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The Ragged Old Flag Redux

With a great big tip o’ me tam to that most stalwart of Patriots, Johnny Cash


    The Ragged Old Flag Redux
    I walked down the streets of my old hometown
    Through crowds of people protestin’
    Who said we were racists and nazis and worse
    For demanding our gub’mint protect us
    From criminals, thieves and terrorist scum
    That would sneak o’or our borders at night
    And steal all our jobs for a pitiful wage
    And never give us a fair fight

    They march through our streets hoisting high
    Our flag that has seen us along
    Making the show that this one simple act
    Will prove that they truly belong
    But that ragged old flag that tugs at our hearts
    And has seen her share of the pain
    That helped forge a nation of wretched refuse
    Is being drug through the muck and is stained
    She stood tall at the fort when our anthem was writ
    And she led e’ery charge in the south
    And she stood tall and proud when the japs came a’callin’
    At Pearl Harbors doomed mouth
    She flew brave and true on Mount Suribachi
    And solemnly she waved on the morn
    When the japanese people surrendered at last
    ‘Neath the guns of Big Mo’s mighty form

    She sailed on the ships that delivered our boys
    To the dark rancid jungles of ‘Nam
    And led all the fights that raged through the nights
    Heavy with death and napalm
    She carried the fight to the Taliban thugs
    That harbored our enemies might
    And led the brave charge of the Lads of Fal’ujah
    Who gave of their all in that fight
    She continues to sail o’er every sea
    And to bring hope and light to the masses
    But the latest attack on Old Glories greatness
    Is being trampled in our highschool classes

    The kids of today take Ol’ Glory down
    And use her to take a bold stand
    By hoisting her up ‘neath a mexican flag
    Upside down, stating “This is our land”

    She’s held in esteem for her history is brave
    For with her comes freedom unhinged
    But her brave noble past is taken away
    And used by the criminal fringe
    But one can’t fly the flag
    And hold true to the heart
    Of what truth Old Glory stands for
    If you do not realize that by breaking the law
    You haven’t earned your place on our shore.

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For those of you not familiar with the original here it is.

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Ragged  Old  Flag
I walked through a county courthouse square,
On a park bench an old 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 flagpole has leaned a little bit,
And that's a Ragged Old Flag you got hanging 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 its seams.
And it almost fell at the Alamo
Beside the Texas flag, but she waved on though.

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 waving her back here at home.

In her own good land she's been abused --
She's been burned, dishonored, denied and refused.
And the government for which she stands
Is scandalized throughout the land.

And she's getting threadbare and wearing 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 morning, 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.

Written by Johnny Cash