Original photo by Image Source/ iStock
It’s easy to bungle the lyrics to “The Star-Spangled Banner.” But while forgetting a few of the words is one thing, it may shock you to learn that most people only know a quarter of the song to begin with. The U.S. national anthem actually contains four stanzas, the last three of which are almost always omitted in live performances for brevity's sake. However, despite one verse being favored, all four are a part of Francis Scott Key’s original 1814 poem that the national anthem is based on.
Key wrote the poem soon after the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812, during which British forces bombarded Maryland’s Fort McHenry for 25 hours. As the smoke cleared in the wake of the battle, Key saw the American flag still flying over the fort, signifying a U.S. victory.
Oops, incorrect!
It's a fact“La Marcha Real” has served as the official national anthem of Spain since 1770. Despite several failed attempts to add lyrics, the song remains lyricless today. Spain is one of four countries whose official anthems lack words, along with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and San Marino.
The familiar first verse begins with “O say can you see” and ends with the question, “O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave / O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?” It also refers to “bombs bursting in air,” while the second verse discusses the “dread silence” after battle. The second verse also celebrates the flag still flying as a symbol of a U.S. victory after the fighting.
In Key’s original manuscript, he swaps out the question mark in the first verse with an exclamation point in the second, thus ending with a definitive and joyous declaration: “‘Tis the star-spangled banner, O long may it wave / O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!” With two additional verses, the song ultimately totals 32 lines and 32 bars of music. If you were to perform it in its entirety, the anthem would take around 6 minutes or sometimes far more to sing — a long time to be on your feet at the start of the game.
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Francis Scott Key was a lawyer by trade.
Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote a fifth verse for “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Nearly 50 years after Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the esteemed American poet Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. penned an unofficial fifth verse. Holmes wrote the verse in 1861 at the start of the U.S. Civil War, advocating for freeing enslaved people in the name of liberty.
Holmes writes about “a foe from within” — a stark contrast from Key’s original poem about the British invading America. Holmes’ fifth verse also speaks of “the millions unchain’d who our birthright have gained,” and how their freedom is essential for keeping the flag’s “bright blazon forever unstained!”
Bennett Kleinman is a New York City-based staff writer for Inbox Studio, and previously contributed to television programs such as "Late Show With David Letterman" and "Impractical Jokers." Bennett is also a devoted New York Yankees and New Jersey Devils fan, and thinks plain seltzer is the best drink ever invented.
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