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"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", [2] a poem written by American lawyer Francis Scott Key on September 14, 1814, after he witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy during the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812.
"My Country, 'Tis of Thee", also known as simply "America", is an American patriotic song, the lyrics of which were written by Samuel Francis Smith. [2] The song served as one of the de facto national anthems of the United States (along with songs like "Hail, Columbia") before the adoption of "The Star-Spangled Banner" as the official U.S. national anthem in 1931. [3]
Later retitled "The Star-Spangled Banner", Key's lyrics, set to Stafford Smith's music, became a well-known and recognized patriotic song throughout the United States, and was officially designated as the U.S. national anthem on 3 March 1931. [33] The setting of new lyrics to an existing tune is called a contrafactum. [34]
Watch and listen to the US national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner, performed at presidential inaugurations since 1961. Video by Elise Wicker
Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, the composer of the French national anthem "La Marseillaise", sings it for the first time. The anthem is one of the earliest to be adopted by a modern state, in 1795. Most nation states have an anthem, defined as "a song, as of praise, devotion, or patriotism"; most anthems are either marches or hymns in style. A song or hymn can become a national anthem under ...
The song ends with the gut punch of a revised closing line, replacing the words written by amateur poet and slave owner Francis Scott Key, "O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave ...
"God Save the King" (Afrikaans: God Red die Koning, God Red die Koningin when a Queen) was a co-national anthem of South Africa from 1938 until 1957, [118] when it was formally replaced by "Die Stem van Suid-Afrika" as the sole national anthem. [118] The latter served as a sort of de facto co-national anthem alongside the former until 1938. [118]
The National Anthem of India is titled "Jana Gana Mana". The song was originally composed in Bengali by India's first Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore on 11 December 1911. [11] [12] [13] The parent song, 'Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata' is a Brahmo hymn that has five verses and