I have seen the requests for asking about the words (and background) to the words to TAPS. I developed my interest in this when my dad died last April. The program from the Veterans Homes of California uses these words to Taps: Day is done Gone the sun, >From the Earth, >From the Lakes, >From the Sky, All is well, Safely rest God is nigh Now, I don't prfess to say this is the only wording; however is IS the official words as used by the California Department of Veterans Affairs. As to finding out the "original" story behind the words, there are two primary sources: (1) run a search. I use "Google" (www.google.com) for my searches, though most any search engine will pull something up. There are MORE THAN ONE explanation. You can pick whichever one you like best. (2) contact a local Military Base, preferrably Army, and/or the American Legion. I have found 2 or 3 "versions" of how the words came about, and found one that had about 3, maybe 4 Stanza's to it. When my dad died last April, I went to a Church Memorial Service, then the burial service at Riverside (CA) National Cemetery, where they played Taps from a tape (Medal of Honor recipients get a genuine bugler), and at the California Veterans Home where my dad lived. The bugler was absent that day, so they played it with a tape, but the program had the above words on it. That was the first time I ever knew there were words to Taps! Since then I've done some "homework" on the subject. I managed to get two soldiers from Ft. Irwin Army Base to handle my dad's funeral. They folded the flag, and presented it to my mother; and they did a couple other things, one was pushing the button on the machine to play Taps. Do the Search, see what you come up with; contact the Army and/or the American Legion, then pick which one you like best. There are no wrong answers! Regards, Robert D. Mollenauer, Jr. Ridgecrest, CA b. Charleroi, Wash. Co., PA