The Star-Spangled Banner

“The Star-Spangled Banner”

The US national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” plays every day for sporting events, parades, official gatherings, and other special occasions within the United States of America. If you’ve spent any amount of time in the country, you may already hear its opening stanza in your mind. But how did this notoriously hard-to-sing anthem become the official song of the United States? Read on to find out more.

Francis Scott Key and the War of 1812

It’s a common misconception that “the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,” refers to a battle in the American Revolutionary War. But the poem that inspired the national anthem was actually written about the War of 1812. The United States declared war on the United Kingdom after, among other grievances, the sustained kidnapping of American sailors to serve in the British Royal Navy. Reaching its height during the Napoleonic Wars, the Royal Navy is thought to have forcefully recruited around 15,000 Americans. Once the war began, the British invaded with limited resources, preferring strategic sieges and targeting key sites like forts or, in one notable event, the Capitol at Washington, DC.

Amateur poet and lawyer Francis Scott Key was drawn into this war as a negotiator between US and British forces. On September 13, 1814, he found himself onboard the formerly-French warship HMS Tonnant, now in British hands. Key was there to negotiate the release of prisoners, but, fearing he knew too much about an impending attack on Baltimore, Maryland, the British held him captive for the night. From the Tonnant, Key watched the bombardment of Fort McHenry. The fort withstood the assault, and in the morning, it flew an unblemished American flag. Key, in a moment of inspired patriotism, composed the first few lines of a poem on the spot. They would later be finalized in the the poem “Defence of Fort M'Henry.”

The Anacreontic Song

It was common in those times for poems to be published set to music. This made poems catchier and more likely to be remembered by their audience. Authors therefore chose well-known public tunes, adapting their works to fit as lyrics. When he published “Defence of Fort M'Henry” in 1814, Key chose a popular song called “The Anacreontic Song,” or “To Anacreon in Heaven,” to accompany it. This song originated in an upper-class musical club of London, the Anacreontic Society, which was named for the Greek poet Anacreon. Anacreon is best remembered for his odes to romance, wine, parties, and good living. Member John Stafford Smith composed the song, which soon spread to the public and the Americas.

The Modern National Anthem

When it was first created, “The Star-Spangled Banner” was just one of many patriotic songs competing for national attention. Until the 20th century, no song was particularly recognized as a national anthem, and a few other pieces were more widely used. “Hail Columbia,” for example, is thought to have been composed in 1789 in honor of George Washington’s inauguration. It remained an American favorite for centuries and is still heard today in events connected to the Vice President. You can hear “Hail Columbia” below, as performed by the United States Marine Band:

Other competitors for the role of national anthem included “America the Beautiful,” written by Katherine Bates in 1895, and “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee,” written by Samuel Francis Smith in 1831. The somewhat bawdy origins of “The Anacreontic Song” also worked against “The Star-Spangled Banner.” In 1889, however, the song was chosen to accompany the raising of the flag. It was only in 1916, and more formally in 1931, that “The Star-Spangled Banner” won out as the USA’s official national anthem.

The modern “Star-Spangled Banner” is mostly unchanged from its original version, though many famous singers and musicians have put their own spin on the classic tune. Although in most cases only the first stanza is sung, its full lyrics are as follows:

O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
O’er the ramparts we watch’d were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream,
’Tis the star-spangled banner - O long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a Country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov’d home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with vict’ry and peace may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto - “In God is our trust,”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

References

“NMAH | The Lyrics.” Smithsonian, amhistory.si.edu/starspangledbanner/the-lyrics.aspx. Accessed 1 Mar. 2021.

“Star Spangled Banner.” The Library of Congress, loc.gov/item/ihas.200000017. Accessed 1 Mar. 2021.

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