The Real Story of Fourth of July: It's not in the history books, it's in the lyrics

You already know the Fourth of July is the birthday of our nation, your nation, our country. You likely recall it as the day our fore-founders signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

This weekend without a doubt you will hear the verses of our national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” singing in your head and first penned by the poet Francis Scott Key:

O! 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 through the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?

And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Mister Key was a lucky man living during an unlucky time. He was on a ship observing a battle of The War of 1812 when he wrote our theme song.

Do you even remember studying the War of 1812 in sixth grade?


But you do know all three verses of that amazing song, or at least you can sing the first and hum the other two.

Mister Scott Key wasn’t a commissioned artist who was instructed to string together words of propaganda for a cause. He was a regular man observing the causalities of war as his country fought for free trade and against the British tyranny.


He was merely a man searching for peace in the middle of the night. He likely was just tired and couldn’t sleep when the words spilled out from his head onto the paper.

The “Star-Spangled Banner” wasn’t the first nor was was it the last instance of an American turning to paper to express love for his or her country.


And how about when teacher Katharine Lee Bates while traveling on a train in 1893 observed the natural wonders from state to state:

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!

Bate’s word were put to music in 1910 and titled “America the Beautiful.”


You can’t go to a parade tomorrow without hearing the upbeat drum counting the rhythmic march of “Yankee Doodle Dandy.”


This is what kids call going old school, but I enjoy a toe-tapping good song that captures our history in all of its red-white-and blueness.


I also like a few gold sequins on a costume.

And I definitely like watching a guy playing the drums:

Yankee doodle, keep it up,

Yankee doodle dandy;

Mind the music and the step,

And with the girls be handy.

There was Captain Washington

Upon a slapping stallion,

A-giving orders to his men,

I guess there was a million.

And then the feathers on his hat,

They looked so' tarnal fin-a,

I wanted pockily to get

To give to my Jemima

Don’t you love whistling a tune from 1755, where the lyrics include the word “Doodle” which means "fools" and the line "the girls will be handy?" You see – Patriotism is sexy and a girl magnet! The Doodles are fools and the girls are “clever” and not easy. Isn’t music grand?

I could continue connecting Fourth of July to great music closer to our day. We could weave the current events to great song writing but I think you have seen your share of Oliver Stone movies or caught a couple of VH1 Behind the Music episodes.

You know there are artists on this earth who feel the pain of others and observe the injustices of war and prejudices of many. They serve a greater purpose than merely collecting shiny awards. They are historians, witnessing the good and the bad, composing the soundtrack for us to celebrate another year as the UNITED States of America.

Happy Birthday to All my loving Rock-n-Rollers

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Freedom, Music, Forever . . .


~Miss Liberty


PS:
A little homework assignment for all who study Rock-n-Roll history of yesterday and into tomorrow:


1) APW, the second most important celebration in July kicks off July 31st, and welcomes my boys from Brooklyn, the Beastie Boys, as headliners. To read more about the lineup, visit here.


2) If you are looking to make a play list for your 4th of July picnic check out this Patriotic List. For now, I salute you. Go and enjoy your picnics and have one on me.


PSS: Thomas Jefferson Rocks !!!