The Gun Counter

I can't stand it when some idiot sings it like this...


Oooohoohohoo sayyayaaayaya caaaaaaaaan yououooooouououou seeeeeeee byeeeeeeeeee the daaaaawwwnnnnns....

Makes me want to throttle them.

mekender wrote:i dunno, im kinda partial to the Hendrix version sometimes... probably because i watched a friend of mine spend six months learning how to play it on the guitar... even then it still took him a lot of drugs to master it...

I like Hendrix' take on it, minus the solo bits.

moose42 wrote:I can't stand it when some idiot sings it like this...


Oooohoohohoo sayyayaaayaya caaaaaaaaan yououooooouououou seeeeeeee byeeeeeeeeee the daaaaawwwnnnnns....

Makes me want to throttle them.

That would be too much vibrato. Some of the singers look and sound like they're trying to choke down a gold fish when they perform.

Ben Rumson wrote:Some of the singers look and sound like they're trying to choke down a gold fish when they perform.

There's the problem, right there - the fish should go in the ear...

Jose' can you see?

Having volunteered at Ft. McHenry, I'm used to hearing it done well a couple times a day, so when I hear it jazzed too much or done badly it drives me crazy. The fort runs the version sung by the naval academy choir about every 20 mins.

Bandito wrote: But I much prefer "America the Beautiful," and believe that there have been some efforts in the past to make that the official national anthem.

Yes, and a large part of those efforts arise from the belief that we shouldn't have a song written during a war about a war. Granted, the song itself is tangentially related to representing America in terms of its lyrics, but I sure as hell object to changing it on the basis of it being "warmongering" and "violent". The War of 1812 and what happened at Fort McHenry are an important part of American history, and hardly a shameful part of it either.

As far as I am concerned, the Star Spangled Banner is as much a part of America as the flag, the Constitution, George Washington, and so on. It should not be changed, ever. As for the singing, I thinking the singing part is optional. It sounds just fine with our without singing, and given that lately our pop stars have taken to singing it, it usually songs better without it.

Bob K wrote:...(preceded by "God Bless America" ... in my opinion, the worst patriotic song ever written)...

May I ask why your opinion is so?

I got tapped to do the Anthem here for our upcoming MI Hall of Fame induction, after the female LT who did the last couple PCS'd. I'm really glad she did, since her version sounded quite a bit like those "see how bad these auditioners sucked" episodes at the beginning of every American Idol season. I was subjected to it for a retirement ceremony, and stood at 'clenched fist' attention for the whole thing, trying to keep from showing visible facial twitches.

I'm with Blackeagle on this one, it's not about you as a soloist in those situations. I'm not the best soloist, but I know I'm a damn sight better than most of the hacks who volunteer and 'think' or 'have been told' they can sing. Problem with the average Joe telling someone they can sing is the average Joe doesn't have a clue what 'good' singing actually is.

This is one of my pet peeves. Our National Anthem is NOT a voice drill, it's not a pop song, it's not a vehicle for you to show how long you can hold a note, it's an ANTHEM and ought to be sung as written or not at all. Personally, my favorite was Robert Merrill, who used to sing it at Yankee Stadium. Considering that I'm a life-long Mets fan, that's saying something.

From about 4th grade thru 6th we sang the "Star Spangled Banner" every morning after the Pedge of Alliegence, younger grades sang "America" after same. I suspect that both the Anthem and the Pledge have gone the way of the dinosaur in public schools these days.