# Oh say can you see ..... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 3, 2001, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-say-can-you-see/71099 "2001-07-03T16:39:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2001, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-say-can-you-see/71099/1 "2001-07-03T16:39:52Z")
By the dawn’s early light … ---
**Author:** ![Simetra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Simetra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simetra)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2001, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-say-can-you-see/71099/2 "2001-07-03T17:03:38Z")
I’ll give 1000 cool points to anyone who knows this “entire” song by heart, and doesn’t have to look it up. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2001, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-say-can-you-see/71099/3 "2001-07-03T17:04:26Z")
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming? ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2001, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-say-can-you-see/71099/4 "2001-07-03T17:05:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Simetra \* > \*\*I’ll give 1000 cool points to anyone who knows this “entire” song by heart, and doesn’t have to look it up. 🙂 \*\* I know it by heart, Simetra, but I looked it up anyway, so I wouldn’t screw it up and be embarrassed. ---
**Author:** ![Simetra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Simetra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simetra)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2001, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-say-can-you-see/71099/5 "2001-07-03T17:07:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TroubleAgain \* > I know it by heart, Simetra, but I looked it up anyway, so I wouldn’t screw it up and be embarrassed. \*\* All four verses? Not just the part we use for our national anthem? ---
**Author:** ![jazzmine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jazzmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jazzmine)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2001, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-say-can-you-see/71099/6 "2001-07-03T17:09:01Z")
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thru the perilous fight, ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2001, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-say-can-you-see/71099/7 "2001-07-03T17:20:31Z")
I’m sorry. I just can’t think of this song without thinking of Leslie Nielsen singing, “Buncha bombs in the air…” ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2001, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-say-can-you-see/71099/8 "2001-07-03T22:02:55Z")
Pfft. I had more responses when I started “Oh, Canada” on 1 July last year 😛 ---
**Author:** ![thinksnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thinksnow/32/2849_2.png) [@thinksnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thinksnow)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2001, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-say-can-you-see/71099/9 "2001-07-03T22:05:26Z")
I still get the urge to stand at attention whenever I hear this, be it in a bar or at home [sub](who says the Marines aren’t good a brainwashing?)[/sub]. I get shivers at the “home…of the…brave” part, too. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2001, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-say-can-you-see/71099/10 "2001-07-03T22:33:06Z")
Play ball! Yes, I know all 4 verses, I just don’t have the time right now. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2001, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-say-can-you-see/71099/11 "2001-07-03T22:41:50Z")
Isaac Asimov (and others, I believe) used our national anthem as a plot device in a whodunit short story. They were looking for a spy. They figured it out when he knew all four verses to “The Star-Spangled Banner” – something no true American would ever know. There’s something about “their footsteps foul pollution” in there somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2001, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-say-can-you-see/71099/12 "2001-07-03T22:42:59Z")
Another fragment recovered: And conquer we must When our cause it is just And this be our motto, “In God is our trust”! ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2001, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-say-can-you-see/71099/13 "2001-07-03T22:51:41Z")
[Here ya go, complete with MIDI accompaniment](http://www.emulateme.com/anthems/unitedstatestexte.htm). Be sure to stand at attention, with your cap over your heart, while reading it. ---
**Author:** ![Mercutio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/51bf81/32.png) [@Mercutio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mercutio)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2001, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-say-can-you-see/71099/14 "2001-07-03T23:04:15Z")
Ey, Jose, can you see? No, maign! Happy 4th all. ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2001, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-say-can-you-see/71099/15 "2001-07-04T13:43:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Simetra \* > \*\* All four verses? Not just the part we use for our national anthem? \*\* Okay, ya got me. I’m not THAT big a geek. Except that I think I vaguely remember the Asimov story that **pluto** referred to…that probably makes me a pretty big geek all on its own… ---
**Author:** ![mblackwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5fc32e/32.png) [@mblackwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mblackwell)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2001, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-say-can-you-see/71099/16 "2001-07-04T15:00:26Z")
Lord, that was pathetic. Where’s your national pride? Lets try that again. Oh say can you see… ---
**Author:** ![Jeannie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e480ec/32.png) [@Jeannie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeannie)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2001, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-say-can-you-see/71099/17 "2001-07-04T15:56:29Z")
By the dawn’s early light… ---
**Author:** ![Home\_of\_the\_Braves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Home\_of\_the\_Braves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Home_of_the_Braves)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2001, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-say-can-you-see/71099/18 "2001-07-04T15:57:38Z")
by the dawn’s early light ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2001, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-say-can-you-see/71099/19 "2001-07-04T16:55:01Z")
What so proudly we hailed … ---
**Author:** ![Scotticher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Scotticher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scotticher)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2001, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-say-can-you-see/71099/20 "2001-07-04T16:58:47Z")
By the twilight’s last gleaming [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-say-can-you-see/71099.md?page=2)