“Whitney Houston doesn’t know how to match a pitch, and can’t count any but 4/4 time.”
–Doug K.
I agree that Fergie was awful. But no worse than Jose Feliciano at the 1968 World Series, or James Brown at the Ali-Foreman fight, or any number of singers who’ve tried to put their own spin on the anthem.
My take is, this is not the song to play around with. Either skip the anthem or get someone to sing it conventionally.
I’ve sung the national anthem in public something like 23 times (and counting). I’ve gotten lots of compliments on it, I think because of my two rules for singing it:
(1) That first “say” has to be the lowest note you can comfortably sing, or you’ll never get to the land of the free. I’ve heard so many singers (especially female) break this rule. There’s nothing wrong with singing alto.
(2) It’s not about me (as others have said here). I sing it fairly straight, similar to how many men sing it. Straight melody, straight tempo with a few slight holds/pauses (mostly for breath, and I put four notes in “banner” to smooth it out). I wouldn’t do the melisma thing even if I could. People should be able to sing along, without trying to guess what I’m going to do next. I often sing along in harmony when someone else is performing, and it sucks when they mess with it. When I do it, I consider it a public service, not an audition for America’s Got Talent.
I just keep waiting for the rare few that can hit the high “B” on “…land of the free…FREE” and so few dare to try that when it happens, it’s kinda cool. Otherwise I’m watching the F-22’s fly overhead and thinking “Damn, they could totally kill a lot of us right now if they wanted to.”
Never heard that version before, but I have to say, it truly is gorgeous. Respectful and powerful. Wow.
I actually find Jose’s version quite cool. (And also in 4/4, but with oddball phrasing over it.)
I haven’t listened to the Whitney Houston version yet, so I have no opinion on that. But based on your comment above, I think you’ll appreciate this joke that several of us Javanese gamelan players came up with years ago. To play gamelan well - or play it at all, really - you MUST have a solid sense of rhythm and a keen ability to follow tempo changes as cued by the drummer. As a group of amateur musicians, many of us had been put in the position of, for example, accompanying Aunt Sally on the piano while she sang a church solo with a pretty but untrained voice, utterly oblivious to the rhythm and forcing us poor accompanists to fit ourselves around her erratic performance. So perhaps unfairly, this was our mean joke:
Q: How does a singer count 8 beats?
A: (each line to be said out loud as a beat):
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Six.
Sev.
Ven.
Eight.
This! So much this! He’s out at sea “It’s day light, look! Our flag, it’s still flying! They didn’t take the fort!”
Combined with, all night long, the only way he could tell the British hasn’t won was by seeing the flag fly through rocket glare.
It may sound cheesy, but I first really got it when I saw that flag at the Smithsonian.
My dream version of the anthem is to have Morgan Freeman read it as a poem.
In the 2016 World Series Cleveland had their orchestra play and announced that the fans would be singing the anthem – that was pretty cool.
The Fergie version is like some weird mash-up between the “Star Spangled Banner” and “Santa Baby.”
To quote Typo Knig: “I’m not sure if she loves the country or just wants to take it down to the local motel.”
No, Ramona thought that “Dawnzer” was another name for a lamp.
Yeah, but national anthem isn’t opera. She may be fantastic at opera, but not here.
(Although forget Whitney, my favorite will always be Jimi Hendrix)
“Respect the classics, man!” 
As I said, I could really do without the Houstonian versions. Much better to get the crowd to sing.
Well put, and I had no idea about that Rule of Thumb regarding how to find your range using the first Say. I have always heard that its a tough song to sing, but have no appreciation as to how to navigate that. Thanks.
I also appreciate your summary of your mindset as you approach singing it. It sums up a lot of other folks’ views here nicely. I very much agree with it - with the exception of someone like Marvin Gaye. I have space in my head for someone like Marvin to do what he did. To me, his version works because it is both uniquely his, and suffused with a joy and love that anchors the National Anthem in a worthy way (again IMHO).
The biggest issue is that there’s only a very few Marvin Gayes out there, even at the top tier.
I agree with you guys saying that you shouldn’t really alter the song all that much. But this version is so much worse than those fancy performances that we’ve not liked in the past, because she just couldn’t even pull off the vocal gymnastics she was trying.
The entire time she had so much tension, like she was pushing her voice beyond what she could actually sing. Every small effect she tried, she overdid it to the level of parody. She just sounded like she just was unable to give one of those big performances we’ve grown accustomed to, but went ahead and tried anyways.
Slowing it down like that doesn’t help, either, since her performance was about raw power. Already she was struggling to keep it supported, and making it longer makes it worse.
As for Whitney Houston, she definitely can sing in 3/4, as she does towards the end. I’m pretty sure she lengthened the measures for the effect. It works pretty well lyrically in a lot of places.
Oh say, (pause) can you see (wait to see if you can see)
By the dawn’s early light (slowly building like the dawn)
What so proud-(emphasized)ly we held
At the twilight’s last gleaming (fading off)
It just added a level of gravitas–a level she could back up. An effect a lot of people try to add that fails. But it worked for her.
It’s not the standard version, but it feels like a patriotic song. I think it works.
On the plus side, it was the NBA All Star game, so maybe only a dozen people or so caught it live on television. Easy solution- eliminate the anthem. Why is it when we gather to watch a sports event, we’re supposed to get all patriotic? We don’t do it for movies or theaters or concerts, what is it about sports that brings out the pretense of patriotism?
What are you, a commie? Why do you hate the troops? Did you forget 9/11? My uncle’s girlfriend’s mother’s tax accountant lives in Paramus and almost when to lower Manhattan that day AND NEARLY DIED.
It’s stupid, but it’s become ingrained in our culture. People will mindlessly do things for generations for no other reason than tradition. What kills me is “God Bless America” during the seventh inning stretch at Yankee Stadium. What is this, North Korea? What happened to peanuts and crackerjacks?
It didn’t work for the poor conductor, though. You can hear her accompaniment lagging behind her at several spots, because she was unable to sing/signal in a way that contributed to an ensemble performance where all the musicians successfully interacted.
For me, the single best thing about playing music is the chance to interact with others and produce mutually satisfying sounds that work because you are all listening to each other, reacting to each other, and treating each other as equally important partners in producing textured, responsive sounds. That’s just my own personal take on music; it’s valid but doesn’t mean others with a different set of musical values are better or worse. But it does explain why the Whitney Houston rendition, while not terrible, didn’t thrill me. I didn’t hear any attempt on her part to work with her musical background; it was all about HER.
While it was pretty bad ‘singing,’ if that’s people want to call it, that is (to me) the single funniest Roseanne moment ever. But to each his/her own.
I had to stop listening at “gave proo (breath) froo the night”.
So, it wasn’t badly done, it’s just that they shouldn’t have invited an opera singer to sing the anthem?
Calleja singing a nationalist song – start at 3:28 – love it!