Why did it take so long for the U.S. to pick its national anthem?

It’s super common for a country to have a national anthem. That’s an official song that is sung at special events and is supposed to bring people together. The United States of America’s anthem is called The Star Spangled Banner. But it took a long time, and a lot of contests, to choose that song. Join Joy and co-host TK as they learn the history of this famously hard to sing song. Plus they tackle an all new First Things First. Guest: Billy Coleman, Associate Director of the Kinder Institute, and historian who studies early American music and politics. Click here to read a transcript of this episode. Want to support the show? Join Smarty Pass to listen to ad-free episodes or donate!

You can listen to Why did it take so long for the U.S. to pick its national anthem? online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Why did it take so long for the U.S. to pick its national anthem? is an episode from Forever Ago by Lemonada Media.

This episode is 30:38 long.

This episode was published on Apr 29, 2026.

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