Today is the bicentennial of what may be the most oft-sung song in the country. No, not “White Christmas.”

Two hundred years ago, the dawns early light revealed the stars and stripes still flying above Fort McHenry near Baltimore, and Francis Scott Key, who was watching from a ship in the harbor, was so happy he penned the poem The Star Spangled Banner, which was later put to a popular tune (it was a British tune, but we’ll let that one go). The poem has four verses, and so does the song, but most people only know the first one.

The song was popular in the 19th Century, but wasn’t made the national anthem until 1931. The practice of singing it before every major league baseball game started in World War II, and now it’s a standard at the beginning of every sporting event of note in the country.

That’s a lot of events. So, sorry Bing and Irving Berlin. Even with Christmas songs starting in the malls in a week or two, The Star Spangled Banner probably gets sung more.

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