I’m not watching the Super Bowl (freakin’ satellite signal disrupted), but I’m not much for watching football anyway. Browsing the web, I see that Christina Aguilera messed up the lyrics to the National Anthem. I played the video, and what struck me was the style of her singing. I don’t know what the correct musical term is for it, but I think you know what I mean – extending words and phrases into more syllables and expanding the range of each syllable as you go along. Our National Anthem is sacred, people! Get someone who can sing it properly! You can’t just pick a pop singer because he/she is popular and hope he/she gets it right! The National Anthem is not the song for fancy voice gymnastics (hey, I said I don’t know the terms); next time, a baritone or skillful tenor or even a soprano who can reach the high notes and low notes without embellishments.
And get off his lawn, too!
My parents were in a pool about how long it would take for her to sing it. I commented that the pool would be rigged since she would probably be lipsynching. I was proven wrong.
1m53s, btw.
The Star Spangled Banner is one of the worst musical compositions for singing. It sucks.
Ray Charles did a great version of it. Inspiring. But he wasn’t the ideal you wished for. Get over it.
No, it isn’t; not in any sense of the word.
Are you watching a rebroadcast of an old Superbowl? I was impressed by the relatively conservative amount of melisma the singer used. Which isn’t to say she didn’t use it, just not compared to most singers of the anthem these days.
Maybe not, but you should still be respectful. And that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t attempt to sing it correctly.
(My sister was going on and on about how good Xtina is. Because she’s a music major, Baby Sis dubs herself THE expert in all things music – if SHE says it’s good, it is.)
Aguilerra may be a talented singer, but her attempt to do the “Star-Spangled Banner” sucked.
Hades: “No, it isn’t; not in any sense of the word.”
Well, okay, you got me there; a bit of hyperbole on my part, but I think many patriotic Americans would confess to a lump in the throat and tear in the eye on hearing it. Granted, it’s a difficult song for most singers, but then, there’s the crux of it – get someone who can do it justice!
I hate the way people think they need to “perform” the anthem. I know the original melody was a drinking song and I know it’s very difficult to sing, but I’ve never heard a gussied-up version that was worth anything.
Please, NFL, hire someone who will do it justice, as written. Done well, it’s a moving piece. Sadly, it’s rarely done well, IMHO.
Dude, she made the word “wave” into at least twenty syllables.
They should have had Jim Cornelison do it right.
Sadly, Jimi Hendrix is dead.
They had to get Xtina because Enrico Pallazzo was a little tied up.
Are you sure you’re not thinking of “America the Beautiful”? I’m looking for him singing SSB but no luck so far.
Did anybody else notice that Christina messed up the lyrics?
:smack:
You are correct, sir.
I remember Aretha Franklin similarly oversinging it and botching the words at one of the Democratic National Conventions ('72?).
I don’t even get why we sing it at sporting events. Seems to “de-sacredfy” the whole thing, so to speak.
By the way, I think she did a great job smoothing over her mistakes. At least she sings it.
It doesn’t have to be sung dead straight to come out nicely; take a listen to Marvin Gaye interpreting it. Christina Aguilera is truly an amazing singer, but she has a serious problem with oversinging. She has the power and the tone to have done a beautiful job on your anthem, but she chose to showboat instead, and I actually burst out laughing at one point listening to it.