Flag Day - Not For Just the Tea Party Day

You're a Grand Old Flag

by George M. Cohan

 

CHORUS

You're a grand old flag,
You're a high flying flag
And forever in peace may you wave.
You're the emblem of
The land I love.
The home of the free and the brave.
Ev'ry heart beats true
'neath the Red, White and Blue,
Where there's never a boast or brag.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
Keep your eye on the grand old flag. 

George Cohen wrote this song in 1906 based upon an encounter he had with a Civil War veteran at Gettysburg, the story goes as follows:

The original lyric for this perennial George M. Cohan favorite came, as Cohan later explained, from an encounter he had with a Civil War veteran who fought at Gettysburg. The two men found themselves next to each other and Cohan noticed the vet held a carefully folded but ragged old flag. The man reportedly then turned to Cohan and said, "She's a grand old rag." Cohan thought it was a great line and originally named his tune "You're a Grand Old Rag." So many groups and individuals objected to calling the flag a "rag," however, that he "gave 'em what they wanted" and switched words, renaming the song "You're a Grand Old Flag."          — Library of Congress

Today it seems that the Republican Party,  and especially the Tea Party element of that party, wants to lay claim to being the only ones in America that are entitled to love this country, while at the same time bashing the President at every turn of the pen or word uttered.

So today I am going to be brave and reach out and grab our flag back and wave it proudly. And I am going to remember too some of the words Cohen wrote: "And forever in PEACE may you wave." -- "Where there's never a boast or brag." -- "The home of the free and the brave."

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