BANNER DAY It is only natural we assume that our national anthem - "The
Star-Spangled Banner" and the 4th of July - Independence Day- convenient double-feature attraction celebrating our new nation. The anthem was written in 1814. I, personally, remember quite well the very first day we sang the song as the official anthem of our United States of America.!
It was just a week or so after my 20th birthday when President Herbert Hoover signed the parchments making the tune our national hymn. Those who felt they could do so, sang the new song but those who did not have the best tonsils, held to singing American lyrics to England's "God Save the King "Then, there was the one that went by the title of "America, the Beautiful" with all the golden grain to be harvested.
Francis Scott Key who wrote the lyrics of the songs was a lawyer rather an a musician. He and a law associate where on a British warship[ in the Bay seeking release for a local personage who had been captured and was being held a prisoner. They were, I understand, successful in their quest, but when it came time for them to leave the British refused to ferry them ashore. And, for good reason, too. The British were planning a major bombardment of harbor facilities for that night and they did not wish to risk any possible compromise.
His vivid descriptions of the red rockets glare became a part of our history from his telling of his joy at seeing the gallant stars and stripes of the over-sized flag of his nation still waving in the morning's first light has inspired thousands of citizens of our nation ever since.
The melody chosen has been roundly ridiculed for years. It is scorned by some as "an old drinking song". Those were the spirited, cheerful, joyful, moving songs of that era. It was, indeed, such a song. The song to which Francis Scott Key fitted his words was called: " To Anacreon In Heaven." It was English and it was the official song of the "The Anacreon Society" a popular Gentleman's Club in London. They honored a Greek poet who lived in the Fifth Century B.C. named Anacreon. He is remembered to have been known as "the convivial bard of Greece". The membership was, then, was dedicated to "wit, harmony, and the god of wine." The song was written by Mr. Ralph Tomlinson who was a president of the club at one time.
The song itself changed in time. The club prospered John Stafford Smith (1750-1836) who was a Court Musician and a member of the society, got other members together and started
a project of rewriting the original song. As early 1798 the new tune of "The Anacreon Club" appeared in American papers with various lyrics including a set done by Robert Treat Paines (1731-1814) titled "Adams and Liberty" which was widely sung and quite popular. Francis Scott Key, had adapted the melody to a song he had written in 1804 called "When the Warrior Returns" honored the victory of the U.S. Navy over the Barbary Pirates. There can be very little doubt but that Key knew the tune well when in September 1814 he saw "the flag over Fort McHenry...by the dawn's early light".
A.L.M. March 20, 2006 [c564wds]
