[AUDIO]: Behind the Lyrics of the National Anthem
Steve Vogel, author of Through the Perilous Fight: Six Weeks That Saved the Nation, talked to Brian about how Francis Scott Key created the lyrics for the “Star Spangled Banner.” Vogel explained that Key wrote the powerful words after the battle of Fort McHenry, when no one was sure if America would still be in existence.
“The whole thing is a big question mark,” Vogel said, “After this incredibly ferocious bombardment that had gone on for 24 hours, there had been silence. And Key had no idea whether the American flag would still be flying in the morning.”
This gave birth to the lyrics, “O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave, O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?”
