| Ragged Old Flag
"Ragged Old Flag"
> By John R. Cash,
> © 1974 House of Cash, Inc.
>
> I walked through a 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 that'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 Francis Scott Key
> Sat watching it writing Say Can You See.
> And it got a bad rip in New Orleans
> With Packingham and Jackson tuggin' at its seams.
>
> "And it almost fell at the Alamo
> Beside the Texas flag, but she waved on though.
> 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 hung limp and low by the time it was through.
> She was in Korea and Vietnam.
> She was sent where she was 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 threadbare 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."
>
>
> God Bless America
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