204 years ago this evening, on Sep. 13, 1814, at the “twilight’s last gleaming” at Fort McHenry, Francis Scott Key proudly hailed the Star Spangled Banner. It was famously still waving the next morning. It still waves–and the republic for which it stands still stands–today.
Of course he had a little help from a popular bar song of the day called Anacreon in Heaven. It was upbeat and in a lower key which would probably be appreciated by all regular people trying to sing Key’s more lofty sentiments. Give it a try.
So pass around a glass of fermented grape and have at it:
To Anacreon in Heav’n, where he sat in full Glee,
A few Sons of Harmony sent a Petition,
That he their Inspirer and Patron would be;
When this answer arriv’d from the Jolly Old Grecian
“Voice, Fiddle, and Flute,”no longer be mute,”
I’ll lend you my Name and inspire you to boot,
“And, besides I’ll instruct you, like me, to intwine
“The Myrtle of Venus with Bacchus’s Vine.”
