What was the original name of The Star Spangled Banner?
Francis Scott Key’s original poem was titled ‘Defence of Fort M’Henry.’ It was printed in a newspaper for the first time in the Baltimore Patriot on September 20, 1814, then in papers as far away as Georgia and New Hampshire. To the verses was added a note “Tune: Anacreon in Heaven.” In October a Baltimore actor sang Key’s new song in a public performance and called it ‘The Star-Spangled Banner.’ http://www.usflag.org/francis.scott.key.html The original tune was ‘To Anacreon in Heaven,’ an English drinking song written by John Stafford Smith with words by Ralph Tomlinson, Esq. According to tradition it was first “sung at the Crown Anchor Tavern in the Strand, circa 1780.” Tomlinson was president of the Anacreontic Society, a gentlemen’s club popular with upscale London boozers. Anacreon (563-478 B.C.) was a Greek poet known for his songs of wine and women.
