Song Search

The Star Spangled Ballad

by Company

on Wake Up America (1971)

[Intro]
Oh say, can you see...?

[Verse 1 – spoken]
It was August in 1814
Along the Chesapeake Bay
The British had taken Washington
And set to the White House than day
Along the mouth of the Potomac
In a sloop named The Benjamin B
Was a man by the name of Francis Scott
On his way to set a friend free
Now, the British were at that river
And they took his boat in tow
And said: "When we've captured Mc
Henry's flag –
We'll be glad to let you go."

[Chorus – sung]
Ohhh!
Fifteen bars and fifteen stars
Flying in the wind
Over Fort Mc
Henry's stone
Waving like a friend
The red, the white, the battle blue
And the star spangled sky
Standing for a nation
Where men could live free lives

[Verse 2 – spoken]
British troops landed at Northpoint
To hit Mc
Henry's flank
As the Navy set up rockets
Along the riverbank
At the Patapsco River
The Union Jack did sail
They had a message for Old Glory
Flying bombs are what they'd mail

Eighteen-hundred bombs
Were sent deep into the night
Francis Scott was worried
His flag was lost from sight
It was the morning of the 14th
When silence finally fell
The British powder had done its worst
Now the dawning light went down

Through the mist, and the drizzle
A lonely figure stood
On deck – staring speechless
His heart was still as wood
A smile reached his lips
As the dawn light revealed
The flag – the flag had withstood
The rain of smoke and steel

[Chorus – sung]
Ohhh!
Fifteen bars and fifteen stars
Flying in the night
Over Fort Mc
Henry's stone
Through the raging fight
The red, the white, the battle blue
And the star spangled night
Stood proudly for a nation
Where freedom was a right

[Verse 3 – spoken]
In his heart, Scott felt a fever
A fire deepened with pride
And on the pages of a loved one's letter
He wrote what he felt inside
The words came quickly as he sailed
From ship to shore, that morn
And when he reached the mossy bank
The nation's song was born

[Chorus – sung]
Ohhh!
Fifteen bars and fifteen stars
Flying in the night
Over Fort Mc
Henry's stone
Through the raging fight...