Lyr Add: Ragged Old Flag (Johnny Cash)

Subject: Lyr Add: RAGGED OLD FLAG (Johnny Cash)
From:
Date: 04 Jul 97 - 02:04 AM

RAGGED OLD FLAG
Words and music by Johnny Cash
As recorded by Johnny Cash on "Ragged Old Flag" (1974)

I walked through a county courthouse square.
On a park bench, an old man was sittin' there.

I said, “Your old courthouse is kinda run down.”
He said, “Naw, it'll do for our little town.”

I said, “Your old flagpole is leaned a little bit,
And that's a Ragged Old Flag you got hangin' on it.”

He said, “Have a seat” and I sat down.
“Is this the first time you've been to our little town?”

I said, “I think is.” He said, “I don't like to brag,
But we're kinda proud of that Ragged Old Flag!

“You see, we got a little hole in that flag there
When Washington took it across the Delaware.

“And it got powder-burned the night that Francis Scott Key
Sat watchin' it, writin', 'Say can you see'.

“And it got a bad rip in New Orleans
With Packingham and Jackson tuggin' at its seams.

“And it almost fell at the Alamo
Beside the Texas flag, but she waved on though.

“She got cut with a sword at Chancellorsville.
She got cut again at Shiloh Hill.

“There was Robert E. Lee, Beauregard and Bragg,
And the South wind blew hard on that Ragged Old Flag.

“On Flanders Field in World War I,
She got a big hole from a Bertha gun.

“She turned blood red in World War II.
She hung limp and low a time or two.

“She was in Korea, Vietnam.
She went where she was sent by her Uncle Sam.

“She waved from our ships upon the briny foam,
And now they've about quit wavin' her back here at home.

“In her own good land she's been abused.
She's been burned, dishonored, denied and refused.

“And the government for which she stands
Is scandalized throughout the land.

“And she's gettin' threadbare and she's wearin' thin
But she's in good shape for the shape she's in.

“'Cause she's been through the fire before,
And I believe she can take a whole lot more.

“So we raise her up every morning. We take her down every night.
We don't let her touch the ground and we fold her up right.

“On second thought, I do like to brag,
'Cause I'm mighty proud of that Ragged Old Flag.”

-Gene