A recent Harris poll found that nearly two-thirds of Americans don't even know the words. When it does, it is tolerated halfheartedly sung or mumbled, or simply sat through. Given its circumscribed ceremonial function, and the general shortage of non-sports public gatherings these days, 'The Star-Spangled Banner' doesn't get around the way it used to. It does the job, which is to say it gets baseball games moving and provides a suitable audio backdrop for Olympic medal ceremonies and for TV channels signing off in the wee small hours of the morning. Unless you think about it for a while, which not a lot of people do, 'The Star-Spangled Banner' does not appear to be a problem. Some concerned citizens are trying to revive our overrated, undersung national anthem, but is it really worth the effort? You may also try our new Today's Paper feature, a listing of all the headlines in today's New York Times. You are welcome to use the page as is or, for the best experience, upgrade your browser to its latest version by visiting your browser's Web site or 's download page. It appears that your Web browser has disabled JavaScript, or does not support JavaScript.

The star spangled banner song sung