying triumphantly above the fort. This flag, with fifteen stars and fifteen stripes, came to be known as the Star Spangled Banner Flag and is today on display in the National Museum of American History, a treasure of the Smithsonian Institution. It was restored in 1914 by Amelia Fowler, and again in 1998 as part of an ongoing conservation program.
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