Stars and Stripes Forever

It's not a holiday or anything; no particular reason to be patriotic today.  But I have just been watching one of my favorite movies, Heartbreak Ridge, which closes with "Stars and Stripes Forever." And that made me start surfing the Internet for information about this magnum opus of John Philip Sousa, the Marine and gentleman pictured to the left.  Which in turn made me put together this post.

Sousa composed "Stars and Stripes Forever" on Christmas Day, 1896.  It was such a hit that it is practically universally recognized, and known by heart by any band musician.  This is probably why, in the circus, it serves as the "disaster march": the signal for dire emergency (such as the deadly Hartford, Connecticut circus fire of 1944) that calls circus staff to action without instantly panicking the audience.  

Did you know "Stars and Stripes Forever" has lyrics?  Here they are:

Let martial note in triumph float
And liberty extend its mighty hand
A flag appears 'mid thunderous cheers,
The banner of the Western land.
The emblem of the brave and true
Its folds protect no tyrant crew;
The red and white and starry blue
Is freedom's shield and hope.
Other nations may deem their flags the best
And cheer them with fervid elation
But the flag of the North and South and West
Is the flag of flags, the flag of Freedom's nation.

Hurrah for the flag of the free!
May it wave as our standard forever,
The gem of the land and the sea,
The banner of the right.
Let despots remember the day
When our fathers with mighty endeavor
Proclaimed as they marched to the fray
That by their might and by their right
It waves forever.

Let eagle shriek from lofty peak
The never-ending watchword of our land;
Let summer breeze waft through the trees
The echo of the chorus grand.
Sing out for liberty and light,
Sing out for freedom and the right.
Sing out for Union and its might,
O patriotic sons.
Other nations may deem their flags the best
And cheer them with fervid elation,
But the flag of the North and South and West
Is the flag of flags, the flag of Freedom's nation.

Hurrah for the flag of the free.
May it wave as our standard forever
The gem of the land and the sea,
The banner of the right.
Let despots remember the day
When our fathers with might endeavor
Proclaimed as they marched to the fray,
That by their might and by their right
It waves forever.

"Stars and Stripes Forever" is, by law, the official march of the United States.   In 1998, in a rare fit of brevity, Congress enacted what is now codified as 36 U.S.C.A. § 304, which reads in its entirety:

The composition by John Philip Sousa entitled "The Stars and Stripes Forever" is the national march.

Finally, in the (highly unlikely) event you have never heard "Stars and Stripes Forever" -- or you have heard it, but would just like to hear it again, links to two audio files:

A one-hundred-year-old recording of "Stars and Stripes Forever," performed by Sousa's Band for Edison Records

A more recent (and first-rate) performance by the U.S. Marine Band