« Worst parking ever | Main | A great way to wake up »
January 30, 2006
Sing it
The Super Bowl is slowly creeping up on us, and the NFL has finally announced one monumental piece of information: Aretha Franklin, Aaron Neville and a 150-person choir will sing the national anthem.
I think this will be good, and I agree that a famous national anthem singer is an appropriate thing for the Super Bowl, unlike, say, the strange tradition of God Bless America during the 7th inning stretch that has crept up during the World Series.
Now, I have no doubt Aretha and Co. will do the national anthem justice. I am, however, agitated by the thousands of national anthem singers who come in and try to add their own personal spice or twist on the national anthem. You know who I'm talking about - the people who try to make it jazzy, or throw in a bunch of extra syllables, or otherwise significantly alter it. It's stupid and annoying. Sing the damn thing. I'm not saying this because I think it's disrespectful, I happen to think that whatever variation somebody makes on the national anthem is going to suck. So can it, buster, and sing it the way it was supposed to be sung when they took the words to Francis Scott Key's poem and set it to the tune of a popular drinking song.
Posted by oz115 at January 30, 2006 12:22 PM
Comments
You don't know how much I agree with you. Well, maybe you do, as we've both had a few laughes at the expense of certain singers ... I mean, I have a lot of attitude towards singers, mainly cuz in an orchestra we are trained from day 1 that we are #1. And that singers are forever flat or sharp... and really, some singers just don't know when to can it! I can't stand when they make everything sound the same... like when they sing everything like we are at the opera! I'm sorry, but the 7th inning stretch and Madonna are not opera! Oh, don't even get me STARTED on this! But yes, I concur fully... just sing the damn thing as it was written!
Posted by: Lady Christy at January 31, 2006 09:01 AM
Oh come on...you know that Aretha is going to add extra screaming at the end. It's kind of what she does. However, it will probably be better than some others...though I'm of the opinion that Whitney Houston did the best one before she became all cracked out.
Posted by: Anita at January 31, 2006 09:10 AM