monkeygirl Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 A friend of mine...a guy who will argue to the death over virtually nothing, has opened a subject on Facebook that people are sort of taking black and white views over. It's starting to interest me so I thought I'd get your take. When a singer is invited to sing the national anthem at a public event, does the singer have an obligation to just straightforward sing the song with no embellishments or is it an invitation to put a personal spin on a very well-known tune? I don't care one way or the other but I think it depends on the event. If it's a solemn occasion, by all means, tone it down. But if you hire Mariah Carey to sing it at the Superbowl (which is not happening, I know, but as an example) I think you should expect her to run scales. And I think that's okay. He's very adamant about it remaining unemotional. How do you feel, even if you don't really care? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tank Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 I suuuuuuuper don’t care and I’m pretty sure I’d hate anyone who does hahahaha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captainbleh Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 Hearing people murder it is the best thing about it (same for God Save The King), so I'm all for that I haven't made it to the end of Fergie's 2018 NBA one yet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.CAllen Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 I have only two thoughts on the matter. Both equally unhelpful, I imagine, but I’ll share them nonetheless. 1) This is why the anthem for the United Federation of Planets from the episode of DS9 where they all play baseball has no lyrics. Purely instrumental. Avoids the issue entirely. Oh, wait, same deal with the anthem for the Twelve Colonies of Kobol where they reused the theme from the old series in the BSG reboot. Is ... is Ron Moore some sort of genius? Is the final season of For All Mankind going to have some sort of mash-up between John Stafford Smith’s — remember, the lyrics were Francis Scott Key’s but the tune is an older drinking song! — "To Anacreon in Heaven" and ... what would be the anthem of the future of an alternate Russia’s past? I’m pretty sure the subject was lightly touched upon in the latest Adam Curtis docu-series. But you see my point! (I don’t!) 2) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zathras Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 I think America the Beautiful should be the national anthem instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Destiny Skywalker Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 1 hour ago, Zathras said: I think America the Beautiful should be the national anthem instead. I'd be down for this. That said, The Star Spangled Banner is arguably an emotional song. I've sung it many times for various events, and it's a pretty powerful ballad. I sing it fairly straight, but that's because I'm also not Mariah Carey. When you have multiple people for harmony as well, there are some pretty crazy high notes you can pop at the climax (that's gonna get misquoted). Fergie is a talentless hack without auto tune, though. Please stop asking her to sing live anywhere. I think the biggest mistake performers make with it is taking it too slow. It's a song with tempo, slowing it down is not, IMO, the correct interpretation. You can hold out a few notes, but not all of them. You're singing it, not making love to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacen123 Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 This is one of those things that should be hammered out ahead of time. What do the organizers of the event want? If they want you to sing it straight, just do that. If they want you to put a spin on it, so that. If they don’t care, we’ll whatever floats your boat. Of course, the organizers should only approach singers who they believe will sing it the way they want it to be done. That’s also easier on big stages than smaller ones, but it still isn’t rocket science. Communicate what you want and what is e or red of you before any agreements are made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedigoat Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 13 hours ago, Zathras said: I think America the Beautiful should be the national anthem instead. Definitely. But what about Niel Diamond's 'America'? What about the theme song to TEAM AMERICA? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Krawlie Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 8 hours ago, Jacen123 said: Communicate what you want and what is e or red of you before any agreements are made. This right here (I’m assuming you got autocorrected out of saying “what is expected of you”) would solve so many problems in life. Just fucking communicate with people. It’s amazing how many people don’t do that. I know people who have been together for decades who won’t just ask their spouse how they feel/what they want and instead act how they expect that spouse to respond, which almost always leads to a fight they’re shocked they’re having. Just fucking talking to each other! As for the actual topic here, it depends on the event. I generally tune my brain out during the anthem and just wait for it to be over. For something like the Super Bowl I expect it to be over the top and dramatic. Something tells me Reba isn’t gonna go too crazy with it though. The over/under I’m seeing is 90.5 seconds and I’m taking the under . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odine Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 I reckon Jimi Hendrix did the definitive version of the Star Spangled Banner. That should be the anthem, complete with screaming feedback, divebombs et al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tank Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 Still the best: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxHnXajIex4 edit: YouTube doesn't auto-embed anymore? wtf?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metropolis Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.CAllen Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 Mulled it over a bit more, and, well... I think it’s honestly more disrespectful to object in any way to any sincere performance of a national anthem by an artist than any individual choice that artist makes. Like, what are you mad about? Does the country still stand? Is the national anthem okay? Was it hurt? Did the singer hurt it by singing it weird or bad or quote unquote wrong? Alteration of lyrics (“home ON native land” here in Canada, for example) or putting too much zhuzh into it, well, that might offend you. It might offend everyone else in the stadium or wherever, sure. But you didn’t pick the artist! You are not in control of that dial! You do not decide who steps up to the dais! Neither you nor anyone in the stands! Who does? I guess ... the team mascots have a little pre-game conference and come to a mutual agreement? I assume. I don’t know how it works. There was that sitcom where the late Matthew Perry was the operations manager of a San Diego arena. Pretty solid cast : Allison Janney, Andrea Anders, James Lesure, others. I should track down those unaired episodes. I should find that DVD! What’s my point? My point is Matthew Perry — before his untimely demise — asked whomever it was to sing. And if you object to their singing, well, you’re not the singer! You’re not Matthew Perry! You think you’re better than someone selected to sing in front of a crowd? You think you’re better than Matthew Perry? (Arguably, well, anybody alive is. Then again, I don’t know. I’d take his body of work stone cold dead over some Facebook dumb dumb’s beating heart!) All my life the people going on and on about respect this, respect that, I’ve noticed something about them. They can be awfully disrespectful to other people! They disrespected me when they yammered on about respect even when I was clearly uninterested in what they were saying! They disrespected my time! This was mostly when I was small, when I was a kid, when I wasn’t free to just tell these people to their faces, “Shut your hole.” without facing consequences. But, sir, you’re a grown man! Nobody forced you to come to this live sporting event! You showed up or tuned in of your own free will! You knew that it’d kick off with someone singing the national anthem and you knew that by your own lights it might be quote unquote bad. You put a nickel into the machine. You bought the ticket. You dipped the spoon into the soup. Why the surprise at getting what you’ve expected? Are you a patriot? Countries are populated by people. People singing and people listening. It’s a free country. That’s what all the anthems are about! They’re all about freedom! The freedom to do what, you may ask? Well, for instance, I’ve taken a look at the English translation of La Marseillaise and, uh oh, after I was done retching I guess I’d say that one’s about freedom to kill people!? Is that what you want? To kill someone for not singing YOUR song correctly? It doesn’t belong to you. Matthew Perry and/or the mascots already decided who it belongs to! You weren’t chosen to sing it. Sir, your country has no need of your service at this time! Just shut up and listen! Look. Whomever it was just maybe messed up a song. That’s not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Compared to making a bad television show or a bad movie or a bad piece of prose or a bad comic book or a bad play, well, it’s practically nothing! Those are all serious business and as far as I’m concerned the people who fall short of my standards in those endeavours — hoo boy, I’ll be complaining about them until the day they stick me in the ground, until I join Matthew Perry in the peace of the grave — they’re the REAL traitors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedigoat Posted February 9 Share Posted February 9 15 hours ago, Metropolis said: Ah, yes. The great Enrico Palazzo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoLA Posted February 9 Share Posted February 9 On 2/8/2024 at 7:36 AM, Jedigoat said: Definitely. But what about Niel Diamond's 'America'? What about the theme song to TEAM AMERICA? They can't use Neil's America, it's all about immigrants coming here from all over. It would probably offend too many conservative types LOL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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