WHAT? YOU JUST WROTE IT!
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The Star Spangled Banner
Back in the 1700-1800s there were few copyright laws. The music to the Star Spangled Banner was taken from the mid 1770s and it had been composed for a group of London gentlemen who had formed a social club. During that time, it was common for lyrics to be put to the tunes of other songs. John Stafford Smith wrote the music to the song even though he was not a member of the club. He was an organist and composer and a music critic in London. One of the founders of the social club, Ralph Tomlinson, wrote the words to the social club's song in 1776 and he may have commissioned Smith to write the music.
Francis Scott Key was aboard a British warship (negotiating an exchange of prisoners) during the British attack on Baltimore on the night of 7-8 September 1814 (during the War of 1812). As part of the attack, Fort McHenry was subjected to a terrific bombardment, but was not taken out. In the morning, first light revealed a US flag flying over the fort, and Key felt inspired to write the poem that later (only a few weeks later) became the the lyrics of an new American patriotic song. (The music was an old drinking song.)
Francis Scott Key, a lawyer and a fledgeling poet, saw the Battle of Fort McHenry in Baltimore during the war of 1812. The story goes that bombs were going off and canons were lighting the sky-- along with musket fire-- through the smoke and from the lighting of the weapons Francis Scott Key could still see America's flag waving above the fort.
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