Glenn shares a side of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ you probably haven't heard

The national anthem has become a cultural flashpoint at NFL games after former San Francisco 49er Colin Kaepernick started sitting last year during the traditional moment of respect. Is “The Star-Spangled Banner” a symbol tied to racial injustice in America, or is it simply a song to let people take pride in their country?

On Thursday’s “The Glenn Beck Radio Program,” Glenn Beck had an entirely different take, portraying the national anthem as a song about the fragility of freedom as well as the people who need to value it.

“It’s not a boastful song,” he said. “It is a song that really is pensive and calls each American to ask themselves, ‘Is this going to last another day?’ … If you really actually listen, you hear a different story entirely.”

To put the song into historical context, Glenn pointed out that “The Star-Spangled Banner,” which was written by Francis Scott Key in 1814, has been the country’s official anthem for less than a hundred years.

The song inspired by the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore during the war of 1812 didn’t become America’s national anthem until 1931. It was first recognized by the U.S. Navy in 1889 and President Woodrow Wilson in 1916 and was later officially designated the national anthem by Congress in 1931 under President Herbert Hoover.

To see more from Glenn, visit his channel on TheBlaze and listen live to “The Glenn Beck Radio Program” with Glenn Beck, Pat Gray, Stu Burguiere and Jeffy Fisher weekdays 9 a.m.–noon ET on TheBlaze Radio Network.