"Remember the Maine!" (1898)
Words by Robert Burns Wilson
Music by Charles Crozat Converse (1832-1918)

[Source: reprinted on pages 38-39 from "Naval Songs"]

1. When the vengeance wakes, when the battle breaks,
And the ships sweep out to sea;
When the foe is neared, when the decks are cleared,
And the colors floating free;
When the squadrons meet, when it’s fleet to fleet,
And front to front with Spain;
From ship to ship, from lip to lip
Pass on the quick refrain:
“Remember,
Remember, remember the Maine!”

2. When the flag shall sign, “Advance in line,
Trim ship on an ocean keel;”
When the guns shall flash, and the shot shall crash,
And bound on the ringing steel;
When the rattling blasts, from the armored masts,
Are hurling their deadliest rain,
Let their voices loud, thru the blinding cloud,
Cry ever the fierce refrain:
“Remember,
Remember, remember the Maine!”

3. God’s sky and sea, in that storm shall be
Fate’s chaos of smoke and flame;
And across that hell, ev’ry shot shall tell,
Not a gun can miss its aim;
Not a blow will fail, on the crumbling mail,
And the waves that engulf the slain,
Shall sweep the decks of the blackened wrecks
With the thundering, dead refrain:
“Remember,
Remember, remember the Maine!