US National Anthem - Star Spangled Banner

If you need a copy of the Star Spangled Banner Lyrics
(words),
they are here - including the second through fourth verses
that many people have never even heard.

On Sept. 13, 1814, Francis Scott Key visited the British fleet
in Chesapeake Bay to secure the release of Dr. William
Beanes, who had been captured after the burning of
Washington, DC. The release was secured, but Key was
detained on ship overnight during the shelling of Fort
McHenry, one of the forts defending Baltimore. In the
morning, he was so delighted to see the American flag still
flying over the fort that he began a poem to commemorate
the occasion. First published under the title “Defense of Fort
M'Henry,” the poem soon attained wide popularity as sung
to the tune “To Anacreon in Heaven.” The origin of this tune
is obscure, but it may have been written by John Stafford
Smith, a British composer born in 1750. “The Star-Spangled
Banner” was officially made the national anthem by
Congress in 1931, although it already had been adopted as
such by the army and the navy.

Anna Case, 1917
Star Spangled Banner - MP3
Star Spangled Banner - Real Player

The US Marine Band, 1953
Star Spangled Banner - MP3
Star Spangled Banner - Real Player

Jimi Hendrix : Live at Woodstock
Right-Click to Download MP3

Sheet Music - 1861

If you were at Woodstock, you remember how Jimi Hendrix electrified the crowd with
his enthusiastic rendition of the Star Spangled Banner.

This "books" contains the sheet music for Jimi's electric guitar version of the Star
Spangled Banner (and other goodies).

Jimi Hendrix: Live At Woodstock Performed by Jimi Hendrix. For guitar and voice.
Format: guitar tablature songbook. With guitar tablature, standard notation, vocal
melody, lyrics, chord names, guitar notation legend, introductory text and colour
photos. Psychedelic Rock, Hard Rock and Classic Rock. Series: Hal Leonard Guitar
Recorded Versions. 200 pages. 9x12 inches. Published by Hal Leonard.
See more info...

And we've included not just the first and second verses, but
all four - every word! Enjoy!

The Star-Spangled Banner
—Francis Scott Key, 1814

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' 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 thro' 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 thro' 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:
'T is 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 wash'd 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 homes and the war's desolation;
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd us as a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause 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!

St Aiden's South Africa

National Anthem of the United States of America

Star Spangled Banner