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