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The History of the Star Bangled Banner Music
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star-Spangled_Banner
The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States of
America. The lyrics come from "Defence of Fort McHenry",[1] a poem written in
1814 by the 35-year-old amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the
bombardment of Fort McHenry by Royal Navy ships in Chesapeake Bay during the
Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812.
The poem was set to the tune of a popular British drinking song, written by John
Stafford Smith for the Anacreontic Society, a men's social club in London. "The
Anacreontic Song" (or "To Anacreon in Heaven"), set to various lyrics, was
already popular in the United States. Set to Key's poem and renamed "The
Star-Spangled Banner", it would soon become a well-known American patriotic
song. With a range of one and a half octaves, it is known for being difficult to
sing. Although the song has four stanzas, only the first is commonly sung today,
with the fourth ("O thus be it ever when free men shall stand...") added on more
formal occasions.
"The Star-Spangled Banner" was recognized for official use by the Navy in 1889
and the President in 1916, and was made the national anthem by a congressional
resolution on March 3, 1931 (46 Stat. 1508, codified at 36 U.S.C. § 301), which
was signed by President Herbert Hoover.
Before 1931, other songs served as the hymns of American officialdom. "My
Country, 'Tis of Thee", whose melody was derived from the British national
anthem,[2] served as a de facto national anthem of the United States before the
adoption of "The Star-Spangled Banner";[3]. Following the War of 1812 and
subsequent American wars, other songs would emerge to compete for popularity at
public events, among them "The Star-Spangled Banner".