Spangled Mythconception #4: Key's Banner is Based on a Bawdy Old English Drinking Song

MYTH #4: Key’s Banner is based on the melody of a bawdy old English drinking song CORRECTION: “The Anacreontic Song” was the constitutional anthem of an elite, London-based, amateur music society… but it gets complicated. Francis Scott Key would have most likely encountered the melody of “The Anacreontic Song” initially through its most popular American…