The lyrics for The Star-Spangled Banner were from a poem called “Defence of Fort M’Henry,” written by Francis Scott Key while watching the British bombardment of Fort McHenry near Baltimore, Maryland in September 1814. Ironically, the music came from a British drinking song, To Anacreon in Heaven. Anacreon was a Greek poet renowned for writing about revelry and erotic topics. 

Both the lyrics and music presented here retain the spirit of the American flag surviving the 1814 bombardment, but are new and original—an all-American Anthem, and a tribute to our nation on its 250th birthday.

Lyrics

What will I see, in the morning’s first light,

Where is our flag, through this perilous fight,  

The red, white and blue, was it there through the night, 

Lord let those colors, still be in flight.

Bombs, they were bursting, high in the air,   

Rockets were screaming, with a blinding glare,

Floating above us, shining and fair,

The Stars and the Stripes are still there.  

The sacrifice, our finest men made, 

Gave up their life, and lie in a grave,   

So the Star Spangled Banner, in glory will wave,      

In the land of the free and the brave.  

Land of the free and the brave.

Bombs, they were bursting, high in the air,   

Rockets were screaming, with a blinding glare,

Floating above us, shining and fair,

The Stars and the Stripes are still there.  

The Stars and the Stripes are still there.