The Stars and Stripes Forever
Published 1897
Genre Patriotic, American march
Composer(s) John Philip Sousa
“The Stars and Stripes Forever” is a patriotic American march widely considered to be the magnum opus of composer John Philip Sousa. By a 1987 act of the U.S. Congress, it is the official National March of the United States of America.
In his autobiography, Marching Along, Sousa wrote that he composed the march on Christmas Day, 1896. He was on an ocean liner on his way home from a vacation with his wife in Europe and had just learned of the recent death of David Blakely, the manager of the Sousa Band. He composed the march in his head and committed the notes to paper on arrival in the United States. It was first performed at Willow Grove Park, just outside Philadelphia, on May 14, 1897, and was immediately greeted with enthusiasm.
Music
“The Stars and Stripes Forever” follows the standard American military march form. The march begins with a four-bar introduction, which is followed by a dotted, playful melody. Its trio is the most famous part of the march. Piccolo players play the famous obbligato in the first repeat of the trio (the one after the breakstrain). In the final repeat of the trio (grandioso), the low brass joins the piccolo players with a prominent countermelody.
Lyrics
Sousa wrote lyrics to the piece, although they are not as familiar as the music itself. The typical pairing of Sousa’s lyrics with the various sections of the march is noted in the square brackets.
Sousa’s lyrics
[First Strain
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.
[Second Strain]
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.
(repeats) 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.
[Trio]
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.
[Repeat of the First Strain]
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.
[Grandioso]
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.
Tidmarsh’s additional lyrics
In 1942 the John Church Company published a four-part choral version of the march with a piano arrangement by Elmer Arthur Tidmarsh. This arrangement has additional lyrics written by Tidmarsh for the Breakstrain section of the march.
Other lyrics
Many other sets of lyrics, patriotic and otherwise, have been written for the last strain (trio/grandioso). Two of the most widely known such sets begin with the words “Three cheers for the red, white and blue” and “Be kind to your web-footed friends”. The “web-footed friends” parody was sung at the end of every episode of the popular 1960s TV series Sing Along with Mitch. It was recorded by Mary Healy and Peter Lind Hayes in 1954 and by Homer and Jethro in 1955 as “Crazy Mixed Up Song”. The parody lyrics are credited to Charles Randolph Grean and Joan Javits. It was also heard in the Tiny Toon Adventures episode “Hollywood Plucky”, and an episode of Sesame Street; these parody lyrics themselves are well-known enough to have spawned many other parodies of their own.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia