# Star Spangled Banner -- Criticism **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 19, 2001, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-spangled-banner-criticism/82625 "2001-09-19T17:16:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-spangled-banner-criticism/82625/21 "2001-09-19T20:09:55Z")
I agree with the folks that want to sing along. I remember a World Series game when I was pleasantly suprised. It was quite a ways back, and Toni Tenille(of the Captain and—) was tosing the anthem. But before starting she addressed the crown and said “Won’t you please sing with me our national anthem?” She didn’t use the opportunity to do a pretentious solo. And in the sixth game of the 1985 World Series the Oak Ridge Boys came out to sing. Now, I had never seen them and they looked a bit…odd. But they did great. Ordinary tempo and notes, just did a beautiful harmonization. ---
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-spangled-banner-criticism/82625/22 "2001-09-19T20:42:27Z")
Whoever the choir group was that sang it at the Phillies/Braves game on Monday had the most foul conductor. I think the blame should be on the conductor since although the singing was quite nice, for some reason the anthem was sung at, oh, TWICE THE FRICKIN NORMAL SPEED until the “Oh say does that…” verse. WTF? ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-spangled-banner-criticism/82625/23 "2001-09-19T21:58:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Edward The Head \* > \*\*What I REALLY REALLY hated was going to O’s games and listening to the whole stadium saying “O” really loud and nothing else. \*\* Atlanta used to have an IHL hockey team called the Knights. If you go to an Atlanta Thrashers game, or sometimes, even at Braves games, you get some yahoos who thinks it’s cool to yell “KNIGHTS!” when the song gets to “…gave proof, through the night…” Really tacky and disrespectful IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-spangled-banner-criticism/82625/24 "2001-09-19T23:04:41Z")
Actually, I prefer _America, the Beautiful_. That should be our National Anthem IMO. I also like _la Marsailles_ and _The National Hymn of the Soviet Union_ (“Soy’ooz neroosh’imi resp’ooblik svob’odnikh / Splot’ila nav’eki vel’ikaia Rus”). And of course, _O Canada_. ---
**Author:** ![VileOrb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/9e8a1a/32.png) [@VileOrb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VileOrb)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-spangled-banner-criticism/82625/25 "2001-09-19T23:11:31Z")
I like the more normal versions, but I like it when the crowds yells “O!” at the Orioles games, and I might like the Knights thing too, but that sounds a bit more disruptive. Then again, I’m an Orioles Fan. BAseball is our national sport after all and being a baseball fan is a part of my patriotism. I think the “O!” is appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![Drastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Drastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drastic)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-spangled-banner-criticism/82625/26 "2001-09-19T23:14:29Z")
The worst rendition I ever heard must have been a recording from the 70’s. As part of the instrumentation, it included synthesizer-“laser” sounds that are very difficult to describe in pure text. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-spangled-banner-criticism/82625/27 "2001-09-19T23:19:27Z")
I think we should just change the National Anthem to “Rock Lobster”. I’d like to see who they’d get to sing _that_ at ball games. ---
**Author:** ![Esprix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprix/32/7899_2.png) [@Esprix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprix)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-spangled-banner-criticism/82625/28 "2001-09-19T23:26:18Z")
Actually, as national anthems go, America’s is about the most unsingable of them all - the range is all wrong for your Average Joe, the tune is less than hummable, the scan of the words is sub-par, and so forth. As a patriotic song, yes, it’s perfect, but as something that every person in the country ought to be able to sing well? Forget it. A much better anthem would have been “America the Beautiful,” or even (Supreme Court forbid) “God Bless America.” (“My Country 'Tis of Thee” is based off of the British “God Save The Queen,” so I wouldn’t think that would be appropriate.) IMHO, of course, but many music historians agree. Then again, Ben Franklin wanted the turkey to be the national bird… Esprix ---
**Author:** ![shelbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@shelbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shelbo)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-spangled-banner-criticism/82625/29 "2001-09-19T23:31:54Z")
I went to an NFL playoff game at San Francisco in the mid-80s (87?) where they played the Vikings (I think). Chakka Kahn was singing the national anthem. The song was so mangled as to be [hyperbole] barely recognizable [/hyperbole], and about three quarters of the way through the crowd took it over and sang the rest the boring way. They (we) sang right over her, finished, applauded and cheered, and sat down. She still hadn’t finished. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-spangled-banner-criticism/82625/30 "2001-09-20T05:20:56Z")
I agree that SSB should be sung straight most of the time. Is it so bad to have this one patriotic thing that all Americans do the same? It would also be easier for people to hit the high notes if it were sung in a key two to four steps lower key than it usually is. As for some of the soloists, it seems they are simply unable to sing it straight. Point - as Cecil has told us, the tune is from an [old drinking song](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_011.html). So if we got tanked first, it might be easier to sing. Or maybe we just wouldn’t care how we sang it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-spangled-banner-criticism/82625/31 "2001-09-20T12:50:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Esprix \* > **Actually, as national anthems go, America’s is about the most unsingable of them all…** Dissenting opinion (_caveat:_ ignorant foreigner) 🙂 Working up in the US last year this NZer had the opportunity to hear your national anthem on a number of occasions and got a really big kick out of standing and singing along to it at the local Ice Hockey games. ( **Go Mallards!** ). Yeah, the range is difficult and the tune is none too easy, but I’d trade our victorian dirge for it in an instant. 'Course if they’d been singing _My Country 'Tis of Thee…_ instead, I guess I could have sung along with the _God save the queen_ words and we’d all have been happy. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![jpariury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@jpariury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jpariury)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-spangled-banner-criticism/82625/32 "2001-09-20T14:11:25Z")
I much prefer George Carlin’s version: Oh Beautiful, for smoggy skies, insecticided grain, For stripmined mountains majesty, above the asphalt plain, America, America, Man sheds his waste on thee, And hides the pines with billboard signs, from sea to oily sea! JP ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2001, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-spangled-banner-criticism/82625/33 "2001-09-21T13:58:31Z")
I, myself, don’t mind a little personal touch in the song, but I just HATE it when it’s done in such a way that no one could possibly follow it and sing along if they were so inclined. To me, that’s not adding flair–it’s fueling personal vanity. They aren’t singing in such a way as to inspire unity and patriotism, they are saying, “See what I can do with my voice? I’ll bet you’re as impressed with me as I am!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-spangled-banner-criticism/82625.md?page=1)