Anacreon wrote extensively about women and wine, and that was his main attraction to the London gentlemen. Tomlinson’s lyrics tell of Anacreon, a Greek poet who was born about 572 B.C. I’ll lend you my name and inspire you to boot,Īnd besides I’ll instruct you like me to entwine Voice, fiddle and flute no longer be mute, When this answer arrived from that jolly old Grecian: That he their inspirer and patron should be. To Anacreon in Heaven, where he sat in full glee, One of the club’s founders, Ralph Tomlinson (1744–1778), wrote the words in 1776, at about the same time he became president of the club. In 1780, the diverse membership included “peers, commoners, aldermen, gentlemen, proctors, actors, and polite tradesmen.” The meetings included a formal concert, a dinner, and a social time afterwards during which the members entertained each other by singing catches, glees, and amusing songs. The club met every other week in the winter. The song dates from the mid-1770s and it was composed for a group of London gentlemen who had recently formed a social club. Unlike most common melodies, we know who wrote the original words, music, and why! In fact, by 1820, eighty-four were written in the United States alone. Many sets of lyrics have been written to the melody that Key chose for his verses that eventually became our national anthem. Melodies to theater songs were used for dancing, and dance tunes, even fast Irish jigs, were sometimes given sets of words. These melodies, known by name by almost everyone, were used for whatever purpose presented itself-a political song, a hymn, a march tune, a drinking song, or a country dance. Before there was copyright protection, melodies were recycled over and over again. Many lyrics for songs written in the 18th and early 19th centuries were based upon popular melodies. That Francis Scott Key borrowed a popular melody for his famous song is very much in keeping with common practice of his time period. The words to our national anthem have nothing to do with consumption of alcohol, but the melody that Francis Scott Key had in mind when he wrote those words did originate decades earlier as the melody for a song in praise of wine.
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