So, there’s a pretty good chance me and Lee Greenwood won’t be around for the big day.
There are many musical arrangements of the Star Spangled Banner, including one by John Phillip Sousa that is particularly difficult to.play let alone sing to. However, my favorite is a short simple arrangement by Felix Vinatieri, band master for Custers 7th Calvary. A CD of Vinatieri’s music entitled Custers Last Band includes this arrangement.
https://www.allmusic.com/performance/plantation-quick-step-for-brass-band-mq0000518524
It was a patriotic song, liked by marines.
I heard (sort of rumor) that on the first Olympics (1896), they played an anthem for the winners (as they do even now).
But Americans had no anthem to play! So somebody there suggested Star Spangled Banner.
Since then, Star Spangled Banner became US Olympics and Sports anthem, which then helped the case for its official adoption thirty five years later.
I heard it, I am not sure, if it’s true, correct me if I am wrong.
Is it still played at NFL games?
This last July, I was in Washington DC to gather with some friends. On one of the days I was there, my family and I visited the Smithsonian National American History Museum.
One of the things that was there, that I had completely forgotten was there, was the flag the song speaks of.
It’s on the 2nd floor Of the museum. As you walk in from the entrance, there is a wavy bunch of silver strips representing a waving flag With the words ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ above it. As you enter the exhibit , it goes up a slight ramp into a darkened , black walled area... and there it is on your left, behind glass... THE Star Spangled Banner itself. The very flag that Francis Scott Key saw flying over Fort McHenry on that September morning, so long ago. For a flag that’s over 200 years old, it looks surprisingly good. When I caught sight of it, I have to admit that I choked up and teared up.
I was thinking about all that flag represented. How one brand-new country stood up against what was then the biggest empire in the world...and WON. TWICE.
As you walk through the exhibit, there are artifacts and writings from the time. There are also exhibits of how the flag was preserved and cared for through the years.
At the end of the exhibit Are several representations Of the poem and the song. There is a picture of the original writing of Mr. Key’s poem. And, there are several manuscripts and pieces of sheet music with the song. In the background, repeating on a loop, is a very well done spliced together audio of various versions of the song. The last section of the audio is of the late Whitney Houston, singing the Anthem at the 1991 Super Bowl, which many consider one of the best renditions of the Anthem ever done.
In all honesty, seeing that exhibit gave me hope that somehow, we’re going to make it through the garbage we’re going through right now.