Singing "The Star Spangle Banner"

[Bob K]

Went to the Cubs game today (we beat Minnesota in the bottom of the 9th - yowzah!!).

Prior to play, a young woman sang the national anthem (preceded by "God Bless America" ... in my opinion, the worst patriotic song ever written).

She had a magnificent voice, sang acapella, but jazzed it up somewhat.

I turned to F/W (Friend/Wife) and commented, "Laws are subject to interpretation, the national anthem is not."

Maybe I'm an old fart (forget the "maybe"), but I don't appreciate young farts improving on perfection.

[esa5444]

Maybe I'm an old fart (forget the "maybe"), but I don't appreciate young farts improving on perfection.

I don't think it's because you are an old fart. I am a young fart, and I do not like any version of the Star Spangled Banner that is significantly different than what the US Marine Corps Band would perform. The worst, I think, is the version that old fart Jimi Hendrix performed. While it would be unAmerican to ban it's performance, I think that an affirmative defense for charges of assault and battery and for any civil suits resulting from it should be that you witnessed the person or people you assaulted performing the National Anthem in a non traditional manner and in a public venue.

[Jericho941]

The trouble with the Star-Spangled Banner is that it is set to the tune of a particularly challenging song. It is tough to perform without shouting or jazzing it up.

I always found playing the National Anthem before ballgames to be a rather strange occasion for it anyway. I can't really put my finger on it, but something about it just seems strangely inappropriate. Maybe it's just the state of modern professional sports. It's like playing the National Anthem before a circus.

[Jeffro]

I blame Jimi Hendrix.

[randy]

When I was in Nav school, some classmates and I freaked the mundanes at a party once by coming to attention when they played the Hendrix version, and held it for the entire song.

[Bandito]

I wouldn't call the Star Spangled Banner" perfection, but it SHOULD be sung straight, without embellishment. It's the frickin' national anthem, after all.

And if it's too difficult for some performers to sing, as Jericho rightly points out, then they find somebody else to sing it properly.

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. It actually has a decently inspriring melody (one, moreover, that can actually be sung), and is typically preferred by most people in some polls.

[blackeagle603]

At a very young age I told daughter #2 (the singer), when you are a soloist in church or singing the National Anthem, "It's not about you."

She got it and has stuck with it.

[rightisright]

The absolute worst was when that c*&+ Roseanne Barr butchered it back in 1990.

[Denis]

I believe you 'Muricans are unusual in that you regularly have a soloist "perform" your anthem. Perhaps this is because it's a particularly difficult melody (the vocal range involved is huge). In other countries, when the band plays the intro to the anthem, the crowd just starts singing on cue.

Some years ago, I was saddened to see at a gaelic football match that the words of the Irish national anthem were displayed on a big screen in karaoke/singalong style. Learning to sing the anthem is one of my earliest memories of school, and I was upset to discover that not everyone knows the words. The melody still gives me goosebumps.

[mekender]

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...

but that is an aside... most of the times i hear it sung, i want to ring the singers neck... though i went to a minor league game a few weeks ago and it was sung by a mens chior... man that was impressive...