Key gave the poem to his brother - in - law Judge Joseph H. Nicholson who saw that the words fit the popular melody "The Anacreontic Song '', by English composer John Stafford Smith. This was the official song of the Anacreontic Society, an 18th - century gentlemen 's club of amateur musicians in London. Nicholson took the poem to a printer in Baltimore, who anonymously made the first known broadside printing on September 17; of these, two known copies survive.
where did the melody of the star spangled banner come from
"The Anacreontic Song '', by English composer John Stafford Smith