Listening to the Strange as it seems episode on the origin of the Star-spangled Banner. The characters are singing the song as it first appeared in a Baltimore paper, and their father tells them it’s not new at all. He then sings Anacreon in Heav’n and orders his daughters to stop singing an old bawdy song.
The v’ got me thinking. Poems and songs of that century often elided v in heaven, even, ever, never, and over.
Why did these particular words lose a whole syllable? V is not the weakest sound. Each of these words has a pair in th, which IS the most elidable consonant. Heathen, Ethan, either, nether, other. Poets never elided th in those words.
Here’s a wonderful performance of the original. More Baroquey than the Baltimore variant. This short version doesn’t sound particularly bawdy, so I looked up the full version. Yup, plenty bawdy, and not just in mythic metaphor. I can also see why the radio performers sang only the relatively innocent first verse.
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Later thought: Anacreon was freshly popular at that time, not ancient history. Key made a point of repeating the structure and some of the words along with the tune. The inference would be clear to sophisticated listeners. Was Key writing a sly antiwar parody, invoking Momus the Trickster God as counterforce against the Red Rockets of Barren Thunderous Zeus?
Those listeners also knew that we were NOT fighting for independence in 1776 and 1812. We were mercenary contractors in France’s age-old proxy war against England. We were playing the same role that Korea and Vietnam and Ukraine now play in OUR imperialist proxy wars.
Polistra's Mill 