On March 3, 1931 – The Star-Spangled Banner Became Our National Anthem for America. The lyrics come from the poem “Defence of Fort M’Henry” written in September 14, 1814 by Francis Scott Key.
The Star-Spangled Banner was first recognized for official use by the US Navy in 1889. On March 3, 1931, the US Congress passed a joint resolution making the song the official national anthem of the United States, which President Hebert Hoover signed into the law.
The Star-Spangled Banner” has four verses, although the second through fourth verses are not commonly performed.
O! 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 through 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 now shines on 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 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.
O! thus be it ever, when freemen 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 Power 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.For more of the info go to The Star-Spangled Banner – Wikipedia
I never knew the whole song of the Star-Spangled Banner and now I will. This song is sung at all different kinds of events the represent the United States.