Why is it so hard to sing ‘The Star-Spangled Banner?’

(RNS) — The temptation is to follow “The Star-Spangled Banner,” our national anthem, with an immediate declaration of “Play ball!” But in honor of the 250th birthday of the United States, let’s resist that temptation and listen.

Let’s start with the first stanza — the only one anyone knows.

O 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 through the perilous fight,

O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?

And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;

O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

If you were not sleeping during class in fifth grade, you know the history of these lyrics. They were written by Francis Scott Key in 1814, originally as a poem: “Defence of Fort M’Henry.” He had witnessed the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore during the War of 1812, and a t dawn, he saw the American flag flying over the fort. That sight inspired him to write the poem.

But, if you listen…