Ragged Old Flag by Johnny Cash

[shekina]

I walked through an old county courthouse square,
On a park bench an old man was sitting there.
I said "Your old courthouse is kinda run down."
He said, "Naw, it'll do for our little town".
I said, "Your old flagpole has leaned a little bit,
And there's a Ragged Old Flag you got hanging on it."

He said, "Have a seat," and I sat down.
"Is this the first time you've been to our little town?"
I said "I think it is." He said "I don't like to brag,
But we're kinda proud of that Ragged Old Flag.

"You see, we got a little hole in that flag there when
Washington took it across the Delaware.
And it got powder-burned the night Franics Scott Key
Sat watching it writing Say Can You See
And it got a bad rip in New Orleans
With Packingham and Jackson tugging' at it seems

"And it almost fell at the Alamo
Beside the Texas flag, but she wavedmon through.
She got cut with a sword at Chancellorsville
And she got cut again at Shiloh Hill.
There was Robert E. Lee, Beauregard and Bragg,
And the south wind blew hard on that Ragged Old Flag

"On Flanders Field in World War I
She got a big hole from a Bertha gun.
She turned blood red in World War II.
She was hung limp and low by the time it was through.
She was in Korea and Vietnam.
She went where she was sent by her Uncle Sam.

"She waved from our ships upon the briny foam,
And now they've about quit waving her back here at home.
In her own good land here she's been abused--
She's been burned, dishonored, denied, and refused.

"And the government for which she stands
Is scandalized throughout the land.
And she's getting threadbone and wearing thin,
But she's in good shape for the shape she's in.
'Cause she's been through the fire before
And I believe she can take a whole lot more

"So we raise her up every morning, take her
down every night.
We don't let her touch the ground and we fold
her up right.
On second thought, I do like to brag
'Cause I'm mighty proud of that Ragged Old Flag."


Goddamn, I'm proud to be an American....

[shekina]

1. kick

sorry, i gotta have at least a couple of replies on this one. Only because this is something the man in black wrote.

[rumguy]

2. I dig that song

Johhny Cash's autobiography is also great....I picked it up the other day in a bookstore and couldn't put it down.

He really is a great storyteller...

[shekina]

3. it's more like spoken word

but I dig it too. Makes me damn proud to live in America, hands down the greatest and best country in the world(sorry to the Canadians here). And I plan on getting Johnny's autiobraphy real soon.

[Momof1]

4. I love this song

But I personally like the lyrics to "The Man in Black" or "What is Truth"