蘇沙自己最滿意的照片，攝於1915年 Sousa's favorite photo of himself, 1915

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"The Stars and Stripes Forever" played on a homemade bazooka

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蘇沙和他的太太在1896年一次愉悅的歐洲之旅途中，看到一篇令人吃驚的報導，蘇沙的樂團經理大衛佈雷克（David Blakely）在幾天前突然去世，他們在知道這個消息後立刻搭船回到紐約，在返航途中，蘇沙開始聽見「樂團在我腦中演奏的節拍、不停地演奏、演奏、演奏，整個回程中那個想像中的樂團一直重複著同樣的旋律、並重複演奏最特別的一段旋律」，在他回到家寫下整首旋律後、就完成了「永恆的星條旗」的初稿。蘇沙表示這首曲子傳達的是回到祖國美國的感受、以及「在海外看到星條旗時、覺得那是全世界最大的榮耀的感受」。

「永恆的星條旗」立即造成轟動，從1897年直到該樂團停止巡迴表演的期間，只要樂團有表演、觀眾就十分期待能聽到這條進行曲，在演奏後觀眾也總是會起立致敬、像是聽到國歌一般地肅然起敬；樂團在一次表演中演奏兩至三次都是司空見慣的事，蘇沙在他於1932年3月6日過世的當天，還最後一次演奏了這支曲子。

Sousa and his wife were enjoying a European vacation in 1896, when they saw a startling newspaper article. Sousa's band manager, David Blakely, had died a few days earlier. Soon Sousa and his wife were on a ship heading home to New York. On the journey home, Sousa started hearing "the rhythmic beat of a band playing within my brain. It kept on ceaselessly, playing, playing, playing. Throughout the whole tense voyage, that imaginary band continued to unfold the same themes, echoing and re-echoing the most distinct melody." When he got home he wrote down the music for what would become "The Stars and Stripes Forever." Sousa said the song was about the feeling of coming home to America and how "in a foreign country the sight of the Stars and Stripes seems the most glorious in the world."

"The Stars and Stripes Forever" was an immediate hit. From 1897 until the band stopped touring, whenever they performed, the audience would expect to hear "The Stars and Stripes Forever." When it was played, the audience would stand up as though it were the national anthem. At first it was not unusual for the band to play it two or three times in a performance, each time receiving louder applause than before. Sousa played it for the last time on the day he died, March 6, 1932.

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