O Say Can You See? Celebrating 200 years of 'The Star-Spangled Banner'

Fox News.com ^ | September 13, 2014 | Jane Hampton Cook

[Kaslin]

“O say can you see . . . ?” is the famous question Francis Scott Key asked 200 years ago when he wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner,” our national anthem.

What comes to mind when you hear those lyrics? How do they stir your patriotic soul? Key wanted you to see what he saw, hear what he heard and feel what he felt. O say, can you?

We can remember that the British military burned the White House and U.S. Capitol on Aug. 24, 1814. British Rear Admiral George Cockburn, who set Washington ablaze, believed there wasn’t a “place on the seaboard which can hold out any length of time.” How wrong he was.

[SkyDancer]

A lot of people don’t know there’s four stanzas to it. They think there’s just the one. I still say “America The Beautiful” is a better anthem.

[exit82]

Thanks,Ag.

Great post.The items from Nov. 1814 are terrific, too.

[SkyDancer]

Best ever: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRUjr8EVgBg

[Whenifhow]

thanks for all that info!

Found this video gives historical context.
11:38 Minutes

Star Spangled Banner As You’ve Never Heard It

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaxGNQE5ZLA

Published on Jul 6, 2013
The story of how our national anthem came to be.

[Agamemnon]

I was fortunate enough to obtain my original as the individual pages since the leaves most often reside only in a bound volume with other issues.

FReegards!

[Agamemnon]

Excellent video! Have distributed that to many people today as a result. Many thanks!

FReegards!

[cyclotic]

Any idea who the narrator is?

Sounds a bit like Jack Webb

[Whenifhow]

It does sound like him, but don’t know for sure.

[cyclotic]

Great video nonetheless, except for the narrator calling it Fort Henry.

I just sent it out to the boys in my Trail Life USA Troop.

Thanks for posting it.

[Whenifhow]

The video below is on a play list, so there are several other videos on the right that you could choose from.

This particular video is over 4 hours long and give a lot more history. This is from Fort McHenry.

scroll ahead to about one hour 15 minutes for the live streaming and the history part starts about one hour 20 min

Star Spangled Banner Living Flag - September 9th 2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IB8nEq5Yto&index=2&list=PLOGmzZKR55YFZBd5—Y4A3rTiVgwjzHdn

Streamed live on Sep 9, 2014
On September 9, 2014, over 7,000 school students donning red, white, and blue will create the Star-Spangled Banner Living Flag at Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine. Like their predecessors during the Centennial in 1914, students will be making history as part of the Star-Spangled Banner.

8:00AM-12:30PM Watch the Living Flag at Fort McHenry on September 9th as students create the largest ever Star-Spangled Banner Living American Flag!

[Whenifhow]

In the video in post 30, the park ranger gives a history lesson to the kids from 1:20 to 1:38.

The actual historical part of the video begins around one hour 38 minutes.

[skinkinthegrass]

why? Thank you, very much. ☺

[skinkinthegrass]

Thanks..never saw/knew, I was reciting only 1/4 of the poem.