Let’s take a line-by-line tour of the history and meaning behind the lyrics. Like so many famous songs of yore, "The Star-Spangled Banner" started as a poem, called “The Defence of Fort ...

Boiled down to its essence, "The Star-Spangled Banner" is a song about survival and resilience, about bravery and hope. The first stanza of Francis Scott Key's 1814 poem, as sung by generations of ...