This week (Sept. 14) in 1814, in the thick of the War of 1812 between Great Britain and America, a young lawyer from Baltimore, Maryland, named Francis Scott Key approached British authorities in the hopes of learning the whereabouts of a physician friend thought to have been incarcerated by the British for “unfriendly acts.” For his troubles, Key himself was detained on one of the British warships that had sailed into Baltimore Harbor to attack Fort McHenry, the city’s last defense against British occupation.
The attack, which Key witnessed from the ship’s deck, began in the evening hours of September 13th with a massive naval bombardment of Ft. McHenry, and ended the next morning. Thousands of salvos “bursting in air” were fired against the fort, but to Key’s astonishment, the “dawn’s early light” revealed that the American flag — Old Glory — “was still there,” tattered and full of holes, but in one piece, flying above the battered, but also in one piece, American fort. Inspired, Key jotted down the words (including the above quotes) that would become the lyrics to the “Star Spangled Banner.” Not incidentally, Ft. McHenry’s survival was a turning point in the War of 1812. Unable to breach the fort’s defenses, the British ended their siege of Baltimore and four months later the war ended with the Treaty of Ghent, which ultimately was more pro-American than pro-British.
As for Key’s immortal words, they were immediately published in a Baltimore newspaper, and not long after that his patriotic sentiments were set to the music of a popular English drinking tune, “To Anacreon in Heaven.” In due time, “The Star Spangled Banner” was adopted as the country’s unofficial theme song by a number of patriotic organizations, including the U.S. armed services, and in 1931 it was made the official American national anthem through a resolution passed by Congress.
Today, of course, “The Star Spangled Banner” is mostly performed at grade school ceremonies and organized sporting events, and it is a toss-up as to which group mangles the lyrics and the tune worse — the school kids or the singers, often paid professionals, who assault our eardrums with their renditions at major league football, basketball and baseball games. Granted, Key’s lyrics are difficult to remember, and the aforementioned English drinking tune may have been the worst possible choice to set the lyrics to. It fights the words, forcing the singer to stretch out and distort many lyrics, often making them unrecognizable.
Call it “The Star Mangled Banner,” which (unfortunately, given its author’s last name) is usually sung “off-Key,” and which, as every Little Leaguer knows, only has one memorable line: “…AND THE LAND OF THE FREE, PLAY BALL!”
