John Stafford Smith composed the melody later used for “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Smith wrote the tune for “The Anacreontic Song,” the official song of London’s Anacreontic Society, an eighteenth-century gentlemen’s musical club. The melody was already familiar when American lawyer and poet Francis Scott Key wrote lyrics inspired by the bombardment of Fort McHenry during the War of 1812.
Key’s poem was originally titled “Defence of Fort M’Henry.” It was later paired with Smith’s melody and became known as “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The United States officially designated the song as its national anthem on March 3, 1931.
A common mix-up is crediting Francis Scott Key with both words and music. Key wrote the lyrics, while Smith composed the pre-existing tune. The song’s British musical origin is another reason the anthem’s history is more complicated than its later American symbolism suggests.