The National Anthem is just not a song I can sing. It’s way too war like, and really not a good tune at all. Doesn’t have a good beat, can’t dance to it, and not many can sing it well. Let’s hope France Scott Key was a better lawyer than he was songwriter. If I were running the show, I’d commission Stevie Wonder to write a new anthem.
The Star Spangled Banner by Frances Scott Key
Oh, 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 thru the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that starspangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
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 starspangled banner! Oh 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 starspangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory 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 starspangled banner in triumph shall wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
This was the first National Anthem. Better, but we still need Stevie Wonder’s version.
Oh, and I don’t say the Pledge of Allegiance either. My parents are not very nice people in a lot of ways. At the age of 15, the courts made me an emancipated minor because they felt living on the streets would be safer for me than living with my parents. They do not know my new name or where I live and that’s for my safety.
They did do some things right though, no one is all bad. They raised me around all kinds of people of color, from all different cultures. They were union born and bred and politically active Democrats. They were atheists and raised me as one, not allowing any of their kids to say the Pledge of Allegiance due to "one nation under God" being added.
As you can see by Itzl's concerned look, this group is for us to check in at to let people know we are alive, doing OK, and not affected by such things as heat, blizzards, floods, wild fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, power outages, or other such things that could keep us off DKos. It's also so we can find other Kossacks nearby for in-person checks when other methods of communication fail - a buddy system. Members come here to check in. If you're not here, or anywhere else on DKos, and there are adverse conditions in your area (floods, heat waves, hurricanes, etc.), we and your buddy are going to check up on you. If you are going to be away from your computer for a day or a week, let us know here. We care!