I walked through a county courthouse square,
on a park bench an ole 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 hangin' 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 a bad rip in New Orleans
with Packingham and Jackson tuggin' at it's seams.
And it almost fell at the Alamo,
beside the Texas flag, but she waved on tho'."

"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 a time or two.
She was in Korea and Vietnam.
She went where she was sent by her Uncle Sam.
She waved from our ships upon the briny foam
and now they've about quit wavin' 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
is scandalized throughout the land.
And she's gettin' threadbare and she's wearin' 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 mornin',
we 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."

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