Star Spangled Banner

By Jonathan Feldman

Prior to the USA’s match with Italy at the 2006 World Cup, American fans belted out a stirring Star Spangled Banner.

Following the match, a scuffle ensued between a drunken American and English fan near one of the gates. “Your anthem is one of our old drinking songs,” slurred England fan number one.” “Francis Scott Key composed that song and wrote the lyrics,” responded the bold American.

Both are correct.

The lyrics come from a poem written in 1814 by Francis Scott Key. Key, a 35-year-old amateur poet, wrote "Defence of Fort McHenry" after seeing the bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland by British ships in Chesapeake Bay during the War of 1812.

The poem was set to the tune of a popular British drinking song written by John Stafford Smith for the Anacreontic Society, a London social club.

	The Star Spangled Banner melody was taken from an 18th century British tavern song.

"The Anacreontic Song" was already popular in the United States and set to various lyrics. Set to Key's poem and renamed, "The Star-Spangled Banner" would soon become a well-known American patriotic song. With a range of one and a half octaves, it is known for being difficult to sing. Although the song has four stanzas, only the first is commonly sung today, with the fourth ("O thus be it ever when free men shall stand ...") added on more formal occasions.

"The Star-Spangled Banner" was recognized for official use by the Navy in 1889 and the President in 1916, and was made the national anthem by a Congressional resolution on 3 March 1931.

Prior to 1931, other songs served as the hymns of American officialdom. Most prominent among them, "Hail Columbia!" served as the national anthem de facto from Washington's time and through the 18th and 19th centuries. Following the War of 1812 and the outbreak of subsequent American wars, other songs would emerge to compete for popularity at public events, among them "The Star-Spangled Banner."

12/18/07