An Englishman originally wrote the melody that Francis Scott Key had in mind when he wrote the poem in 1814.

It would be another 117 years before the United States adopted the song as their official national anthem.

In 1814 Britain was at war with many of the major countries in the world, including America. During one engagement at Fort McHenry, near Baltimore, the British forces had laid siege to the Fort and were shelling it. A young American, Francis Scott Key, went to ask the British to release a friend who had been taken prisoner some time before. A naval commander agreed to his friend's release, but kept both men in protective custody until the attack was over.

Throughout the bombardment, the Stars and Stripes flag fluttered over the Fort, and eventually the British forces moved on without securing surrender. Scot Key, his heart full of patriotic fervour as he gazed upon the scene, set about writing the Star-Spangled Banner poem on the back of an envelope:

'Oh say can you see by the Dawn's early light
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
O'er the ramparts we watch'd were so gallantly streaming'

While writing his lyrics, Scott Key had the tune in mind, which was a melody used at hymn meetings. Ironically, it had been written in England by John Stafford Smith (1750 - 1836) as an anthem for a London social club.

It was not until 1931 than an act of Congress adopted Key's song as the official American national anthem.