"The Star Spangled Banner"<br /><br />Wilfred Glenn<br /><br />1918<br /><br />Victor 35009<br /><br />Music by Samuel Arnold <br /><br />Words by Francis Scott Key<br /><br />O say can you see by the dawn's early light,<br />What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,<br />Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,<br />O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?<br />And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,<br />Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;<br />O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,<br />O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?<br /><br />On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,<br />Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,<br />What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,<br />As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?<br />Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,<br />In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:<br />'Tis the star-spangled banner, O! long may it wave<br />O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.<br /><br />And where is that band who so vauntingly swore<br />That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,<br />A home and a country, should leave us no more?<br />Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.<br />No refuge could save the hireling and slave<br />From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:<br />And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,<br />O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.<br /><br />O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand<br />Between their loved home and the war's desolation.<br />Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n rescued land<br />Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!<br />Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,<br />And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."<br />And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave<br />O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!<br /><br />Wilfred Glenn lived from April 20, 1881, to June 26, 1970.<br /><br />He was born in San Joaquin Valley, California.<br /><br />This bass singer made records of operatic arias, oratorio solos, sentimental ballads, upbeat popular songs, and parlor tunes. <br /><br />He made records as a solo artist but also sang in duets, trios, quartets, and more.<br /><br />He possessed a rich bass-baritone voice. He was skillful at interpretation, and his enunciation was superb. <br /><br />He began recording in choral groups for Columbia around 1909. <br /><br />As a solo artist he made his Victor debut in 1913 with Spross's "Song of Steel" (17182), and Victor catalogs soon afterwards declared that he was exclusive to the company. <br /><br />His best-selling disc as a solo artist was Victor 17309, which featured the standards "Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep" and "Asleep in the Deep." <br /><br />They were remade electrically in 1926 and issued on Victor 20244.<br /><br />Edison issued only one record of Glenn as a solo artist: Jude's "Mighty Deep," released as Blue Amberol 3959 in April 1920. <br /><br />His one Columbia recording as a solo artist is "Gypsy Love Song" from Victor Herbert's The Fortune Teller (A3598).<br /><br />
