YOUR RAGGED OLD FLAG

I walked through a county courthouse square.
On a park bench an old man was sitting there.
I said, "Your old Court House is kinda run down."
He said, "No, it will do for our little town."
I said, "Your old flag pole is leaning a bit.
And that's a ragged old Flag you've got hanging on it.

He said, "Have a seat," and I sat down.
"Is this the first time you've been to our town?"
"Well," 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 the Flag there,
When Washington took it across the Delaware.
And it got powder burns the night Francis Scott Key
Sat watching it, writing 'Oh Say, Can You See.'

And she got a bad rip at New Orleans,
When Packingham and Jackson took it to the scene.
And, it almost fell at the Alamo
Beside the Texas flag,  but she waved on 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.
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,
And she hung limp and low a time or two.
She was in Korea,  and Vietnam.
She waved from our ships upon briny foam.

Now they've about quit waving her back here at home.
In our good land she's been abused.
She's been burned, dishonored, denied, and refused.
And the Government for which she stands
Is scandalized through out the land.

She's getting threadbare and she's wearing thin,
But, she's in good shape for the shape she's in,
Because she's been through the fire before,
I believe she can take a whole lot more.

So we raise her up every morning, and we
Take her down every night.
We don't let her touch the ground,
And we fold her up just right.

On second thought, I DO LIKE TO BRAG
BECAUSE I'M MIGHTY PROUD OF THAT RAGGED OLD FLAG!

                                    Johnny Cash