The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #144811   Message #3349287
Posted By: GUEST,Stim
10-May-12 - 04:57 PM
Thread Name: BS: A Sad Day in North Carolina
Subject: RE: BS: A Sad Day in North Carolina
Richard: We Americans get to use "Land of the Free", (often with some measure of irony) because it is a phrase from our National Anthem.   Lines from our National anthem are also used as titles for films and books   (these also with some measure of irony). "At the Twilight's Last Gleaming" is a particular favorite.

Here's the first verse. No one knows the rest of it.

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 thru 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?