I sometimes play military music at my unit’s parades (that is to say, I’m standing up on the catwalk with a laptop plugged into the PA system’s mixingboard) and I like good-quality marching-band arrangements of O Canada. I’m not especially keen on the lyrics.
I don’t like the one that is supposedly “mine” in the slightest. It’s that “God save the queen” one. On the bright side, I never have to hear it, I suppose. The time is past when it used to be played after films in the cinema and all that. And when the telly closed down for the night. I really must go and steal somebody’s else’s one some day. <Writes note to self>
You certainly win so far 
(although France and South Africa have rather good ones too).
Of course, the Welsh national anthem is particularly touching when sung by John Redwood. 
US National Anthem only benefits from having the audience sing along, bonus points if their singing along happens spontaneously rather than being prompted. Instrumental is OK for certain things, but to get the full effect, it has to be sung because 2/3rds of the punch of the song is in the lyrics.
My personal favorite is when it is performed at the Ballpark in Arlington, Texas. for the line “By The Rockets’ Red Glare”, they launch red fireworks into the sky above the park. That part of the song makes the hair on my neck stand up every time.
Anyone but Roseanne. It’s on YouTube. Probably safe for work, but not safe for the human ear. I’m not cruel enough to subject anyone to it, so I broke the link. If you listen to it anyway, it’s not my fault!
http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=DrFW2aYHVR8&feature=related
My second favorite electric rendition of the Star Spangled Banner after Hendrix is the one by the group Boston. Here it is.
Sorry about the above post. I did break the Roseanne link, I swear. Then I added the Boston link and ran out of edit time to rebreak the first link. Well, like I said, SFW, but I apologize for the assault on your ears.
My own loose (non-singable) rewrite:
"Say, we’re worried - we know it’s pretty early in the morning, but could you tell us if you’ve seen that flag with the stars on it lately? The one that was out there late last evening? They haven’t taken it down, have they?
“Quite a sight, watching it through all those explosions going on around it. We know, it’s just a symbol, but it’s a symbol of a lot that’s important to us. It means a lot to us to think that it’s still flying. It means that there’s still hope that this is the land of the free and the home of the brave.”
“So tell us: is it still flying?”
I agree that the lyrics make that song.
And then let’s not forget the line:
“And then the British were firing rockets and shit everywhere and it was like WHOASHITMISSILESOMGWTFRPG!” 
Sung by someone other than me. You wanna hear a song get butchered? Just wait’ll I do it.
Actually, “The Star Spangled Banner” is not a song I much like, but it makes so many people happy, and it doesn’t cost anything to be polite.
Y’know, it might sound great if it was sung by an opera singer. Just a thought that occurred right now.
God Save the Queen hasn’t been the same since they took out that verse about crushing the rebellious Scot
Though the Sex Pistols version is cool
Instrumental - preferably by a good marching band.
Mike Rowe of the show “Dirty Jobs” sang it at a minor-league ball game (his dirty job was as a groundskeeper), and he was VERY good. Nothing weird, good, strong voice, and he hit all the notes
That’s not surprising. One of Rowe’s “real” jobs (as opposed to “dirty”) was singing professionally for the Baltimore Opera.
And hocking crap for QVC. Have you ever seen him selling the Cat Bag? I think it’s on YouTube. It’s fantastic.
Weirdly enough, my boyfriend just met his brother (or, well, a guy who says he’s his brother). He works at the weird used book store that’s in the semi-castle-shaped-building at the flea market on Highway 1.
I like it simple and traditional. When someone tries to add too much it never seems to work. In fact it can become unpleasant to endure. I really hate to admit this because I’ve never had much use for him and still hold him responsible for that horrible 80s earworm but maybe the nicest job I’ve ever heard done on the Anthem was by, of all people, Billy Ray Cyrus. Yes, that was a very painful admission to make.
I like instrumental versions of the Australian anthem, but I dislike any sung version even if I like the voice of the singer.
I just find the lyrics so incredibly and needlessly extravagant. They make me cringe.
Although, bonus point for use of the word ‘girt’.
USA, SSB. Traditional arrangement, sung by everyone. Soloist or group leading okay. Key no higher than B. It’s usually played too high for everyone to sing to, so that or lower is better.
I like the Star Spangled Banner either sung or instrumental, so long as people don’t try to hit every note in their range when they’re on the fermatas (FreeEeEeeeEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEE SHUT UP AND MOVE ON). Though I’d much prefer America the Beautiful to be honest.
For comedy value, my favorite version of The Star-Spangled Banner was sung by Bleeding Gums Murphy on The Simpsons. “Oh-oh say can you–I’m asking–can you seeeeee?” It took about 28 minutes to sing. (Mercifully, they didn’t show the entire performance.)
For me , it was Jewel singing the SSB , that and watching the boston pops on july 4 doing it instrumental.
Declan