The concert was put on by the Oratorio Society of Program that included Edward Elgar's Carillon and Gabriel Pierné's TheĬhildren's Crusade. The standardized version that was voted upon by theseįive musicians premiered at Carnegie Hall on December 5, 1917, in a Those musicians were Walterĭamrosch, Will Earhart, Arnold J. In response, the Bureau enlisted the help of five
Seeking a singular, standard version, President Woodrow The phrase "the words and music known as" is in fact as specific as it was possible to refer to it.Īll this being said, there was an attempt a making "standard version" in the 1910's.īy the early 20th century, there were various versions of the song in So at the time, this was just a patriotic song that was being sung in saloons, at ballgames, and at other appropriate times, and it would have been sung with whatever lyrics, verses, and arrangement the singer(s) felt like singing. US Copyright was very much looser at the time, lasting only 28 years, and even then only if the author explicitly registered it and extended it.
The lyrics were written as a poem in 1814, and by 1929 long out of any copyright they ever may have had.
The tune was (mostly) authored by an Englishman in 1773, and was probably never covered under any kind of copyright law in the USA. Anyone could modify, add, or omit verses (or notes), and if other singers liked it enough, that became part of some renditions of the song. That means there was no such thing as a single definitive version, like one might imagine a modern song release should have. One thing you have to realize is that back then it was considered an old drinking song, and nothing about it was under copyright. What you linked there was just a restatement of that law verbatim in the US legal code.
First, one minor clarification: the bill itself actually passed Congress in 1930 (April 21st), but wasn't signed into law until March 1st of 1931.
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