By CATHY DYSON
OST PEOPLE get as far as the part about "broad stripes and bright stars," then fizzle like a spent sparkler on a steamy summer night.
Others don't even want to try.
Some swear they've never sung the song before, or that they've forgotten the few words they used to know.
And many are like Dottie Truslow, principal of Margaret Brent Elementary School in Stafford County.
When asked to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner," she cut a look that said "You've got to be kidding" and responded: "Yeah, right. I don't sing in the shower, much less in front of people."
It's probably the same tone she'd take if a third-grader asked to run through the hallways with scissors.
Good thing others were more willing to participate in our silly survey.
In honor of the Fourth of July, we asked a number of people in the Fredericksburg area if they know the words to our national anthem. Few breezed through the song as easily as Sheryl Harrison, a kindergarten teacher. As she splashed in the water of the Curtis Park pool--with red and blue fingernails decorated with white stars--she started with, "Oh, say, can you see," and sang through to "the home of the brave."
She's 42 and believes her "level of patriotism" is typical of her age.
"I also stand and do the pledge and put my hand over my heart."
Meanwhile, 9-year-old Brett McGuire of Fredericksburg was at Curtis Park for a skateboarding camp. His experiences with patriotic songs haven't been as moving.
"I know what you're talking about," he said, "but no, I've never sung it. I've never heard it in school."
Results of our unscientific poll mirror a 2004 survey by Harris Interactive, which said nearly two of every three Americans don't know the national anthem.
Some administrators with the National Association for Music Education blame the lack of knowledge on cuts in school music programs.
Elementary music classes are usually where youngsters learn patriotic songs, said John Mahlmann, executive director of the national group.
"When these programs are cut we're not simply depriving our children of music, but hindering the teaching of our nation's history and heritage," Mahlmann said on the organization's Web site.
The patriotic lessons might be easier to swallow if the song weren't so hard to sing.
And the words themselves!
The first verse has eight lines and 81 words, but none exactly roll off the tongue.
For instance, there's the line: "O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming."
Several people called them "lamparts."
Of course, we won't point out who those singers were or how many of them skipped that line altogether.
Brandon Gonzalez, 11, of Stafford tried to get through the whole verse. He squinched his eyes and freckle-covered nose in deep thought, then let 'er rip:
"Oh, say, can you see by the dawn's early light
"What so proudly we stand
"Uh.
"Um.
"I swear, um.
"I don't know the next line, but then, I think, after that, it's bombs bursting in air, and then, something-something home of the brave."
Jessica Wilt, 16, of Bealeton says she was the only one in her government class who knew that Francis Scott Key wrote the anthem.
"That's pretty sad," she said. "Some people are stupid."
Jessica recited the first verse with one small glitch.
"I learned it, like, when I was in kindergarten," she said. "I went to a private school, and they made us learn all that crap."
Just because people learned the song as children doesn't mean they've retained it--or are willing to share it with others.
Johnny Oliver, 70, stood behind the counter of his general store in Hartwood and picked his teeth. He and hundreds of others had sung the anthem at recent graduation ceremonies at Colonial Forge High School.
He was not interested in a solo command performance.
"I put my little hand over my heart, you know, but I don't get up in front of any audience and cut it loose," he said.
Andrea Baden, who's from Jamaica, lives in Falmouth and was embarrassed that no one in her family could remember the words. She's married to Steven Baden, and they have three young children ages 3 to 12.
"Steven, you don't know it? That's terrible," she said. "You're an American. Didn't you have to say it when you graduated?"
Three men, all over 60, worked on a leaky well near Hartwood last week. They shared interesting perspectives on the anthem--and things related to it--as they toiled in the oppressive heat.
"I just sang it the other night at the [Washington] Nationals game," said James Dingess, 65.
"I wouldn't go across the street to see them," said Henry Vogel, 66.
"They always sing the national anthem at baseball games, don't they?" asked his brother, Francis Vogel, 63.
The Vogels were in school in the 1940s and '50s, when everybody learned such patriotic tunes.
"We even said the Lord's Prayer back then," added Henry Vogel.
"And read from the Bible every day," Francis Vogel said.
None of the men was interested in forming an impromptu trio or trying to remember words he learned a long time ago.
"I knew it all, but I've forgotten," Dingess said. "You know, as you get older, your memory fades."
"I don't think I know any songs all the way through," Francis Vogel said.
"I wish we had Roseanne Barr here," Henry Vogel said. "She could sing it for us."
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