Patriotic Music Lesson

Thank you to Squidoo HQ for honoring this lens by choosing it for the Fourth of July Roundup 2011!

Star Spangled Banner - Francis Scott Key / John Stafford Smith

Originally entitled "Defense of Fort McHenry", this stirring poem was written by Georgetown lawyer Francis Scott Key after observing the Battle of Baltimore between the British and American forces during the War of 1812 in Baltimore, Maryland on September 13 - 14, 1814.

Mr. Key had been sent aboard one of the British battleships to help free a civilian prisoner. He was successful, but was not to be released until after the battle because the British knew he could ruin their surprise attack plans. Therefore he observed the long battle from the British side. After seeing the "rockets red glare" and hearing "the bomb's bursting in air" "through the night" he was not aware of the condition of "what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming" (flag) through the smoke and confusion. He knew if the Americans were defeated, the flag would be down, but if it were still "streaming gallantly", the Americans had survived the hard battle. Imagine his excitement when he saw "by the dawn's early light", the "broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight" and it "gave proof through the night, that our flag was still there"! The battle was won and "that Star Spangled Banner yet" waved, "o're the land of the free, and the home of the brave"!

English composer John Stafford Smith titled the tune we use for the SSB, "Anacreontic". Composed while Smith was in his teens in the 1760's, its original lyrics and meaning are completely different than how we refer to the music today. The tune's lyrics had been changed several times over the years, and the tune was a popular one at the time in America. It was Mr. Key's brother-in-law, Judge Nicholson, who put the tune and the lyrics together the first time.

The original garrison flag sewed by Mary Pickersgill and her team of seamstresses was to be displayed 90 feet in the air and seen at very far distances. The dimensions of this humungous flag were 30 feet by 42 feet with each star being 2 feet in diameter and each strip 2 feet long! The fifteen stars and stripes were to represent the original 13 colonies plus Vermont and Kentucky. The flag that we now know as the "Star Spangled Banner" was delivered to Fort McHenry in August of 1813. That original flag from the battle is displayed at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, DC, USA for all to see.

Composer George M. Cohan wrote the story line, lyrics, and music for the musical production of George Washington, Jr.. This musical, which ran during the spring of 1906 and 1907, was premiered at the Herald Square Theatre in New York City. One of the most popular songs from George Washington, Jr., "You're a Grand Old Flag", became a huge hit and set a musical record by selling over one million copies of its sheet music.

"The original lyric for this perennial George M. Cohan favorite came, as Cohan later explained, from an encounter he had with a Civil War veteran who fought at Gettysburg. The two men found themselves next to each other and Cohan noticed the vet held a carefully folded but ragged old flag. The man reportedly then turned to Cohan and said, "She's a grand old rag." Cohan thought it was a great line and originally named his tune "You're a Grand Old Rag." So many groups and individuals objected to calling the flag a "rag," however, that he "gave 'em what they wanted" and switched words, renaming the song "You're a Grand Old Flag." "
~ from Performing Arts Encyclopedia from the Library of Congress

George M. Cohen composed the song "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy" for the musical Little Johnny Jones. It was premiered at the Liberty Theater on Broadway in November of 1904. The storyline of the musical revolves around Johnny Jones, an American horse jockey created by Cohen, and his adventures with his horse named "Yankee Doodle".

The fun, upbeat piece "borrows" several sections of other well known American songs such as good old "Yankee Doodle". Cohen not only composed the music, but also penned the lyrics, wrote the story, produced the show, and starred in it!

Did you know that the song "Yankee Doodle" was meant to be an insult to the colonial American soldiers during the American Revolution in the late 1700's?

"Yankee" ~ derived from the generic Dutch name "Jahn" (yawn) or "John" that the Dutch settlers in America called the English speaking colonists in the mid-1600's who they felt were behind in culture and education. The ending "ke" was a Dutch way of changing the name from John to Johnny ~ therefore "Jahnke" were the English settlers.

"Doodle ~ when Britian had taken over New York in the 1700's, the city folk referred to the country farmers and frontiersmen as "doodles" meaning a silly, unmannered, uneducated person.

Put the two together to come up with a term that wasn't exactly flattering!

Macaroni ~ High fashion for gentlemen in England during the time was referred to as "macaroni". The soldiers were implying that the Americans were so unstylish that their best attempt to imitate European fashions were to stuff a feather in their plain everyday hats.