The Stars and Stripes Forever (march)

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"The Stars and Stripes Forever" is a patriotic American march. It is the magnum opus of composer John Philip Sousa. By act of Congress, it is the National March of the United States of America[1] .

Contents

[edit] History

In his autobiography, Marching Along, Sousa told how he composed it on Christmas Day 1896. He had just learned of the recent death of David Blakely, then manager of the Sousa Band. Sousa was on a ferry in Europe at the time, and he composed the march in his head. He committed the notes to paper on arrival in America. Although he would conduct performances of it at virtually every concert until his death, only one recording, made in 1909, survives today.

[edit] Music

Stars and Stripes Forever follows the standard American march form. Its trio is the most famous part of the march. Most bands adopt the Sousa Band practice of having one or three (never two) piccolo players play the famous obbligato in the first repeat of the trio. In the second repeat (marked "Grandioso"), the low brass will join the piccolo players and emphasize their counter-melody.

Sousa wrote lyrics to the piece, but they are not widely known. Many other sets of lyrics, patriotic and otherwise, have been written for the trio. 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..."

Other lyrics are "Hoorah for the flag of the free, may it wave as our banner forever..."

[edit] Other notes

  • Stars and Stripes Forever features in many U.S. musical performances. It is often spontaneously played immediately following the last scheduled piece on a program. The Boston Pops traditionally play the piece at the end of their 4th of July concert every year.
  • Since its inception in 1925, the All-Ohio State Fair Band has completed every single one of its nearly 60 concerts in the first two weeks of August for the Ohio State Fair with the playing of "The Stars and Stripes Forever".
  • Some brass quintets, such as the Empire Brass, will play the obbligato on tuba.
  • In show business, particularly theatre and the circus, this hymn is called the Disaster March. It is traditional code signalling a life-threatening emergency. This helps theatre personnel to handle things and organize the audience's exit without panic. Circus bands never play it under any other circumstances. One example of its use was at the Hartford Circus Fire in July of 1944.
  • The Russian pianist Vladimir Horowitz, who lived most his life in the United States, wrote a famous transcription of Stars and Stripes Forever for solo piano. In an interview, Horowitz opined that the march, being a military march, is meant to be played at a walking tempo. He complained that many conductors played the piece too fast, resulting in music that is "hackneyed."
  • There are several orchestral transcriptions of "Stars and Stripes Forever" including one by Conductor Leopold Stokowski and one by Keith Brion and Loras Schissel.
  • The student band Strindens Promenade Orchester in Trondheim, Norway, has the world record in "speed playing" of Stars and Stripes (absolutely all notes must be played). The band calls their speedy rendering of the march Stars and Stribes, and performs the march at all Saturday parties at the Trondheim Student Society. Set during the fall term of 1999, the record time is 50.9 seconds (nominal time is 3 minutes 50 seconds). For this, the band is noted in the Norwegian edition of the Guinness Book of Records.
  • "The Sound of America European Concert Tour", a selective touring group of band and choir members from all over the country, performs "Stars and Stripes Forever" at the conclusion of every concert. As the band plays this American tune, choir members sing the lyrics to the song as they walk down from the stage and surround the European audience as everyone claps along in rhythm. At the final note, choir members introduce themselves to audience members, most of whom do not speak English.

[edit] Popular culture

  • It is featured prominently in many of the Popeye animated shorts after the character eats spinach.
  • In the movie "An American Tail", Fievel follows a familiar piece of fiddle music in hopes it leads to his parents, but it turns out to be an early spool-type Edison phonograph; the housewife changes the spool to one with "The Stars and Stripes Forever" - Fievel is slipping on the spool causing its speed to vary.
  • It played loudly on the bridge of the starship Enterprise D when crew tried to open the shuttle bay doors in the episode Evolution.
  • In the UK the tune is often used in football chants.

[edit] Media


[edit] Lyrics

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.

[edit] Alternate Lyrics

John Philip Sousa came back to earth one day!
He looked around at what he found here
All the contradictions that abound here
Good surviving, evil thriving, everything in disarray ...
With frown and mouth turned upside down
He said "This'll never do! dead level never do!
Don't they know to show some pride in who they are!
The pioneers of former years were not
without their doubts and woes and fears but
They know well the love of God
Would never let them go astray!
But here today where there's no fear of
Dark in the wilderness some are in wilderness
They must shift and lift their gaze to some new star!
By a star in the east the least of men
Once were succored in time of needing
For the star promised peace to those in pain
And from Galilee was Westwardly proceeding.
With the star of the West the best of men
Now are siding in their endeavor
To restore as of yore their country's pride
In the glory of the stars and stripes forever.


Three cheers for the red, white and blue,
For the red is the blood of our brothers.
The white is the light of the star
That has led us to where we are.
The blue is the hue of the sky
Where on high the Almighty falters never.
Our banner for two hundred years!
Oh pioneers! Here's to the stars and stripes forever!

[edit] Parody

  • This gentle parody, widely known to children and existing in many variations, was sung this way at the end of every episode of the popular 1960s TV series Sing Along with Mitch.
Be kind to your web-footed friends
For a duck may be somebody's mother
Be kind to your friends in the swamp
Where the weather is very, very damp [pronounced to rhyme with "swamp"]
Now, you may think that this is the end...
WELL, IT IS! [abrupt cut to closing credits]
  • Muellers Pasta (now a division of the American Italian Pasta Company) urged customers to "eat right with the red, white, and blue" to the tune of Stars and Stripes Forever in their ads from the late 1970s.

[edit] References

  1. ^ US Code: Title 36, 304. Cornell Law School (2006-10-30). Retrieved on 2006-11-02.


Patriotic music of the United States Flag of the United States
"America the Beautiful" | "Ballad of the Green Berets" | "Battle Cry of Freedom" | "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" | "Columbia, Gem of the Ocean" | "For The Dear Old Flag, I Die" | "God Bless America" | "God Bless the USA" | "Hail Columbia" | "Hail to the Chief" | "The Liberty Bell" | "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" | "Over There" | "PT-109" | "The Stars and Stripes Forever" | "The Star-Spangled Banner" | "There's a Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere" | "This is My Country" | "This Land Is Your Land" | "Yankee Doodle" | "The Yankee Doodle Boy" | "You're a Grand Old Flag" | "When Johnny Comes Marching Home"
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