*pops a few knuckles* Right.

[camwyn]

The original design elements of the American flag- the stars, the stripes, and two out of the three colours- were based on George Washington's coat of arms- Argent two bars gule in chief three mullets of the second. (Trans.- on a silver or white background, two horizontal red bars, and in the top silver or white division, three red five-pointed stars.)

In honour of the day, the man, and the country, allow me to offer the portion of the national anthem that I have committed to memory:

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 watched 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
As it fitfully blows
O'er the towering steep
Half conceals, half discloses?

Then 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!

O, thus be it ever when free men shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation
Blessed with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved them 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!

Thank you.

Comments

[dragonwhishes.livejournal.com]

*just sang the whole thing out loud.*

*has made the entire house tell her not to give up her day job.*

[camwyn]

You and the rest of the American population. Nobody sounds right singing this, except for a handful of people.

[dragonwhishes.livejournal.com]

*noditynodnodnod.*

[pelogrande.livejournal.com]

I'm just thoroughly amused that Washington's coat of arms featured mullets.

They truly are the American way.

[sff-corgi.livejournal.com]

*eyelash flutter* MMMMM, blazonry!

[sarekofvulcan.livejournal.com]

http://www.livejournal.com/users/sarekofvulcan/28696.html

[akawil]

Almost complete, from memory:

And where is that band
That so valiantly swore
That the [something some-thing]
And the battle's confusion,
Our home and our country
Would leave us no more?
Their blood has washed clean
Their foul footsteps' pollution!

No refuge could save
The hireling and slave
From the terror of flight
And 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!

After checking: should be "vauntingly" in the second line (that does make more sense), the "something something" is "havoc of war", and it's "A home and a country should leave us no more". Still, pretty good, I think.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

Next time we get together, let's sing all four stanzas, just for the heck of it.

[camwyn]

Sure, why not? I nominate anybody else to learn the 'OMG KING GEORGE EATS BABIES!!!' verse, though. I've already got three, dammit.