"The Stars and Stripes Forever" is a patriotic American march written and composed by John Philip Sousa in 1896.

[6] In the early 20th century, when it was common for theaters and circuses to have house bands, this march was a traditional code signaling a life-threatening emergency.

[7] It subtly notified personnel of emergency situations and ideally allowed them to organize the audience's exit without causing the chaos and panic that an overt declaration might.

[8] "The Stars and Stripes Forever" follows the standard U.S. military march form—of repeated phrasing of different melodies performed in sections called strains: a Sousa legacy.

Performances vary according to the arrangements of individual band directors or orchestrators, especially regarding tempo and the number and sequence of strains employed.

On the page for The Stars and Stripes Forever on the official United States Marine Band website, under The Complete Marches of John Philip Sousa, additional parts are written in at the bottom of the downloadable score.

[11] First strain Let martial note in triumph float And liberty extend its mighty hand A flag appears 'mid thunderous cheers, The banner of the Western land.

The emblem of the brave and true Its folds protect no tyrant crew; The red and white and starry blue Is freedom's shield and hope.

Let eagle shriek from lofty peak The never-ending watchword of our land; Let summer breeze waft through the trees The echo of the chorus grand.

Let tyrants remember the day When our fathers with mighty endeavor Proclaimed as they marched to the fray That by their might and by their right It waves forever.

Let tyrants remember the day When our fathers with mighty endeavor Proclaimed as they marched to the fray, That by their might and by their right It waves forever.

In 1942 the John Church Company published a four-part choral version of the march with a piano arrangement by Elmer Arthur Tidmarsh.

Its exact origin is unclear, but versions of it were being quoted as early as the 1930s on college campuses,[12] and during the 1940s, where it was sung for entertainment by soldiers at the USO.

One popular version goes like this:[20][21] Be kind to your web-footed friends For that duck may be somebody's mother, She lives in a nest in a swamp Where the weather is always damp.