Paul Goldfinger photograph on Memorial Day 2017.  Ocean Grove Tent Village©. Click to feel the breeze.

By Paul Goldfinger, Editor@Blogfinger.net.

I was in the Great Auditorium at dusk on Memorial Day May, 2017.

There was a concert, and I looked out the open doors on the left side.  A flag was  flying in front of a tent.  It caught my eye swinging in the breeze. It seemed to be alive.

So I waited for a pause and then casually strolled across the big room and stepped out that door. This photograph was the result.

Patriotic songs are rare these days, as if being patriotic is wrong.  Such songs were much more popular during the two great wars.

This song  “THE FLAG SONG” was written by Stephen Sondheim for the show Assassins (1990).  It was the opening number.

It is performed here by Brian Stokes Mitchell from his 2019 album “BSM Plays With Music.”

“And you know
It’s a dream,
And you know
It isn’t perfect,
And at times
It may seem
To go awry.

“Then that flag goes by,
And no matter how you sigh,
‘It’s the bright blue sky,
It’s just Mom and apple pie,’

“There’s this thing you can’t deny,
This idea:

“That it’s fixable tomorrow,
We’ve a chance,
There’s a choice.
We can change ourselves tomorrow,
We’re in charge,
We’ve a voice,
An idea about tomorrow
To remember
When the flag has gone by.”