"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics were written in 1814 by Francis Scott Key, a 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland by British ships in Chesapeake Bay during the War of 1812. It became well known as a patriotic song to the tune of a popular English drinking song, "To Anacreon in Heaven." It was recognized for official use by the United States Navy (1889) and by the White House (1916), and was made the national anthem by a Congressional resolution on March 3, 1931. Although the song has four verses, only the first is commonly sung today.

History

Early history

On September 3, 1814, Key and John S. Skinner of Baltimore, Maryland, an American prisoner exchange agent, set sail from Baltimore aboard the sloop HMS Minden flying a flag of truce approved by James Madison. Their goal was to secure the release of Dr. William Beanes, the elderly and popular town physician of Upper Marlboro, a friend of Key's who had been captured in Washington, DC and had been accused of harboring British deserters. Key and Skinner boarded the British flagship HMS Tonnant on September 7 and spoke with General Robert Ross and Admiral Alexander Cochrane over dinner, while they also discussed war plans. In the beginning, Ross and Cochrane refused to release Beanes, but relented after Key and Skinner showed them letters written by wounded British prisoners praising Beanes and other Americans for their kind treatment.

Because Key and Skinner had heard much of the preparations for the Baltimore attack, they were held captive until after the battle, first aboard HMS Surprise, and later back onto the Minden sloop, waiting behind the British fleet. On September 13, at 7 a.m., the British fleet attacked the fort and the Battle of Baltimore was under way. Bombardment of the fort continued until 1 a.m. on September 14, after which some British gunboats attempted to slip past the fort and effect a landing in a cove to the west of it, but they were turned away by gunners at nearby Fort Covington, the city's last line of defense. During the rainy night, Key had witnessed the bombardment and observed that the fort's smaller "storm flag" continued to fly, but once the shelling stopped and it grew dark, he would not know how the battle turned out until dawn. By then, the storm flag had been lowered and the larger main flag had been raised.

Key was inspired by the American victory and the sight of the enormous American flag flying triumphantly above the fort. This flag, with fifteen stars and fifteen stripes, is today on display in the National Museum of American History, a part of the Smithsonian Institution. This flag was restored in 1914 by Amelia Fowler, and again in 1998 as part of an ongoing conservation program.

The next day, Key wrote a poem aboard the ship on the back of a letter he had in his pocket, continuing to write during the sail. After being released with Skinner in Baltimore at twilight on September 16, Key finished the poem at the Indian Queen Hotel where he was staying, entitling it "Defence of Fort McHenry".

Key gave his poem to his brother-in-law, Judge Joseph H. Nicholson, who recognized that the poem fit the tune of "To Anacreon in Heaven", a popular melody dating from the mid-1760s, written in London by John Stafford Smith. Nicholson took the poem to a printer. These broadside copies, the song's first known printing, were printed anonymously in Baltimore on September 17 — of these, two known copies still exist.

On September 20, both the Baltimore Patriot and The American printed the song, with the note "Tune: Anacreon in Heaven." The song quickly became popular, with 17 newspapers from Georgia to New Hampshire printing it. Soon after, Thomas Carr of the Carr Music Store in Baltimore published the words and music together under the title "The Star-Spangled Banner." The song quickly became popular, and the first public performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner" took place in October, when Baltimore actor Ferdinand Durang sang the song at Captain McCauley's tavern.

Gaining popularity and official status

The song gained popularity throughout the 19th century. On July 26, 1889, Secretary of the Navy Benjamin F. Tracy signed General Order #374, making "The Star-Spangled Banner" the official tune to be played at the raising of the flag.

In 1916, Woodrow Wilson ordered that "The Star-Spangled Banner" be played at military and other appropriate occasions. Two years later, in 1918, the song was first played at a baseball game; in the World Series, the band started an impromptu performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner" during the seventh-inning stretch. The players and spectators stood at attention, took off their hats, and sang, giving rise to a tradition that is repeated at almost every professional baseball game in United States today, though it is now performed prior to the first pitch.

Eventually, a concerted public relations effort was made to make the song the country's national anthem (there had until that time been no official anthem). In 1931, John Philip Sousa published his opinion in favor, stating that "it is the spirit of the music that inspires" as much as it is Key's "soul-stirring" words. By Congressional resolution signed by President Herbert Hoover, "The Star-Spangled Banner" was adopted as the national anthem of the United States on March 3, 1931.

Modern history

One of the most famous instrumental interpretations is Jimi Hendrix's guitar solo at the first Woodstock Festival. Although it was condemned by some conservatives as a desecration of the song (Roseanne's performance being far in the future), it has since become a celebrated emblematic signature of the ideals of the late 1960s.

When sung in public (before major sporting events, for example), for reasons of brevity, verses after the first are almost always omitted and relatively few Americans know the words beyond the first verse. Isaac Asimov's short story No Refuge Could Save made light of this when a foreign spy was identified when it was found he knew every stanza, the joke being that no "real" Americans would know it. It is also sometimes said humorously that the last two words of the national anthem are "PLAY BALL!"

A New York based band, Seeking Homer, released a version of the Star Spangled Banner on their second CD, A Good Hard Smack, in 1998. This rendition starts out with traditional harmonizing vocals and an acoustic guitar and ends with a more modern flare of electric guitars and chanting (e.g. "To the fathers who fought our wars/Kept the enemies off these shores" and "From San Francisco Bay to the coast of Portland, Maine/To the fisherman in Alaska to the farmers up in Nebraska/ USA!.) This version was used by the PGA golf tournament with a montage of clips from the weekend. After the terrorist attacks on NYC on September 11, 2001, the band re-recorded and released an extended version of the track and gave all proceeds to the American Red Cross fund.

Trivia

• The tune "To Anacreon in Heaven" was at one time the national anthem of Luxembourg.

• Because it is the most explicitly anti-British verse (and also fairly gory), the third is virtually never sung.
• The first stanza is full of questions. It is in the other stanzas that these questions are answered, although they are almost never sung.

• The Minden was built at Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, India.

• A common stage trick done by vocalists is, during the singing of the words "free" and "brave" near the end of the song, to jump up to the tonic as a demonstration of virtuosity. For example, when Whitney Houston performed the song at Super Bowl XXV, her voice jumped to higher notes on the word "free" than was intended in the original song.

• Mariah Carey hit the B6 note in her rendition of The Star Spangled Banner at the 2002 Superbowl.

• A similar trick may also be done by instrumentalists, who play higher notes on the same words as the vocalists. Saxophonist David Sanborn did this in a duet with Brian McKnight when they performed together at the 1997 NBA All-Star Game. When McKnight sang "free," Sanborn responded by playing a much higher note on his saxophone.

• In March 2005 a government sponsored program was started in the USA to help the population learn the lyrics of the national anthem.

Local variations

There are several popular local variations on the ending and other changes in emphasis:

• The University of California, Berkeley, at the singing of the National Anthem, will replace "the rockets' red glare" with "the rockets' BLUE glare" and "home of the brave" with "home of the BEARS".
• Rock singer Steven Tyler of Aerosmith improvised on the song's ending by singing "...and the home of the Indianapolis 500," in reference to the race he performed at. This offended veterans' groups, and they demanded an apology from Tyler.
• The anthem's performance at every University of North Dakota hockey game ends with the entire crowd yelling "SIOUX!" in the place of "Brave." (Similarly, whenever the national anthem is performed at University of Oklahoma sporting events, the last line becomes, "and the home of the 'SOONERS!'")
• At North Carolina State University sporting events, students and fans often shout the word "red" in the line "the rockets' red glare" and replace "brave" at the end of the song with "wolfpack" in tribute to the school's color and mascot. However, this practice has come under fire recently, though it has not led to any change in behavior.
• When the song is performed at Atlanta Braves games, the final word is pluralized, making the last line "and the home of the BRAVES!" (Sometimes, "Atlanta" may be added before "Braves.")
• When the song is performed at Tacoma Rockets hockey games, the word "rockets'" is shouted. ("...and the ROCKETS' red glare...") This is also done at Houston Rockets games.
• At the University of Virginia, home of the 'Hoos, some fans shout "Hoos!" at the beginning of the phrase, "whose broad stripes and bright stars"
• At home games of the Baltimore Orioles, who are affectionately known as the "O's", when the song is performed, the "Oh" in the line "Oh say does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave" is emphasized and yelled out, rather than sung. Fans also raise their hands above their heads to form a circle/"o". This is such a tradition in Baltimore that this practice may also be heard at many places in and around Baltimore when the anthem is performed or where there is a large congregation of Orioles fans. Orioles fans are also known to shout "Boom!" after "bombs bursting in air."
• The "O" is also done by the Cameron Crazies at Duke University, although their reason for doing it is unclear.

In fiction

"The Star-Spangled Banner" has often been referenced in fiction and pop culture:

• In the 1997 film Men in Black, a group of aliens sing a song that closely resembles the National Anthem in gibberish. The anthem is also featured in the 2002 sequel Men in Black II, in which another group of aliens living in a locker sing the song to honor the man who has given them a watch to keep time. One version of the song goes: "Oh 'K,' can you see..." until 'Agent K' (Tommy Lee Jones) removes his watch from the locker, upsetting the aliens. When 'Agent J' (Will Smith) puts his own watch into the locker, the aliens are happy again, and they sing: "Oh 'J,' can you see..."
• In the original BBC version of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the characters Ford Prefect and Zaphod Beeblebrox sing a "Betelgeuse Death Anthem", the melody of which somewhat resembles the U.S. National Anthem, albeit very much off-key and with lyrics in a presumably made-up language that sounds like gibberish.

Performances and adaptations

The song is notoriously difficult for non-professionals to sing, due to its octave-and-a-half range. Garrison Keillor has frequently campaigned for the performance of the anthem in the original key, G major, which can, in fact, be sung by most average singers without difficulty. Humorist Richard Armour referenced the song's difficulty in his book It All Started With Columbus:

"In an attempt to take Baltimore, the British attacked Fort McHenry, which protected the harbor. Bombs were soon bursting in air, rockets were glaring, and all in all it was a moment of great historical interest. During the bombardment, a young lawyer named Francis "Off" Key wrote The Star-Spangled Banner, and when, by the dawn's early light, the British heard it sung, they fled in terror!"

Professional singers have been known to forget the words, which is one reason why the song is so often pre-recorded and lip-synched. This situation was lampooned in the comedy film, The Naked Gun, as its star Leslie Nielsen, undercover as an opera singer at a ball game, made mincemeat of the lyrics.

The pre-recording of the anthem has become standard practice at some ballparks (such as Fenway Park) in order to prevent a "Roseanne incident"; actress Roseanne Barr performed the song in San Diego on July 25, 1990, and her screechy rendition (complete with spitting and crotch-grabbing in an imitation of a baseball player) raised a few eyebrows and triggered changes in the way the song is presented.

Wayne Messmer, the Chicago Cubs public address announcer, occasionally presents his stirring rendition at Wrigley Field, wherein he ends on two rising notes, rather than dropping down the scale as the song is normally done. And unlike many of the artists who turn it into a "performance", with pauses at their own discretion that make it impossible for the audience to sing along, Messmer does it "straight".

Lyrics

I.

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?

Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched 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.

Chorus

Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

II.

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

Chorus

'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

III.

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 washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.

No refuge could save the hireling and slave

From the terror of flight and the gloom of the grave

Chorus

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

IV.

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand

Between their loved home and the war's desolation!

Bles't with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land

Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.

Then conquer we must, when¹ our cause it is just,

And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."

Chorus

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Note that under most circumstances only the first stanza is played but the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's recording includes verses I and IV.

¹ A very common mistake is to substitute for instead of when.

Media

External links

• MP3 Audio File of Star Spangled Banner
• Star Spangled Banner Lyrics, history, sheet music, photos and wav files.
• Bruce Springsteen preforming an acoustic "Star-Spangled Banner." Only available as a streaming audio
• Isaac Asimov on the four stanzas of the anthem
• Encyclopedia Smithsonian article on "The Star-Spangled Banner"
• "Star-Mangled Banner: A look at some controversial, and botched, renditions of our national anthem"
• "The Star-Spangled Banner" by John A. Carpenter
• Easybyte - free easy piano arrangement of the Star Spangled Banner / Anacreon in Heaven

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