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Message: [QUOTE="BigBird, post: 1802201, member: 4247"] [I]Verses 3 & 4 And where is that [URL='http://www.dictionary.com/browse/band?s=t']band[/URL] who so [URL='http://www.dictionary.com/browse/vauntingly?s=t']vauntingly[/URL] swore, That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion A home and a Country should leave us no more? Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution. No [URL='http://www.dictionary.com/browse/refuge?s=t']refuge[/URL] could save the [URL='http://www.dictionary.com/browse/hireling?s=t']hireling[/URL] 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.[/I] [I]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. These verses are, if I recall rightly, included in the Episcopal Hymnal 1940. There are omitted from the 1982 version of the same. I would guess that the harsh imagery and language might have much to do with that. As to the music, Kib's post is correct. The tune was wriiten as a fraternal song for one of the hundreds of now-extinct social groups. The tune was picked up and set with alternate lyrics to parody various politicians or most anything else that came to mind. The tune, while somewhat difficult to sing well, is very easy to sing otherwise. It was popular, and was sung in various venues where people gathered, taverns being but one example. Hence, the semi-truth that our anthem was a "drinking song." [/I] [/QUOTE]

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