Francis Scott Key: Collected Lyrics
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Public-domain lyrics

The Star-Spangled Banner

Francis Scott Key

“The Star-Spangled Banner” as printed in The Canadian Soldiers' Song Book (1918).

Francis Scott Key: Collected Lyrics Text 1 1918 · historical text
Public domainSoldier songHistorical song
Complete public-domain lyrics

This text comes from The Canadian Soldiers' Song Book, a historical songbook transcribed on Wikisource and reproduced from the pinned revision linked below.

Verse 1

Oh say, can you see by the dawn's early light,

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,

Whose stripes and bright stars thro' the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?

And the rocket's red glare, bombs bursting in air,

Gave us proof thro' 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?

Verse 2

(Chorus: Repeat last two lines.)

Verse 3

On the shore dimly see thro' 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 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.

Verse 4

(Chorus: Repeat last two lines.)

Verse 5

And where is that bard who so vauntingly swore

'Mid the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,

A home and a country they'd leave us no more?

Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' polution

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.

Verse 6

(Chorus: Repeat last two lines.)

Verse 7

Oh thus be it ever when freemen shall stand

Between their loved homes and the war's desolation.

Blest with vict'ry and peace may the heaven 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.

Verse 8

(Chorus: Repeat last two lines.)

Credits

Written by Francis Scott Key

Words by Francis Scott Key. Historical text published in The Canadian Soldiers' Song Book (1918); public domain. No claim to a modern recording or arrangement.

Source & text edition

The Canadian Soldiers' Song Book (1918), “The Star-Spangled Banner”

The 1918 published edition is in the public domain in the United States (pre-1931 publication). Entries whose credited author died more than 70 years ago are also in the public domain in life-plus-70 jurisdictions; other entries are held.

How to read this historical text and its source

Read the source on Wikisource

View copyright evidence · Transcription terms (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Retrieved 2026-10-12. Line spacing and section labels are adapted for reading. The displayed text follows the linked edition. Editorial notes and abstract artwork are by 52lyrics.
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