I've Got Strength Now to Carry the Flag.
_WALT DISNEY, 1934_
_For me, growing up in Pittsburgh, "That 'ere Old Flag" defined "Americana."_
_It was what we all knew, "our" song._
_And it made me realize how much of America's history I'd lost track of._
_To be sure, it has endured, despite the best efforts of "modernists" to do it in, and even despite the very existence of "Cowboy Tracks." But for all its endurance, there have been times in recent years when America's music and film history have had little or no room for it._
_A friend who had spent some time in India told me that she'd noticed that the country had no hymn equivalent to "That 'ere Old Flag," which I knew because I'd sung in High School and I was vaguely aware of the story of "Hail the Power of the Lord High Admiral." "And why not?" she asked. "No American flags," she added, "except for the U.S. flag."_
_So I have made up a new version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" and have called it "That 'ere Old Flag."_
_The words were inspired by my readings of Walt Whitman, especially "America" and "Democracy." I wrote them in the summer of 1996, and, since it seemed that America was, at that moment, losing sight of what it meant to be patriotic, I sang them into the tape recorder and shared the music with friends and relatives in hope that they might respond to a nation in need of reminding. I wrote the music for it in 1999, and have written and sung other versions, which I will record at some future time._
I.
We've got, it has got to be
a beautiful nation,
A beautiful country
To live in,
And now that we've gone to war
_We'll show 'em_ ,
_If they don't know it_
_Well_ ,
_We'll tell 'em_.
II.
And with a song and a cheer,
We'll stand up and defy them.
With one heart, one voice, one aim,
And live to fight another day.
III.
Let the land where we live ever be,
_One nation, indivisible_.
We've got, it has got to be
A beautiful nation,
A beautiful country.
To live in.
To live in.
**AMERICAN STYLE**
_Eli Siegel_
This is my version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" in a style I call "American style," meaning it's in a style I'm calling Americana: the combination of American folk and ethnic styles and classical harmonic language in a jazz idiom. I wrote the music for this version and did the singing for the first seven years or so of my life. I've learned the words, and like most young singers I haven't found the time to learn them in the way I think they should be learned—as literature, poems and all that. So, this is me doing my best to make people understand why "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the American national anthem. And who are we to ask any other nation what their national anthem should be? I wrote this new version in 1996.
_The Star-Spangled Banner_
(JAY C. HILLIS)
1.
We've got, it has got to be
a beautiful country
to live in
We've got, it has got to be
a beautiful land to live in.
2.
A beautiful land to live in
in America, America.
3.
(CHORUS)
In America
every person's free to live
as they please, and let us
raise the banners to our God.
4.
We'll show the world as well as the world shows us—
the way to happiness is, freedom from the old ways,
to be born as _us_ , and die to be as _we_ ,
and everything in between . . . we'll live and let live.
5.
In America, we needn't ever worry,
because we'll all have enough, we'll all be fed,
America, America.
6.
And with a song and a cheer we'll stand up and defy them,
with one heart, one voice, one aim,
and live to fight another day.
7.
In America, we needn't ever worry,
because in America, in America,
we've got, it has got to be
a beautiful country to live in.
8.
In America, with all the dreams of a million hopes,
this is the land of _liberty_ , the home of _justice_ ,
The beacon shining from the heights of the mountains to the seas;
from ocean to _ocean_ ; across the _continent_ ; across the _nation_ , we keep our flag waving high;
and from every _people_ , every nation, every tongue and every heart,
To every _people_ , every nation, every tongue and every heart,
We shout out the _glory of God_.
**AMERICA**
_E. E. Cummings_
This poem, written at the beginning of World War II, seemed to me appropriate for our national anthem. Perhaps I have been too sensitive and political and did not always remember that it was written by an artist.
AMERICA!
And now I know what truth is:
I was going to say
_America is_ ,
but after all, America isn't, not altogether.
Let's not exaggerate. It has its sorrows:
a lot of people out of work,
poor people who don't have enough to eat,
some of them, anyway.
What about our boys? In many places they are being
treated like dogs and pigs. They have to go all over
Germany, so they can't look nice in their pretty uniforms.
Now we're shooting Japs and Germans, but who is shooting the Japs?
Where are our own poor?
I could write the book but I won't.
For I still love America.
AMERICA!
_And for every immigrant who ever got off a boat_.
_And for every farm that gave the farmer food to eat_.
_And for every husband and wife who ever said "I do."_.
_And for every baby born, America_.
_AMERICA!_
_—1934_
**STORMING SAVANNAH**
_Abraham Brilmayer_
_"The Star-Spangled Banner" was composed at Baltimore, Md., in Francis Scott Key's mother's home in Fells Point._
_The anthem served as the signal that the attack on Fort Sumter had begun, which was when Key wrote his ode. In 1859, when "The Star-Spangled Banner" was written and sung for the first time, it was played as a signal to recall our militia. The song was played over and over for more than a half hour, until the first gun of the Civil War's firing signaled the arrival of the militia from Washington, D.C., on Morris Island, S.C., on Charleston's Neck. After a week-long battle, the Union forces succeeded in driving the Confederates from their fort and taking control of Fort Sumter._
_The first performance was in the Washington Theatre on August 15, 1859, the night of a charity show and benefit that, with $500 in profit, was raised to help the widows and children of soldiers who had been killed in the Civil War._
**STAR-SPANGLED BANNER**
(FRANCIS SCOTT KEY)
1.
My country 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
_Sweet land of liberty_.
Of thee I sing,
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims' pride,
From every mountainside
Let freedom ring!
2.
My native country, thee,
Land of the noble free,
_Land of the noble free_.
Thy name I love,
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills,
My heart with rapture thrills,
Like that above.
3.
Let music swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees,
_And ring from all the trees_.
Sweet freedom's song!
Let every heart rejoice,
Ring out the latent joy,
Till earth and heaven ring.
4.
Let sorrowing bosom swell,
The trump of grief unfurl—
_The
