John Phiip Sousa's STARS AND STRIPES FOREVER is the world's most famous military march. Soon after composing the march tune, Sousa set words to its melody. He was a capable lyricist and s successful composer of operettas. (Few people are aware of this fact.) Thousands of school children learned Sousa's Stars and Stripes Forever, and routinely sang the march tune in school!

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THE STARS AND STRIPES FOREVER (some surprising facts")

THE STARS AND STRIPES FOREVER by John Philip Sousa has long been recognized as the # 1 American patriotic march. It was composed at a time when patriotism was unabashedly jingoistic in the U.S.A. Here are a few interesting facts about this stirring and most memorable musical composition.

Its melody was composed in the year 1897.   At the time, Sousa was visiting Europe.   He composed the march in his head, while on a ferryboat, just after he received word of the death of David Blakely, his Sousa Band manager. Upon Sousa's return to the U.S.A. he notated the march.   A few years later, while gazing at the skyline of New York City from the deck of a ship as he returned   from another trip, he was inspired to write lyrics for the march. (Sousa was adept at creating lyrics, since his primary interest had been writing operettas, and he had completed seven of them.)

My dad taught me the lyrics of this greatest march tune when I was a kid.   I never forgot them!   Here they are. (But first, I'll outline the structure of the military march of Sousa's time:)

1.An attention-getting short INTRODUCTION"

2.Some short and repeated melodic sections called STRAINS*

3.The usually most recognized part of the melody: the TRIO

4.A rousing short section, a "turn-around" or "DOG FIGHT"

5.A repeat of the TRIO.                                                                         

Many marches end with an emphatic last chord, referred to as "a STINGER."   (Some marches have no stinger, and this has led to countless H.S. individual players having supplied a stinger of their own"a final isolated and embarrassing BLEEP!)

And now"(TA DA!)"the lyrics of The Stars and Stripes Forever:

"Let martial note, in triumph float, and liberty extend its mighty hand.   A flag appears"midst thunderous cheers"the banner of the western land!"

"The emblem of the brave and true"its folds protect no tyrant crew!   The starry red and white and blue is freedom's shield and hope!"

"Other nations may deem their flags the best and cheer them with fervent elation.   But the flag of the north and south and west is the flag-of-flags"the flag of freedom's nation!"

"Hurrah for the flag of the free!   May it wave as our banner forever! The gem of the land and the sea; the banner of the right!"

"Let despots remember the day when our fathers with mighty endeavor, proclaimed as they marched to the fray- that their might and by their right it reigns forever!"  

Dog fight (no lyrics)   Trio repeats with piccolo obbligato.

In case you are wondering how and why my father remembered all of those lyrics,   all the kids of his day   learned and sang this march in school!

It was a very different time.   The "good old days?"   Unfortunately, nostalgia usually separates fact from fiction. Nevertheless, even at this point in my life, when jingoistic patriotism turns me off, I still feel the same stirring in my breast as I did as a kid, when I hear this incredibly thrilling American march!

Authors Bio:
I have spent a long and interesting life involved in music, as a performer (piano,) educator (at every level from elementary to graduate school,) solo pianist, bandleader, composer/songwriter; entertainer, storyteller and humorist.

In my final position as a teacher, I taught functional keyboard harmony at Onondaga Community College at Syracuse, N.Y. I earned a B.S. in music education at the Crane Department of music at SUNY Potsdam and a M.S. in music education at Ithaca College.

I also had the honor of serving as president of the New York School Music Association. After retiring from music education I have performed extensively, presenting musical programs which featured stories about the great standards, coupled with performance. These performances were facilitated by my having a repertoire of over 3,000 songs, coupled with extensive knowledge of their origins, which included many humorous stories.

In the last decade, I have worked with a songwriting partner, Maria DeAngelis, a vocalist who provided lyrics and performances of our tunes. We succeeded in having many of our songs used both in movies and network television as background music.

As a bandleader, I was involved in playing with my group for over 1,500 wedding receptions. Because of this extensive experience, I was motivated to write a book WEDDING RECEPTION SECRETS, which provided much valuable and "inside" information (from the viewpoint of a bandleader) for couples who were planning their wedding. Along the way, I composed music for a syndicated children's TV series.
I was the first of four children, born to my Mom and Dad in Saranac Lake, N.Y. Both of my parents, although untrained, had wonderful musical ears. I and my siblings inherited their musical sensitivities.

One can see from the foregoing that I had ample opportunities to enjoy music from several vantage points. I am 83 years old and happy to say that I continue to be very active. I attribute much of my good health to my interest in information in the area of healthy living and care. For the past fifteen years, I have undergone EDTA chelation therapy. I believe my longevity is related to that.

In addition to the foregoing, I must add my deep concern with today's course of events in the world. I've always been interested in politics and what factors are responsible for what is happening in the world.

I sense, with deep sadness, a degradation of manners, morals and public awareness. My gut feeling is that television has been misused, and become a device that Aldous Huxley would have given a prominent role in his BRAVE NEW WORLD.

I have many favorite quotations, but the one that is most profound, in my opinion, is one by Albert Einstein: "WITH THE SPLITTING OF THE ATOM, EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED EXCEPT OUR WAY OF THINKING." *

* In the summer of 1944, I was boatboy at a private consortium of six summer homes on Lower Saranac Lake (The Knollwood.) The occupant of Cottage 6 was Albert Einstein.
I saw him several times over the course of that summer. To me (in retrospect) that was an awesome experience!

Phil Klein