You’re a Grand Old Flag

George M. Cohen, 1906

 

There’s a feeling comes a-stealing,

And it sets my brain a-reeling,

When I’m list’ning to the music of a military band.

Any tune like “Yankee Doodle”

Simply sets me off my noodle,

 It’s that patriotic something that no one can understand.

“Way down South, in the land of cotton,”

Melody untiring,

Ain’t that inspiring?

Hurrah! Hurrah! We’ll join the jubilee!

And that’s going some, for the Yankees, by gum!

Red, White and Blue, I am for you!

Honest, you’re a grand old flag!

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.

But should auld acquaintance be forgot,

Keep your eye on the grand old flag.

I’m no cranky hanky panky,

I’m a dead square, honest Yankee,

And I’m mighty proud of that old flag that flies for Uncle Sam.

Though I don’t believe in raving

Ev’ry time I see it waving,

There’s a chill runs up my back that makes me glad I’m what I am.

Here’s a land with a million soldiers,

That’s if we should need ’em,

We’ll fight for freedom!

Hurrah! Hurrah! For ev’ry Yankee Tar[N 3],

And old G.A.R., ev’ry stripe, ev’ry star.

Red, White and Blue, hats off to you!

Honest, you’re a grand old flag!

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.

But should auld acquaintance be forgot,

Keep your eye on the grand old flag.

“You’re a Grand Old Flag” was written by George M. Cohan for his 1906 stage musical George Washington, Jr. The song was introduced to the public in the play’s first act on opening night, February 6, 1906, in New York’s Herald Square Theater. It was the first song from a musical to sell over a million copies of sheet music.

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.”

From the Library of Congress:

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.200000026/default.html

Photo by Dchui