The club met every other week in the winter. The song dates from the mid-1770s and it was composed for a group of London gentlemen who had recently formed a social club. Unlike most common melodies, we know who wrote the original words, music, and why! In fact, by 1820, eighty-four were written in the United States alone. Many sets of lyrics have been written to the melody that Key chose for his verses that eventually became our national anthem. Melodies to theater songs were used for dancing, and dance tunes, even fast Irish jigs, were sometimes given sets of words. These melodies, known by name by almost everyone, were used for whatever purpose presented itself-a political song, a hymn, a march tune, a drinking song, or a country dance. Before there was copyright protection, melodies were recycled over and over again.
Many lyrics for songs written in the 18th and early 19th centuries were based upon popular melodies. That Francis Scott Key borrowed a popular melody for his famous song is very much in keeping with common practice of his time period.
The words to our national anthem have nothing to do with consumption of alcohol, but the melody that Francis Scott Key had in mind when he wrote those words did originate decades earlier as the melody for a song in praise of wine.
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