"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
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
With Packingham and Jackson tuggin' at
its seems.
"And
it almost fell at the
Beside
the
She got
cut with a sword at
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
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