Today is the 80th anniversary of the official adoption of "The Star Spangled Banner" as America's national anthem.
I heard the story behind the tune on the way in to work this morning. The first fascinating factoid is that the melody is that of a song written many years before 1814, when Francis Scott Key wrote the words, for a British drinking club. Once the song was published by the club, the melody was adapted by many other song writers, 100 in all, according to the BBC news story.
A group call the Daughters of the War of 1812 petitioned their Congressman in Maryland to put forward a bill to adopt the Banner as the national anthem, arguing Scott Key's connection to the state. On March 3, 1931, President Herbert Hoover signed that bill into law.
A number of other songs have been suggested over the years in lieu of "The Star Spangled Banner." Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" is probably the leading rival in recent times.
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