My colleague Bob Saltz pointed me in the direction of several web sites
shedding light on the origins of the anthem tune:

An excerpt from http://206.104.52.1/will_o/STAR.HTM regarding Francis
Scott Key: "With a touch of irony his words were later combined with the
music of a popular drinking song "Anacreon in Heaven" written by the
British composer John Stafford Smith. Smith had created the music for
the Anacreonic Society of London. Anacreon was a Greek poet who wrote
poems of love and wine.

http://www.bcpl.net/~etowner/anacreon.html contains the lyrics.

Also, there was apparently an "intermediate" song with the same tune...

http://www.bcpl.net/~etowner/anacron2.html has the following:

The Tune
There does not seem to be a single composer of this tune, rather it was
a collective effort by the members of the Anacreontic Society. The new
society song, "To Anacreon in Heaven" required a new tune and thus all
got together and worked on this project. John Stafford Smith
(1750-1836), a court musician and member of the society, was probably
the guiding force behind this endeavor and most likely is the person
responsible for the tune as we know it today. Incidentally, he is also
the composer of the British national anthem ("God Save the Queen"), the
tune known to us in the United States as "My Country T'is of Thee". As
early as 1798 the tune of The Anacreontic Song appeared in American
papers with various lyrics, among these was Robert Treat Paine's
(1731-1814) popular "Adams and Liberty," perhaps the most prominent
American song prior to "The Star-Spangled Banner."


> ----Original Message-----
> I have read that our national anthem was based on its tune from a
> beer-drinking melody.  If this is accurate, can anyone give me
> information
> about the original melody and lyrics that were used?
>
> Thayne Andersen