Stars and Stripes Forever

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“Stars and Stripes Forever”
Song
Published	1897
Genre	Patriotic, American march
Composer	John Philip Sousa

"Stars and Stripes Forever" is a patriotic American march widely considered to be the magnum opus of composer John Philip Sousa. By act of Congress, it is the National March of the United States of America.^[1]

Contents 1 History 2 Music 3 Lyrics 3.1 Sousa's lyrics 3.2 Other lyrics 4 Trivia 5 Media 6 External links 7 References

[edit] History

In his autobiography, Marching Along, Sousa writes that he composed the march on Christmas Day 1896. He had just learned of the recent death of David Blakely, then manager of the Sousa Band. Sousa was on a ferry in Europe at the time, and he composed the march in his head. He committed the notes to paper on arrival in America. Although he would conduct performances of it at virtually every concert until his death, only one recording, made in 1909, is known to survive today.

[edit] Music

Stars and Stripes Forever follows the standard American march form. Its trio is the most famous part of the march. Most bands adopt the Sousa Band practice of having one or three (never two)piccolo players play the famous obbligato in the first repeat of the trio.^{[citation needed]} In the second repeat (marked "Grandioso"), the low brass joins the piccolo players with a prominent countermelody. The official version, as played by the United States Marine Band, is performed in the key of E flat^[2].

[edit] Lyrics

Sousa wrote lyrics to the piece, but they are not as familiar as the music itself. Many other sets of lyrics, patriotic and otherwise, have been written for the last strain. Two of the most widely known such sets begin with the words "Three cheers for the red white and blue..." and "Be kind to your web-footed friends...".

[edit] Sousa's lyrics

[edit] Other lyrics

• This gentle parody, widely known to children and existing in many variations, was sung this way at the end of every episode of the popular 1960s TV series Sing Along with Mitch. It was also heard in the Tiny Toon Adventures episode Hollywood Plucky, and an episode of Sesame Street.

Be kind to your fine feathered friends

For a duck may be somebody's mother

Be kind to your friends in the swamp

Where the weather is very, very damp [pronounced to rhyme with "swamp"]

Now, you may think that this is the end...

WELL, IT IS! [abrupt cut to closing credits]

• Muellers Pasta (now a division of the American Italian Pasta Company) urged customers to "eat right with the red, white, and blue" in their ads from the late 1970s.

[edit] Trivia

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (June 2007)

• Stars and Stripes Forever is featured in many U.S. musical performances. The Boston Pops and the National Symphony Orchestra traditionally play the piece at the end of their respective 4th of July concerts each year.

• Since its inception in 1925, the All-Ohio State Fair Band has completed every single one of its nearly 60 concerts in the first two weeks of August for the Ohio State Fair with the playing of Stars and Stripes Forever.

• Some brass quintets, such as the Empire Brass, will play the obbligato on tuba.

• In show business, particularly theatre and the circus, this piece is called the Disaster March. It is traditional code signalling a life-threatening emergency. This helps theatre personnel to handle events and organize the audience's exit without panic. Circus bands never play it under any other circumstances. One example of its use was at the Hartford Circus Fire in July of 1944.

• The Russian born pianist Vladimir Horowitz, who lived most his life in the United States, wrote a famous transcription of Stars and Stripes Forever for solo piano to celebrate becoming an American citizen. In an interview, Horowitz opined that the march, being a military march, is meant to be played at a walking tempo. He complained that many conductors played the piece too fast, resulting in music that is "hackneyed."

• There are several orchestral transcriptions of "Stars and Stripes Forever" including one by Conductor Leopold Stokowski and one by Keith Brion and Loras Schissel.

• The student band Strindens Promenade Orchester in Trondheim, Norway, has the world record in "speed playing" of Stars and Stripes (absolutely all notes must be played). The band calls their speedy rendering of the march Stars and Stribes, and performs the march at all Saturday parties at the Trondheim Student Society. Set during the fall term of 1999, the record time is 50.9 seconds (nominal time is 3 minutes 50 seconds). For this, the band is noted in the Norwegian edition of the Guinness Book of Records.

• A 1952 film, Stars and Stripes Forever, gives an account of the composer's life and music.

• This march is the background music of sensationalist news channel "Crónica TV" in Argentina. The tune is also used by association football fans when cheering for the different Argentine teams.

• The song is played traditionally in prerace ceremonies of the Indianapolis 500, which is held Memorial Day weekend.

[edit] Media

[edit] External links

• Art of the States: The Stars and Stripes Forever arrangement of the march by electronica duo Matmos
• [1] Banjo solo on an Edison cylinder phonograph record from 1902 by Mr. Ruby Brooks.

[edit] References