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United States National Anthem

The Star-Spangled Banner

1814
1931
Francis Scott Key
John Stafford Smith
🚩 Flag ⚔ Battle / War 🕊 Freedom ✝ God / Faith 💪 Resilience |

Key Facts

  • 1. The melody comes from 'To Anacreon in Heaven', the club song of the Anacreontic Society, a London music and supper club. It is often called a drinking song, but musicologist Mark Clague notes that it was written for a trained solo singer, which helps explain why crowds find it so hard to sing
  • 2. It only became the official anthem in 1931; before that, 'My Country, 'Tis of Thee' and 'Hail, Columbia' were commonly used
  • 3. The flag that inspired the anthem originally measured 30 by 42 feet. It is now displayed at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in an environmentally controlled chamber, in dim light, to protect it from further deterioration
United States - The Star-Spangled Banner

United States National Anthem Lyrics

Only the first verse is customarily sung at public events
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?

Translations are non-official and intended to convey meaning, not replace originals

Analysis

Editorial

Francis Scott Key wrote the words after witnessing the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore in September 1814. He had gone out to the British fleet to secure the release of a prisoner, Dr. William Beanes; the British agreed, but held Key and his companions under guard on their own American ship until the attack was over. Early on September 14, after some 25 hours of bombardment, Key saw a huge American flag raised over the fort, a sign that it had not surrendered. He began writing the poem that morning and finished it ashore.

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Sources & References

  1. 36 U.S. Code § 301 - National anthem . uscode.house.gov

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