Sunday, September 29, 2019

Oh Say Can You See?



I biked to the grave of Francis Scott Key today. It’s a bit weird that I used to live a very short distance from Key Bridge in D.C., amd just across the river from where he lived in Georgetown at 3518 M St. NW (the house no longer exists). Now, I’m just down the street from his grave.

Key wrote the lyrics to the US national anthem, whose chief attributes are: 1) No one knows all the words (there are some seriously racist stanzas!), and; 2) Damn few can people sing the tune, which is not a great one even when sung well.

The actual grave marker for Key is pretty modest, but there's a big statue on a tall plinth, which seems to have been added in modern times.

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