Star Spangled Banner Flag

Oh Say Can You See...

The Star Spangled Banner flag has 15 stripes and 15 stars, and it was this flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the beautiful Star-Spangled Banner lyrics. The two additional stars and stripes represent the entrance of Vermont and Kentucky into the Union.

Key was a witness to the 25 hour British attack on Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. When he finally saw the star spangled banner flag flying at dawn, Key was inspired to write the words to the Star Spangled Banner on the back of a letter. You can view a photograph of the original manuscript here here - courtesy of Virtualology.

A Congressional resolution that was signed on March 3rd, 1931 declared that the Star Spangled Banner song would be the official national anthem of the United States of America.

The fifteen stars on the Star Spangled Banner flag were arranged in vertical rows. Each row contains three stars. When the Star Spangled banner flag was introduced, it was still the practice to add both a stripe and a star with the induction of a new state.

Fun Fact: One of the 15 stars on the original
Star Spangled Banner Flag was cut
out and given away in the 1800's.
More pieces are missing at the edges
due to people taking pieces as patriotic keepsakes

The Smithsonian Institute has a very nice, interactive photograph of the original flag. You can zoom in and see some great details and learn some interesting trivia about this old American flag.

I've never heard a better rendition of the Star Spangled Banner than the one that Whitney Houston sang before the 1991 Superbowl. You can listen to that version in the video below.

Fun Fact: The first stanza of the Star Spangled Banner song
is full of questions. These questions are answered
in the other stanzas, but they are rarely sung.

The Star Spangled Banner Lyrics

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 star-spangled 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 star-spangled 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 star-spangled 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 star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Star Spangled Banner Song Downloads

You can download many versions of the Star Spangled Banner song, by many different artists. I'm including a few of my favorites below. These are available on iTunes.

The one below has many patriotic songs - 100 Traditional Patriotic Music Favorites : Use for Military Ceremonies and Honors - Can Also Be Used As Ringtones.