19. Does That Banner Yet Wave?
O say, does that banner yet wave
with 48 stars upon its field of blue?
I knew that there were 50 states even when I was 8.
And I called them on it, called them on it,
at the parade on Veteran's Day.
Don't say, don't say, don't see, 48, don't say, don't see.
Of course this is based on a true story, though it was more likely Memorial Day or July 4th. And I like the fact that my hometown still had 48-star flags kicking around the American Legion 25 years after Alaska and Hawaii entered the Union.
This came from the first album under the Spirit Duplicator name, Duplicate Bridge, which was high-concept in a number of ways:
(1) Both Steve Egan (of luv[sic] "fame") and I made albums called Duplicate Bridge, both using the exact same song titles, albeit in different orders;
(2) Both albums had an "American Suite." Mine was made up of several small songs, each of which was built up from a fragment of the lyrics (and, in a sense, the melody) of "The Star-Spangled Banner."
Not all of them worked, but I liked this one, and I liked how in "The Rockets' Red Glare," I was able to work in a reference to those horrible "Scud Launcher" shirts that were popular during the first Gulf War at Tigard High School. You know, the one that had a camel with a Scud missile in its mouth that was getting hit in the balls with a mallet.
