Atlee’s lyric is among the most powerful ever to be written to this melody and could be taught alongside Key’s own to highlight the responsibility that all Americans have to make certain that the ideals of freedom upon which the nation was founded are not taken for granted, but rather apply to all. Atlee’s lyric thus questions how a nation that permits slavery can in any sense be a “land of the free” at all, indicting the country as hypocritical and demanding the end of slavery. 13, 1844).Ītlee’s words echo Key’s own, creating a recriminating tension between often graphic descriptions of the slavery’s inhuman bondage on one hand and the ideals of freedom celebrated in “The Star-Spangled Banner” on the other. It was first published in the abolitionist newspaper Signal of Liberty (July 22, 1844) and later that same year in William Lloyd Garrison’s more famous national anti-slavery paper The Liberator (Sept. The most powerful of these lyrics and the most emblematic of the tune’s potential for social commentary is the 1844 anti-slavery lyric “Oh Say, Do You Hear?” by E. I’ve identified more than 100 sets of lyrics sung to the tune of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” some of which predate Key’s now famous lyric and others which follow and parody Key’s words. They might also express social protest to comment on issues of the day such as the right of women to vote or the evils of alcohol. 1)Ĭelebrate a holiday like the Fourth of July. Atlee’s Star-Spangled Banner anti-slavery lyric labeled “A New National Anthem” (Signal of Liberty, July 22, 1844, p.

The star spangled banner song lyrice