Why do we not sing the 3rd and 4th verses of the Star Spangled Banner?

Asked by SergeantQueen (12874

) September 22nd, 2017

Is it because hardly anyone (supposedly) even knows there is a 3rd and 4th verse? I watched a video of a guy singing it and it was 6 minutes for all four verses. So is it possible that it is just too long? I bet if someone like Christina Aguilera was singing it’d be around 8–9 minutes.
Here is a website that has all four verses on it.

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7 Answers

We don’t even sing the second verse. And, at the request of US Television, they don’t play the whole tune of the first verse at the Olympics; they play a shortened version.

zenvelo (39430

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Yeah, soon after I posted this I was like, “What about the second verse?” Why do we only sing the first verse, or shortened versions of it?

SergeantQueen (12874

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Each verse is long. And there’s no way to top “land of the free, home of the brave”.

zenvelo (39430

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Another example would be the additional verses of Auld Lang Syne.

Lots of songs have an awe-inspiring first verse and rather un-inspiring, ridiculously languid additional verses. Makes you wonder why anyone even bothered setting them to music or writing them down.

Yellowdog (12216

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