The Ragged Old Flag

I walked through a county courthouse squareOn a park bench, an old man was sitting there.I said, "Your courthouse looks kind of run down."He said, "No, it's all right for our little town."

I said, "But your flag pole leans quite a bit,And there's a ragged old flag flying from it."He said, "Have a seat," so I sat down.He said, "Is this the first time you've been to our little town?"

I think that it is." He said, "We don't like to brag,But we're sort of proud of that ragged old flag.""You see it got that hole in it there,When Washington was crossing the Delaware."

It got powder burned the night that Francis Scott KeyWas watching and writing, "Oh say can you see."It got kind of pulled apart at New OrleansWith Packingham and Jackson tuggin' at her seams.

She almost fell at the AlamoWith the Texas flag, but she waved on through.She got cut with a sword at ChancendorvilleAnd another cut at Shiloh Hill.

There was Robert E. Lee, Beauregard and BragOh, the south wind blew hard on the ragged old flag.In Flanders field in World War oneShe got that big hole with a Bertha gun.

She turned blood red in World War twoAnd hung limp and low before it was through.She went to Korea and VietnamYou see, She went where she was sent by her Uncle Sam.

She waved from ships on the briny foamBut they weren't waving her much back home.In her own good land, she was abused.She was defiled, dishonored, burned, refused.

And the government for which she standsIs scandalized in many lands.She's wearin' threadbare, she's mighty thin,But she's a good flag for the shape she's in.

She's been through the fire beforeAnd I know she can take a while lot more.So we put her up in the morningAnd take her down every night.

We never let her touch the groundAnd we fold her up right.On second thought, I do like to bragCause I'm mighty proud of That ragged old flag.