I walked through a country courthouse square

And 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 flagpole’s knida leaned a little bit

And that’s a mighty ragged old flag you’ve got hangin’ on it."

He said, "Have a Seat?" and so I sat down.

He said, "Is this the first time you’ve been in our little town?"

I said, "I think it is." He said, "Well, we don’t like to brag

But round here, were’s mighty proud of that Ragged Old Flag.

See, we got a little hole in that flag there

When Washington took it across the Delaware

And it got powder burned on the night that Francis Scott Key

Sat watchin’ and a-writin’ "Oh, Say, Can you see…"

It got a big rip in New Orleans

With Packingham and Jackson tuggin’ at its seams.

It almost fell at the Alamo

Beside the Texas flag it waved on, though.

It got cut with a sword at Shiloh Hill

And got cut again at Chancellorville.

There was Robert E. Lee, Beaureguard and Bragg

And the South wind blew hard on that Ragged Old Flag.

At Flanders field in World War One

She got a big hole from a Birtha gun.

She turned blood red in World War Two

She hung limp and low a time or two

She was in Korea and Vietnam.

She went where she was sent by her Uncle Sam

At the ruins of an embassy in Beiruit

Marines pulled her out of the rubble and soot.

She waved from our ships on the briny foam,

But now they’ve just about quit waving her back here at home

In her own good land, here she’s been abused

She’s been burned, dishonored, denied, refused

And the government for which she stands

Has been scandalized throughout the land.

She is getting threadbare, and she’s worn a little thin

But she’s in pretty good shape for the shape she’s in.

And she’s been through fire before

So I believe she can take a whole lot more.

That’s why we raise her every morning and take her down every night

Never let her touch the ground and always fold her up right.

"You know, on second thought. I do like to brag.

‘Cause we’re mighty proud of that Ragged Old Flag."