The Star-Spangled Banner, one of the best-known national anthems in the world, has roots far more rowdy than patriotic, writes Barrymore Laurence Scherer for The Wall Street Journal.
The melody was originally written by English composer John Stafford Smith as a popular drinking song, “To Anacreon in Heav’n.”
A pupil of renowned composer William Boyce and organist at the Chapel Royal, Smith joined the newly founded Anacreontic Society in 1766. He composed his most famous tune for the London gentlemen’s club, named after the ancient Greek poet Anacreon.
Smith’s ode to the pleasures of wine, women, and song often grew more rowdy as the night progressed.
Smith’s melody made its way to America, where it became widely popular and was adapted for various patriotic texts. It eventually caught the attention of Washington lawyer and poet Francis Scott Key, who wrote several versions of lyrics for it.
The one that endured was written during his overnight detention on a British frigate, as he watched the American flag defiantly flying above Fort McHenry while British forces bombarded it from their ships.
The Star-Spangled Banner, as it was known by then, became the national anthem in 1931, when a congressional bill was signed by President Herbert Hoover.
For the full story behind the anthem’s raucous origins and the fascinating journey from London taverns to American battlefields, read Barrymore Laurence Scherer’s exclusive report in The Wall Street Journal.
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