Monday 13 August 2012

Isles of Wonder - (national anthems - part 2)


Welcome back after a short break:) 
I hope you enjoyed the Olympics ( together with the opening and closing ceremony - unfortunately, it was the only thing I managed to watch:/ but having read all headlines (and not only that;) in the leading UK papers today, I suppose London truly rocked the world during those last 17 days. And when the British say "it was not bad, really quite good, in fact", it  means it was absolutely fabulous!







And how surprising is it that the Americans are triumphant again with the total of 104 medals ? :) 
It's high time we had a look at their national anthem and quite elaborate, (I'd say), vocabulary in the lyrics.
Let's not waste such a beautiful occasion to learn some new words ;)







The Star Spangled Banner 

Oh, 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 rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, 
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there: 
Oh, 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 fully glory reflected now shines in the stream: 
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh, 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. scued 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. 

Oh, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand 
Between their loved home and the war's desolation
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n-re


Congratulations!!!



source: google images, youtube, the independent.

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