'Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?

Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?

And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?'

...

The words were written in 1814 by Francis Scott Key,
who had been inspired by the sight of the American flag still flying over Fort McHenry after a night of heavy British bombardment.
The text was immediately set to a popular melody of the time, "To Anacreon in Heaven."

The National Anthem consists of four verses. On almost every occasion only the first verse is sung.

Happiest Fourth of July!

 
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