The Stars and Stripes Forever (march)

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"The Stars and Stripes Forever" is a patriotic American march widely considered to be 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 1 History 2 Music 3 Other notes 4 Popular culture 5 Media 6 Lyrics 7 Parody 8 References

[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. The highly memorable melody of 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; the chorus begins with "Hurrah for the flag of the free; may it wave as our banner forever...." 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..."; a set of lyrics recorded by Charles Burr has been recorded by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

[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 and the National Symphony Orchestra traditionally play the piece at the end of their respective 4th of July concerts 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 piece is called the Disaster March. It is traditional code signalling a life-threatening emergency. This helps theatre personnel to handle events 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.

[edit] Popular culture

• In the WWE, it was the theme of Lex Luger and The Patriot.

• 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.

• A portion is used in an adapted half-hour animated TV special of Horton Hears a Who!.

• The theme song from the 1980's Berenstain Bears TV series is sung to the tune of "Stars and Stripes Forever."

• It was featured prominently in many of the Popeye animated shorts, after the character would eat his spinach and gain temporary super-strength to defeat villains.

[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] 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. It was also heard in the Tiny Toon Adventures episode Hollywood Plucky.

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