Voice Fiddle and Flute no longer be mute I'll lend you my Name and inspire you to boot...
Francis Scott Key also re-wrote song lyrics... One of his re-written songs became the national anthem of
the United States..
Star Spangled Banner
Francis Scott Key, 1814
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?
Few know that America's national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner" was written in 1780 by John
Stafford Smith, as The Anacreontic Song ("To Anacreon In Heaven") the constitutional song of the Anacreontic
Society of London, with words written by Ralph Tomlinson, an early president of the Society. The Society was a group
of mostly amateur musicians, with a sprinkling of professionals, that met every two weeks at the Crown and Anchor Tavern in
the Strand for a concert followed by a dinner and much merrymaking thereafter. Each concert was formally opened by this song,
performed by the President and joined by the company on the refrain lines. The song itself depicts a squabble among the Greek
gods, to which wine-god Bacchus has (is) the solution (literally), and all join in devotion to "the myrtle of Venus and Bacchus's
vine." The Society finally folded in 1786 due to the dampening influence of the Duchess of Devonshire who had bought a secret
box under the stage, and the uncertainty of whose presence prevented the members from indulging in their usual rounds of bawdy
songs and ballads.
The tune was too good to perish, however, and countless parodies were set to it both in Britain and in America
over the coming two generations, such as "Adams and Liberty," "Anacreon's Reply," and many more. The song might still
have passed out of existence had it not been for Francis Scott Key's new set of words penned September 14, 1814, the morning
after the unsuccessful siege of Forth McHenry, at Baltimore, Maryland, by the British. His poem, "The Star-Spangled Banner,"
hit the streets the very next day, and with a slightly-altered tune (in C, the original used F-natural, not the current F#)
it took its current place as the United States' national anthem more than a century later on March 3, 1931.
Anacreon was an ancient Greek poet (563-478 BC) whose many poems about the pleasures of wine and its results
earned him the reputation as the bard of the grape. He is reputed to have died at the ripe old age of 86 from, appropriately,
choking on a grape seed...
To Anacreon in Heaven
Verse To Anacreon in Heav'n where sat in full Glee, A few Sons of Harmony
sent a Petition, The He their Inspirer and Patron wou'd be, when this Answer arriv'd from the Jolly Old Grecian "Voice
Fiddle and Flute no longer be mute I'll lend you my Name and inspire you to boot And besides I'll instruct you like
me to Intwine The Myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's Vine
Chorus And besides I'll instruct you like me to intwine The Myrtle
of Venus with Bacchus's Vine.
Can we do any better, rewriting "The Anacreontic song"?
The Day-Timer Planner (Star Spangled Banner)
Oh, say can you see what I planned for to-night
What so proudly unveiled, from my booklet dates teem-ing
Whose broad stripes for the hours, what a pon-der-ous sight
O'er the lined-charts we watched were so expertly scheming?
From my pockets with flair, pages fanning in air
Gave proof by the sight that our plan was still there
Oh, say does that day-timer planner yet wave
O'er the planned activity, and the home of dates saved.
Adams and Liberty
Written for, and sung at the fourth Anniversary
of the Massachusetts Charitable Fire Society, 1798.
Ye sons of Columbia, who bravely have fought, For
those rights, which unstained from your Sires had descended, May you long taste the blessings your valour has brought,
And your sons reap the soil which their fathers defended. 'Mid the regin of mild Peace, May your nation increase,
With the glory of Rome, and the wisdom of Greece; And ne'er shall the sons of Colmbia be slaves, While the earth
bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves.
In a clime, whose rich vales feed the marts of the world, Whose
shores are unshaken by Europe's commotion, The trident of Commerce should never be hurled, To incense the legitimate
powers of the ocean. But should pirates invade, Though in thunder arrayed, Let your cannon declare the free charter
of trade. For ne'er shall the sons of Colmbia be slaves, While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves.
