Two Little Known Facts About the Origin of the American National Anthem

Two Little Known Facts About the Origin of the American National Anthem

For a song that is so often performed, the story behind the creation of Star Spangled Banner is only told in its most incomplete form.

The incomplete version goes like this:
Francis Scott Key witnesses the Battle of Baltimore and after an entire night of bombardment he saw the the great flag flying over Ft. McHenry was still flying tall, indicating that the American forces had withstood the barrage and won the battle.

He was so inspired by this that he wrote a song to commemorate the occasion, and that song would eventually become the American National Anthem.

This story has two parts: the battle and the song. Each part is missing a key fact. These missing facts make the story much more interesting, and much more human.

Key was a lawyer from Maryland, during the War of 1812 (1812-1815) a friend of his has been taken prisoner by the British Navy. Key tracked down and hailed the British fleet. He was let aboard in the capacity of negotiator.
Key was able to negotiate his friend’s freedom. The issue was this was just before the British were set to attack Baltimore. Key was informed that they would be free to go after the battle, as they had seen to much on board.
Key actually witnessed the battle from the deck of a British ship!

It was from this vantage point that he was so inspired by seeing that “By dawn’s early light…our flag was still there,” he set quill to paper to memorialize the occasion.

Key did not write a song. Francis Scott Key wrote a poem. Only later did he set his poem to music. He used the melody of another song whose cadences worked with the poem he had written.
This is a true fact: The song that Key took the melody from was an English drinking song!

The song, called To Anacreon in Heaven, is about getting drunk and finding women!

Here is the first stanza of To Anacreon in Heaven:

To Anacreon in Heav’n, where he sat in full Glee,

A few Sons of Harmony sent a Petition,

That he their Inspirer and Patron would be;

When this answer arriv’d from the Jolly Old Grecian

“Voice, Fiddle, and Flute,

“no longer be mute,

“I’ll lend you my Name and inspire you to boot,

“And, besides I’ll instruct you, like me, to intwine

“The Myrtle of Venus with Bacchus’s Vine.”

History is often so much more interesting and complicated than we might first believe. The fact that Key was on a British ship when he saw the battle is a fascinating detail, which adds a wonderful perspective to the story. The fact that the melody of the Star Spangled Banner was taken from another song, a drinking song no less, is an incredible detail. It is in fact possibly my favorite piece of US History “trivia.” We often take our history too seriously, and the core pieces of our national identity are often treated as a sort of secular religious dogma. It is important to remember the individuals behind these stories and constructs were real people and real people can do quirky things like apporotate the melody of an English Drinking song to create a patriotic tune, which later became this nation’s anthem.

I’ll toast to that!