# Was the melody of "The Star Spangled Banner" taken from an old drinking song?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-melody-of-the-star-spangled-banner-taken-from-an-old-drinking-song/601068>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [October 28, 2011, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-melody-of-the-star-spangled-banner-taken-from-an-old-drinking-song/601068 "2011-10-28T13:10:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-melody-of-the-star-spangled-banner-taken-from-an-old-drinking-song/601068/1 "2011-10-28T13:10:39Z")

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[Link to Cecil’s column](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/624/was-the-melody-of-the-star-spangled-banner-taken-from-an-old-drinking-song)

Cecil says in his column, “Amazingly, the Anacreontic Society still exists in England.” No, it doesn’t. What exists is a modern Scottish re-creation, which is a very different kettle of fish. The original Society has been moribund for centuries; the wording of Cecil’s column gives a very different impression.

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**Author:** ![qazwart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/5fc32e/32.png) [@qazwart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qazwart)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-melody-of-the-star-spangled-banner-taken-from-an-old-drinking-song/601068/2 "2011-10-28T13:42:21Z")

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> [@aldiboronti](#):
>
> [Link to Cecil’s column](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/624/was-the-melody-of-the-star-spangled-banner-taken-from-an-old-drinking-song)
> 
> Cecil says in his column, “Amazingly, the Anacreontic Society still exists in England.” No, it doesn’t. What exists is a modern Scottish re-creation, which is a very different kettle of fish. The original Society has been moribund for centuries; the wording of Cecil’s column gives a very different impression.

The Anacreotic Society does to exist! They have a [web page](http://www.anacreonticsociety.org/).

You can hear them sing [To Anacreon in Heaven](http://www.astrococktail.com/mp3/Anacreon.mp3) too. After listening to it a couple of times, I now know why their reputation as a drinking organization over shadowed their reputation as an organization that promotes music.

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**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-melody-of-the-star-spangled-banner-taken-from-an-old-drinking-song/601068/3 "2011-10-28T13:50:13Z")

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> [@qazwart](#):
>
> The Anacreotic Society does to exist! They have a [web page](http://www.anacreonticsociety.org/).

They exist now and they existed then. What the OP is saying is that the current one is not the same as the old one, but rather a modern revival of it.

And TAIH is a terrible song - you have to be drunk both to sing it and to listen to it.

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**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-melody-of-the-star-spangled-banner-taken-from-an-old-drinking-song/601068/4 "2011-10-28T15:12:00Z")

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> [@Gyrate](#):
>
> They exist now and they existed then. What the OP is saying is that the current one is not the same as the old one, but rather a modern revival of it.
> 
> And TAIH is a terrible song - you have to be drunk both to sing it and to listen to it.

Actually, that makes it a _marvelous_ song.