Star-Spangled Banner Turns 200 – The Remixes

by Tony Shea

in EXPERIMENTS, MUSIC

Key-Francis-Scott - DJ

The Star-Spangled Banner, aka the national anthem of the United Sates, turned the ripe old age of 200 today. You probably know that the Star-Spangled Banner was written by Francis Scott Key (who was the second cousin of F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of the Great Gatsby). You probably don’t know that the anthem is actually only one verse of a longer poem that Key wrote called the “The Defence of Fort McHenry” that actually has 4 stanzas. Also the music that accompanies the words is not an original composition, but rather an old English tune by John Stafford Smith called “The Anacreontic Song.” So I guess you could say the national anthem is an early experiment in the remix.

Here’s some modern remixes working to keep the track PHRESH! Try swapping out some of the other verses below to make your own super-customizable anthem that best reflects your personality.


Synth-mod


8-bit


Dubstep

http://youtu.be/-nKYcHWV4SA
Cheese Rock-o My favorite!


Techno-gamer


Metal


Godzilla

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?

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
‘Tis the star-spangled banner, O! long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,
A home and a country, should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation.
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave

**You should follow Shea Magazine on Twitter HERE!**

follow us in feedly

Tony Shea ( Editor-in-Chief, New York)

Tony Shea is based in New York, having recently moved from Los Angeles after more than a decade on the sunny coast. His short films have won numerous awards and screened at major festivals around the world including Comic-Con. As a musician, he is the lead singer for Los Angeles rock n’ roll band Candygram For Mongo (C4M) candygramformongo.com who has been a featured artist on Clear Channel Radio’s Discover New Music Program and whose songs have been heard on Battlestar Gallactica (Syfy Channel) and Unhitched (Fox) among other shows and films.

Previous post:

Next post: