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First official national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner, was composed by Francis Scott Key, who also wrote the poem that inspired it. Learn more about the United States national anthem and its official lyrics, plus interesting facts and information about U.S. history.
The Star-Spangled Banner | U.S. National Anthem Lyrics
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 rocket’s 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?
On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
‘Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation.
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
Frequently Asked Questions - The Star-Spangled Banner
Who wrote the national anthem of the United States?
Francis Scott Key wrote the poem "Defense of Fort M'Henry" on September 14, 1814, which was later set to music and in 1931 became America's national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Who composed the US national anthem?
Around 1773, British composer and early musicologist John Stafford Smith composed the United States' national anthem.
What inspired the lyrics of the national anthem?
In honor of a significant victory over British forces in the War of 1812, American soldiers at Baltimore's Fort McHenry flew a massive American flag on September 14, 1814. Francis Scott Key was inspired to compose a song that would later become the national anthem of the United States by the sight of the "wide stripes and dazzling stars."
When did "The Star-Spangled Banner" became the U.S. national anthem?
On March 3, 1931, The Star-Spangled Banner was formally adopted as the national anthem.
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