John Stafford Smith

It was raised by the dawn's early light on the morning of the 14th of September.

Witnessing this inspiring sight, Francis Scott Key penned his famous verse, which was soon published in a Baltimore paper, with instructions to sing it to the tune of the anachriontic song, the anthem of a London gentleman's club, written by the English composer John Stafford Smith.

The melody is notoriously difficult to sing, which, with bawdy lyrics celebrating wine and women, made it a perfect drinking song.

Key's lyrics proved just as stirring, and within weeks it was published in papers across the country.

It is a sweeping oversimplification that fundamentally misrepresents the music.

Key deliberately wrote his lyrics to fit a highly complex, well-known melody composed by an Englishman named John Stafford Smith.

Okay.

And the original tune was called To Anacreon in Heaven.