If you have already completed the chapter about the functions of music, you know that it is used to ensure the continuity and stability of culture. The United States has a number of songs that celebrate a patriotic spirit. These songs were written to promote a sense of pride and loyalty, and they are considered an important part of American culture.

In 1814, Francis Scott Key witnessed the Battle of Fort McHenry and wrote a poem about what he saw. His now famous words were set to the popular British song “To Anacreon in Heaven” by John Stafford Smith, and the resulting song would be adopted as the U.S. national anthem in 1931.
 

A national anthem is the official song of a country. In the United States, the national anthem is sung or played at ceremonial occasions, sporting events, and on national holidays. It used to be sung much more frequently – some schools began every day with the singing of the national anthem as a lesson in patriotism, but this has fallen out of common practice.
 

The Star-Spangled Banner has four verses, but the first is the one most commonly sung. It has a wide range of one and a half octaves, which makes it difficult for the average person to sing.

The words to this well-known American song, first published in 1895, are by Katharine Lee Bates. Bates was inspired to write the poem when she climbed to the top of Pikes Peak in Colorado. She saw the landscape’s natural beauty as a reflection of all that is good about the United States, and she wrote a poem expressing hopeful optimism for the country.  The words were set to the music of a song called “Materna” by Samuel Ward. The song has four verses, although the first is the best-known. There has been an effort by some to adopt the song as a new national anthem due to its peaceful and hopeful message and its ease of singing.

Irving Berlin wrote “God Bless America” in 1918 upon learning that the country had entered into World War I. He wrote the song for a musical revue at the army camp where he served, but he decided at the time that it was unsuitable. Twenty years later he would bring the song out of retirement in response to Adolph Hitler’s rise to power. The song was performed on a radio broadcast featuring singer Kate Smith, and it became an instant hit. It is considered by some to be the unofficial national anthem of the United States.