Story Behind the Song
Francis Scott Key wrote this glorious praise hymn that has become the national anthem for the USA. He was an American lawyer and poet. Key witnessed the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore harbor in 1814. The victorious sight of the American flag still flying over the fort at daybreak inspired him to write the poem "The Star-Spangled Banner," which he set to the tune of an English drinking song, "To Anacreon in Heaven by the Englishman John Stafford Smith.
First printed in a handbill and then in a Baltimore newspaper, it became a popular song. Then in 1931, following a twenty-year effort during which more than forty bills and joint resolutions were introduced in Congress, a was law finally signed proclaiming "The Star Spangled Banner" to be the national anthem of the United States.
Look at the last stanza of this song and see what a marvelous testimony to God that it is! And to know that such powerful words were adopted as our national anthem in the twentieth century is a powerful testimony of how recently the residents of this great land acknowledged God as being its sovereign Lord. Every time this magnificent testimony of Gods lordship over the nations is sung before a ball game, the arguments of those who deny the Christian roots of America torn asunder.
Also notice the powerful statements regarding the roll of war in Gods plan. Can it be that God uses war to institute His will? Consider the words of Americas national anthem which boldly proclaim: Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just. And this be our mottoIn God is our Trust.
The very power of this song makes it so that hardly anyone, though can sing it! Therefore, I didnt even imagine that I could ask Vanessa to sing it. So, I came up with an instrumental. I wanted something different, but I desired to keep the patriotic flair. So, I began the song with horns with a flute carrying the melody, as if it was leading the army into battle. Soon the melodic Steinway piano enters in only to give way to a dynamic cello and electric piano declaring and the rockets red glare. Eventually a full string section is joined by powerful drums that drive the dramatic conclusion home.
We pray that you are blessed by this piece and reminded of the prominent role that our God has played in the history of the United States of America.
Arrangement Copyright © 2000 Don Wigton
A free chord chart to this song is available at the Wigtune Home Page @ http://userzweb.lightspeed.net/wigton/wigtune.htm
Lyrics
The Star Spangled Banner
O! say can you see by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming.
Whose broad stripes & bright stars thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming.
And the Rockets' red glare, the Bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our Flag was still there.
O! 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 new shines in 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.
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion.
A home and a country, shall leave us no more
Their blood has wash'd 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 &c.
O! thus be it ever when free men shall stand
Between their lov'd home, and the war's desolation.
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd 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.
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