Why do we only sing the first verse of the "Star Spangled Banner"?
 

A friend of mine is getting ready to become a citizen, and she asked me a damn good question: "Why don't we since more than the first verse of the 'Star Spangled Banner'?"

Now, I knew there was more than one verse, but never posed the question to myself. She said she looked on the Internet last night, but couldn't find an answer to that. I did a quick search this morning, and sure enough - you find websites that talk about how awesome the poem is, give you all the verses, talk about flags, and even famous people who sang (and some destroyed) the song.

I figure that I'll leave the deep searching to others - I've got some of the smartest friends with the most random bits of information stored in their mental lockers.

Does anyone here have a clue into this mystery?

How long do you want to wait before a ball game?

Agree with Moonliner. It's just too long.

You want to hear Roseanne Bar sing all 4 verses?

Those of you who've been to such preluded events with me know I LOVE me some belting out of the SSB.

I had no idea it had more verses .... so look out.

Hey guys - this is what I told her, but it's a question that came up while she's studying for her test next week... does no one have any idea?

Oh, 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 thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, 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, 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 in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh 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 washed 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!

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved 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!

'Cause it's too long and sh*tty as it is?

Because it's the only verse people know.

I should iterate that it's a question she thought of - not one in prep for the test. I just feel it's my job as a citizen to actually have some knowledge of these things! Eek!

In other SSB news, we did find some a site that discussed the omission of the third verse : Down at the bottom of the page

I suspect there really isn't a good factual answer beyond, "that's just the way it is settled out over time."

The full version generally takes more than 6 minutes to sing which I suspect is simply longer than most people want to spend on it. And most people suck at singing it anyway so why lengthen the pain. Plus, when engaging in vacuous acts of pseudo-patriotism being too lazy to actually finish it is a nice damning touch. Finally, it would be rude to make old people stand that long, in the hot sun with their hats off, at baseball games.

I gotta imagine it's a length thing. No one wants to spend that much time singing an anthem.

My relatives came over on the Mayflower. I'm exempt from know these things.

That's a good question. As a follow-up, you might ask your friend why she doesn't go back to wherever the hell she came from.

I really like the second verse.


So I'll say they dropped the 3rd and 4th because they were gruesome and dismal and stretched beyond rhyme-singing possibility.




But the second verse is awesome and inspiring and, frankly, better at conveying what I thought as the historical essence of the piece than the part we all actually sing. I don't know why we dropped it, but I wish we hadn't.

Agree with them. Besides, it's way to hard to retrain everyone to start cheering after 3 more verses.


Eh, my mom knew more American history when she became a citizen than I remembered. ;)

Dude, iSm... the Average Joe has a hard enough time remembering the words to the first verse, and you want them to master the entire song? I think it's a simple matter of expediency.

Just like the rest of the words for America the Beautiful are cool but nobody knows them:

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare of freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for halcyon skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the enameled plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till souls wax fair as earth and air
And music-hearted sea!

O beautiful for pilgrims feet,
Whose stem impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till paths be wrought through
wilds of thought
By pilgrim foot and knee!

O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife
When once and twice,
for man's avail
Men lavished precious life!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee!

Awesome... but who can remember all that? Certainly not your "average" Joe.

We generally don't sing additional verses to Jingle Bells either. Which is a pity.

Now, in the great tradition of this thread, you must post them.








ETA: I knew only one of the additional America the Beautiful verses because it was featured as the finale to Disneyland's CircleVision America the Beautiful.

Me too... I knew the "Alabaster cities gleam" part (not memorized, but was aware) and found the rest when I went looking.

I've sung the Banner a few times, and I can tell you - as much as I love the song, it's just a bitch to sing! Some of the finest voices I've ever worked with have trouble getting through one verse, let alone four.

Now, about America the Beautiful. I sang three verses of this at a moment of silence gathering the week after 9/11.

"Thine alabaster cities gleam, undimmed by human tears!"

I almost lost it there...

Jingle bells, Batman smells
Robin laid an egg
The Batmobile lost a wheel
And the Joker got away!



Oh, you meant the ORIGINAL version. Here ya go:

Dashing through the snow
In a one horse open sleigh
O'er the fields we go
Laughing all the way
Bells on bob tails ring
Making spirits bright
What fun it is to laugh and sing
A sleighing song tonight

Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh
Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh

A day or two ago
I thought I'd take a ride
And soon Miss Fanny Bright
Was seated by my side
The horse was lean and lank
Misfortune seemed his lot
We got into a drifted bank
And then we got upsot

Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh
Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh yeah

Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh
Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh

How are those lyrics that are not sung all the time? I have about 28 versions of Jingle Bells, and 93% of them sing both verses.


(0% use the Batman Smells verses)

There are more than 2 verses. At least according to the children's book and accompanying 8-track I had as a child. (The chime means you turn the page!)

Who the hell is Miss Fanny Bright?

Maybe this will help ;)

So is that your bum after a good spanking? Fanny bright???

Yeah; I don't think that is what the original writers had in mind...

Did you notice the verse in the middle?

:D

iSm didn't read the British definition? ;)

Of course I read the verse in the middle, and its heard in every version of the song.


And the British are retards.


That is all.




And, yes, I'm using the word more often than ever now. Unintended consequences of consciousness.

Fanny, Fannie, and Fan are all diminutives of Frances.

ETA: As are Fran and Frannie