Star Spangled Songbook Tells a Musical History of the Nation's Anthem

Our unique Star Spangled Songbook contains 73-sheet music editions of historic arrangements of “The Star-Spangled Banner” plus its musical antecedents and parodies. Chief among these is the original source of the melody Key would use—London’s amateur musicians club theme “The Anacreontic Song.” Included are other songs by the music’s creator John Stafford Smith as well as little known songs by Francis Scott Key, including “When the Warrior Returns” (which anticipates the future anthem by 9 years) and three of his hymns. Click here for a contents list.
The book is available in two editions (spiral bound and hardback)


The book owes its existence to our Poets & Patriots recording project. To record these historic but largely forgotten songs and neglected arrangements, musicologist Mark Clague and producer Andrew Kuster edited and typeset each song in a fresh edition that paired the complete lyric with its original or in some instances an historically appropriate musical arrangement. This required a few minor corrections to the music plus deft realization of the text to match melody to verse.
The spiral-bound, performance friendly sheet music edition is ideal for musicians and teachers. We’ve realized the sheet music complete and in full and have also found practical ways to minimize errors in performance by writing out abbreviations and tricky repeats in full. The music can be used in American music concerts or in schools to showcase the history of Francis Scott Key’s anthem.
The hardback edition is best for school libraries or collectors.
All scores can be copied and shared with students at no additional charge and individual sheet music downloads are often available for free on our editions page.(1)
And don’t forget the accompanying recordings here.

  1. The one exception being the Stravinsky arrangement, which is under license and cannot be further reproduced. Although there is no performance fee needed for this version as Stravinsky gave that right to all Americans without charge.