Bizarre, Politics, Society

O Say Can You Sing? Christina Aguilera Accused of Butchering National Anthem

Christina Aguilera has become the latest star to apparently blow the national anthem. In her case, she left out the “O’er the ramparts we watched” — a critical and noticeable line. However, the real question is why we have a national anthem that only a castrato with a photographic memory can sing.

I do not wish to insult anyone, but our national anthem is pretty lame. It lacks the power of the “La Marseillaise” and the accessibility of “Oh Canada.” Just look at the words and think how few Americans can actually recite let alone sing this song:

O! say can you see by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
‘Tis the star-spangled banner, O! long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

“The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” anyone? I must say that I have long had a particular fondness for O Canada (as well as the Canadian flag). While it is a bit too late to take over that country to take either item, we might consider finding a song that a citizen can sing.

Source:Huffington Post

85 thoughts on “O Say Can You Sing? Christina Aguilera Accused of Butchering National Anthem”

  1. Tootie:

    America the Beautiful is a good song for us liberals, not so much for you unless you are a closet lib?

    This stanza probably isnt your cup of tea:

    O beautiful for glory-tale
    Of liberating strife
    When once and twice,
    for man’s avail
    Men lavished precious life!
    America! America!
    God shed his grace on thee
    Till selfish gain no longer stain
    The banner of the free!

    I think that selfish gain line might be a corrupting influence on you. But the God shed His grace on thee is your cup of tea.

  3. Woosty and Blouise-

    If Tootie can spout nonsense here, so can I. And Casimir sends his love and a cold bottle of Blatz.

  4. Blouise 1, February 7, 2011 at 2:04 pm

    Woosty,

    … and a camelless dead pomeranian prince …
    ——
    and I ask you, is that fair???????

  5. The best ever. Houston made it about America. All Aguilera wanted to do is make it all about her.

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1QmeEdFOSc&w=480&h=390]

  7. The Battle Hymn of the Republic is Blasphemy. So I would hate to see it used.

    Oh Canada is an ugly little ditty and we could certainly do better than it. Sorry. Nothing personal.

    America the Beautiful is a lovely piece and I’d vote for it to replace the bar song by Mr. Key (a lawyer by the way).

    I recently explained to an elderly woman acquaintance of mine what purple mountain majesties meant. She had never traveled out west to see the rocky mountains from afar and it made her eyes tear to hear of it.

    I think she might vote for America the Beautiful too.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/janoid/181199913/

  8. HenMan 1, February 7, 2011 at 1:24 pm

    Woosty-

    A rampart is what you duck behind when there are “bombs bursting in air”.

    (By the way, Woosty, the “Woosty” in my corny camel joke in the “Popes Must Be Buried” comments was Casimir Woosty from Sout’ Milwaukee. He has a tavern on Sout’ K.K. Avenue.) If you understand any of this, please explain it to me.
    ———————–

    that Woosty could be a dead pomeranian prince for all I know….

  9. Elaine,

    As you may recall, I love the Muppets and the Sam/Eagle clip you posted is not one I remember having seen … thanks

  11. Mike S.,

    American Pie–boy…that’s brings back memories!

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0Y_XRiJsCI&w=480&h=390]

  12. Woosty-

    A rampart is what you duck behind when there are “bombs bursting in air”.

    (By the way, Woosty, the “Woosty” in my corny camel joke in the “Popes Must Be Buried” comments was Casimir Woosty from Sout’ Milwaukee. He has a tavern on Sout’ K.K. Avenue.) If you understand any of this, please explain it to me.

  13. Raff & Buddha,
    What impressed me even more was that after the concert those four packed up their own gear, slung it over their shoulders and went out to hail cabs. Remember, this was when John Denver was one of the top stars in the country. I too loved American Pie and also his version of Babylon.

  15. raff:

    “eniobob, it was actually missing Da Bears!
    I read about that screw up with over 1,000 seats that were deemed unsafe 90 minutes before game time. I be those folks were a might upset.”Plus hotel,air fare etc,etc,

    I’d say **a tad ** LOL!!

  16. rafflaw,

    re: Cactus Cuties … not bad at all … did you notice the concentration? Those girls had practiced … the delay wasn’t going to mess them up.

    The song is the star … a properly trained singer hangs that song out there so that it floats above the audience’s heads and then the singer listens to the song along with the audience … this is particularly hard to accomplish when dealing with the audio delay and if one adds facial and body gyrations as we’ve seen in so many of the “artistic” renditions to the mix … well the star is no longer the song, the singer becomes the star and the song is just a vehicle.

    The Cactus Cuties let the song shine on its own and the player was right … awesome.

  17. Not that I care–but I heard it was missin’ da cheerleaders!.

    No Silicone Super Boob Bowl this year!

    😉

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4UPfyz7lhQ&w=480&h=390]

  18. eniobob, it was actually missing Da Bears!
    I read about that screw up with over 1,000 seats that were deemed unsafe 90 minutes before game time. I be those folks were a might upset.

  19. Since I didn’t have a dog in this fight,it seems that this Super Bowl will go down as **the what ever could go wrong,did go wrong** From her singing ,to people who bought tickets and not being able to get in,long wait times to get in and IMHO a boring game.Even though it was close it was just missing something.Oh I know it was missing my J-E-T-S,Jets.Jets,Jets.:=)

  20. Mike s.,
    that must have been a great experience to see those three sing that wonderful song from right up close. I loved Don McLean’s American Pie song. It was our anthem for Senior year of college.
    Blouise,
    I did like the Cactus Cuties version of the Anthem that Woosty provided us.

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