The Star-Spangled Banner
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"The Star-Spangled Banner"
is the national anthem of the United States of America, with lyrics written in 1814 by Francis Scott Key. Key, a 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, wrote them as a poem after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland, by British ships in Chesapeake Bay during the War of 1812.
Set to the tune of "To Anacreon in Heaven," a popular British drinking-song, it became well-known as an American patriotic song. It was recognized for official use by the United States Navy (1889) and the White House (1916), and was made the national anthem by a Congressional resolution on 3 March 1931. Although the song has four stanzas, only the first is commonly sung today.
Modern history
A famous instrumental interpretation is Jimi Hendrix's guitar solo at the first Woodstock Festival. It became a late-1960s emblem. Whitney Houston's rendition at Super Bowl XXV is often considered one of the best performances of the song.
When sung in public (before major sporting events, for example), verses after the first are almost always omitted, and few Americans know their words. Isaac Asimov's short story "No Refuge Could Save" made light of this: a foreign spy was identified when it was found he knew every stanza, the joke being that no "real" American would know the whole text. It is also sometimes said humorously that the last two words of the national anthem are "PLAY BALL!" since that phrase is shouted by baseball umpires after the anthem is played before games.
Flag of the United States
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
National flag and ensign. Flag ratio: 10:19
So-called First Navy Jack. Once credited by historians as having been used as naval jack, ca.1775–1776, but recent investigations have proven this false. Designated as the US Jack 2002-present.
Union Jack. Used as naval jack, 1960–2002.The flag of the United States
consists of 13 equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton bearing 50 small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows of six stars (top and bottom) alternating with rows of five stars. The 50 stars on the flag represent the 50 states and the 13 stripes represent the 13 original colonies. The United States flag is commonly called "the Stars and Stripes" or "Old Glory," with the latter nickname coined by Captain William Driver, a 19th century shipmaster.
Because of its symbolism, the starred blue canton of the U.S. national flag is called the "union." This part of the national flag also serves as a flag in its own right: the Union Jack used as a maritime flag. The Union Jack served as the naval jack for U.S. warships until 2002, when it was replaced by the First Navy Jack as part of the War on Terrorism. However, the Union Jack continues to be used as a jack by U.S. vessels outside the Navy, including those of the U.S. Coast Guard and NOAA. This Union Jack should not be confused with the, perhaps better known, British Union Jack.
