Aguilera Botches Our National Anthem

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The discussion centers around Christina Aguilera's performance of the national anthem at the Super Bowl, where she infamously flubbed the lyrics. Participants express disappointment over her failure to remember the words, arguing that such an iconic song should not be used as a platform for artistic embellishment. The national anthem is viewed as a tribute to the sacrifices made for the country, and many believe that its performance should be straightforward rather than overly stylized. Some suggest that pre-recording the anthem could prevent future mistakes, while others propose alternatives like "America, the Beautiful" as a more fitting national song. The conversation also touches on the historical context of the anthem, noting its origins as a British drinking song, and critiques the trend of pop artists trying to add personal flair to it. Overall, the sentiment is that the anthem should be respected and performed with sincerity.
  • #31
Chi Meson said:
I simply cannot stand listening to the National Anthem as sung by pop singers trying to get "more soul than ever" into the tune. Everyone knows that the tune was originally a pub song, and I think it sounds best when a thousand voices sing along in simple 3/4 time, with just the notes that are supposed to be there.


EDIT:

In the key of G!

I agree. My wife jokingly asked why I wasn't standing for the National Anthem. I told her that I would if it was being sung. :rolleyes:

BTW, given the number of times that it's been botched in the Super Bowl, I would be more surprised if someone got the words correct.
 
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  • #32
I agree with what a colleague at work said, there's 100,000? people in the stadium for the SuperBowl, take ownership of the the thing and sing it yourselves. No single voice could beat that.

The English national anthem is hopeless. At least Pomp and Circumstance and Rule Britannia have some passion, like the Marseillaise. My favourite national anthem is South Africas.
 
  • #33
cobalt124 said:
My favourite national anthem is South Africas.

I'll second that.
 
  • #34
jarednjames said:
The Welsh alphabet is a laugh: A B C CH D DD E F FF G NG H I J L LL M N O P PH R RH S T TH U W Y

The Welsh language is easy if you understand how the letters are pronounced (CH DD FF NG LL PH and RH). It's always a laugh when an English person tries out the road signs!

Doesn't change the fact it's a nightmare to learn, especially when you notice the Welsh have to outdo the English words by about 20 letters in length - we do have the longest place name in the world - I'd type it here but I fear Ubuntu's spell check would go into meltdown.

Try Sanskrit. One transliteration of the alphabet is

A e ai I RRI LLI U o au
a i RRi LLi u M H
k ch T t p
kh Ch Th th ph
g j D d b
gh jh Dh dh bh
~N ~n N n m
y r l v
h sh Sh s

Sanskrit doesn't have upper and lower case (or punctuation!) so T and t for example are different letters repesenting different sounds. The arrangement might look random, but it's actually a 2 dimensional "periodic table" of sounds (that is fairly obvious from k through to bh).

The letter LLI ought to exist (and there is a symbol for it) but it has never been used in any words. LLi is the "ul" vowel sound at the end of English words like label, table, etc. LLI is the corresponding long vowel sound.

Actually this isn't the "record" for the longest alphabet. A related language has 53 letters, not 49.
 
  • #35
anyway, the constitution technically gives her the right to botch the lyrics is she so wishes (and we have a right to be repulsed)
 
  • #36
AlephZero said:
Try Sanskrit. One transliteration of the alphabet is

Are people trying to 'one up' me with language?
 
  • #37
mugaliens said:
If you're going to embellish at all, do it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wupsPg5H6aE&feature=related".
Yeah that's doing it right. Thanks mugaliens, both for the objection to Aquilera and for posting the doing it right version.

Whitney. That woman, in or our of rehab, makes everyone else sound like a Simon Cowell reject on American Idol in comparison.
 
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  • #38
I agree that interpreting a national anthem is very important

Of course :


Beethoven's Ode to Joy was a good choice for Europe.
 
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  • #39
AlephZero are you a linguist, or do you just have a gift for languages?
 
  • #40
mugaliens said:
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/...-Super-Bowl-national-anthem-020611?GT1=39002".

I'm sorry, but I do not appreciate it when an "artist" can't remember her lines while over-artistrating (yes, my very own word) so badly that the entire theme and purpose of our National Anthem are lost.

It's a song about the immense immense love of, and sacrifice for our country, as born by those who fought to wrest it into existence, as well as all those who fought since to preserve it:

Oh, 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 thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, 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! Oh 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!

Oh! 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!​

It's not a showcase for artists. Aguilera's (failed) attempt to misuse it as such is reprehensible.

If you're going to embellish at all, do it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wupsPg5H6aE&feature=related".

http://www.usa-flag-site.org/song-lyrics/star-spangled-banner.shtml"


On the subject of art, is a song written by a lawyer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Scott_Key to the tune of a British drinking song http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Anacreon_in_Heaven really so important?

That said I have no particular need to hear it repeated at every sporting event, no matter how minor. In fact, unless we're playing another nation, I don't see the point at all. We've created this to showcase "talents", be the real (7 year old) or manufactured charctatures (Aguilera). I think the republic can stand even against this; remember, here are the original lyrics to our proud Hymn:

http://www.potw.org/archive/potw234.html
POTW said:
The
ANACREONTIC SONG

as Sung at the Crown and Anchor Tavern in the Strand

the Words by
RALPH TOMLINSON ESQ R, late President of that SOCIETY.

————————Price 6d.————————

LONDON
Printed by Longman and Broderip. N o26, Cheapside and N o13, Hay Market



1
To ANACREON in Heav'n, where he sat in full Glee,
A few Sons of Harmony sent a Petition,
That He their Inspirer and Patron wou'd be;
When this Answer arriv'd from the JOLLY OLD GRECIAN
"Voice, Fiddle, and Flute,
"No longer be mute,
"I'll lend you my Name and inspire you to boot,
"And, besides, I'll instruct you like me, to intwine
"The Myrtle of VENUS with BACCHUS's Vine.

2
The news through OLYMPUS immediately flew;
When OLD THUNDER pretended to give himself Airs_
If these Mortals are suffer'd their Scheme to pursue,
The Devil a Goddess will stay above Stairs.
"Hark! already they cry,
"In Transports of Joy
"Away to the Sons of ANACREON we'll fly,
"And there, with good Fellows, we'll learn to intwine
"The Myrtle of VENUS with BACCHUS'S Vine.

3
"The YELLOW-HAIR'D GOD and his nine fusty Maids
"From HELICON'S Banks will incontinent flee,
"IDALIA will boast but of tenantless Shades,
"And the bi-forked Hill a mere Desart will be
"My Thunder, no fear on't,
"Shall soon do it's Errand,
"And, dam'me! I'll swinge the Ringleaders I warrant,
"I'll trim the young Dogs, for thus daring to twine
"The Myrtle of VENUS with BACCHUS'S Vine.

4
APOLLO rose up; and said, "Pr'ythee ne'er quarrel,
"Good King of the Gods with my Vot'ries below:
"Your Thunder is useless_then, shewing his Laurel,
Cry'd. "Sic evitabile fulmen, you know!
"Then over each Head
"My Laurels I'll spread
"So my Sons from your Crackers no Mischief shall dread,
"Whilst snug in their Club-Room, they Jovially twine
"The Myrtle of VENUS with BACCHUS'S Vine.

5
Next MOMUS got up, with his risible Phiz,
And swore with APOLLO he'd cheerfull join_
"The full Tide of Harmony still shall be his,
"But the Song, and the Catch, & the Laugh shall bemine
"Then, JOVE, be not jealous
Of these honest Fellows,
Cry'd JOVE, "We relent, since the Truth you now tell us;
"And swear, by OLD STYX, that they long shall entwine
"The Myrtle of VENUS with BACCHUS'S Vine.

6
Ye Sons of ANACREON, then, join Hand in Hand;
Preserve Unanimity, Friendship, and Love!
'Tis your's to support what's so happily plann'd;
You've the Sanction of Gods, and the FIAT of JOVE.
While thus we agree
Our Toast let it be.
May our Club flourish happy, united and free!
And long may the Sons of ANACREON intwine
The Myrtle of VENUS with BACCHUS'S Vine.

If anyone has a right to be sore, probably it's Mr. Tomlinson. :p
 
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  • #41
Borek said:
Not true, there is a lot of diacritics we don't use.

These are ALL letters used in Polish: ąćęłńóśżź

These are SOME examples of letters NOT used in Polish: àåçñîĉĝěđďčįäřňĵĥáŝžš

As you see, we are not egoistic and we left plenty for other nations.

To be honest, we saved on diacritical marks using digraphs (like sz, cz, dż, rz) to denote some of the consonants.

Do you have the game Scrabble in Poland? How many Z's are there?
 
  • #42
texasblitzem said:
Do you have the game Scrabble in Poland? How many Z's are there?

Wow, I'm so glad I actually checked and didn't just laugh.

Wikipedia said:
Polish-language editions of Scrabble use these 100 tiles.

2 blank tiles (scoring 0 points)
1 point: A ×9, I ×8, E ×7, O ×6, N ×5, Z ×5, R ×4, S ×4, W ×4
2 points: Y ×4, C ×3, D ×3, K ×3, L ×3, M ×3, P ×3, T ×3
3 points: B ×2, G ×2, H ×2, J ×2, Ł ×2, U ×2
5 points: Ą ×1, Ę ×1, F ×1, Ó ×1, Ś ×1, Ż ×1
6 points: Ć ×1
7 points: Ń ×1
9 points: Ź ×1
This set is used since 2000. Before that year, a slightly different configuration was used: Ź was worth 7 points, F was worth 4 points. There were 2 F's, and 8 A's. The letters Q, V and X are also absent and blank tiles cannot be used to represent these.

That is a real paucity of Z's if I'm Polish, I think. More interesting, they have a tile listing for ALL Scrabble: Afrikaans, Polish, Russian, Norwegian, Romanian... and so on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrabble_letter_distributions

Ugh, I just realized that I missed the first 5 Z's. So much for a paucity!
 
  • #43
waht said:
Russian National Anthem is great:

Lovely. I feel conquered already.
 
  • #44
Nothing can beat the prime minister of Belgium. When he was asked to sing the national anthem of Belgium, he started out by singing the anthem of France :biggrin: And he was dead serious too...
 
  • #45
micromass said:
Nothing can beat the prime minister of Belgium. When he was asked to sing the national anthem of Belgium, he started out by singing the anthem of France :biggrin: And he was dead serious too...

Serious... you mean he MEANT to do that? Wow, talk about publicly announcing that you won't seek office again. :0
 
  • #46
No, he just didn't know what the national anthem was. At least, that's what I think.

And the sad thing is, that he is still in office :frown:
 
  • #47
micromass said:
No, he just didn't know what the national anthem was. At least, that's what I think.

And the sad thing is, that he is still in office :frown:

I uh, wow. Now THAT would be a case when botching the anthem would definitely annoy me.
 
  • #48
Luckily (it seems) I missed Aguilara's "performance". I tuned in just in time for the coin-toss and kickoff. Actually I hate football, but I wanted to catch the quarterly scores so I could see if my wife and I won a share of the $1000 pool. Plus, catch the ads, which weren't so great this year.
 
  • #49
Evo said:
She didn't even realize she botched it, that's what's so bad.

I would expected an apology, at least for forgetting the words.
 
  • #50
I don't remember if Robert Goulet apologized. It was a big issue for the Clay-Liston fight.
 
  • #51
mugaliens said:
I would expected an apology, at least for forgetting the words.
She apologized.
 
  • #52
 
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  • #53
cobalt124 said:
I agree with what a colleague at work said, there's 100,000? people in the stadium for the SuperBowl, take ownership of the the thing and sing it yourselves. No single voice could beat that.

That's what I was thinking too, when, after thinking I'd been spared the horror by watching the Puppy Bowl instead of the Super Bowl, I was assaulted with Aguilera's version on the Monday morning news.

My alternative suggestion, considering how many celebrities botch it, is to do a talent search among high school students and reward one with a college scholarship for the performance. At least then if it's botched, you can blame it on them not being used to performing for such a large audience.
 
  • #54
For some reason, I'm thinking Randy Newman, rolled out to center field with a piano. He starts a few, cords and leans into the mike saying "Now I want each one of you to sing along with me..." and then fade out his mike.

You know damm well, that's the one people will be talking about for years.
 
  • #55
I hate that thing where she sings and pulls the mic far away from her face, like getting some arm action going will help.

I don't see why a national anthem is needed for a football game. It's not like the honor of the nation is at stake. It's just two teams, both from America, playing with a ball.
 
  • #56
leroyjenkens said:
I don't see why a national anthem is needed for a football game. It's not like the honor of the nation is at stake. It's just two teams, both from America, playing with a ball.

Exactly my thoughts! But then again, I'm not american, so there's probably something I don't understand about it...
 
  • #57
Borek said:


Thanks, Borek - that was much better!
 
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  • #58
Evo said:
She apologized.

Really? When? Where? No link, Evo? Come on...

Chi Meson said:
For some reason, I'm thinking Randy Newman...

As long as he could belt out our National Anthem with the same gusto he demonstrated in that Die Hard commercial a year or two ago...

micromass said:
Exactly my thoughts! But then again, I'm not american, so there's probably something I don't understand about it...

I dunno. Something about millions of Americans having died for our country, throughout the Revolutionary, Second Cherokee, Chikamauga, Northwest India, Shay's Rebellion Whiskey Rebellion, Quasi, Frie's, Barbary, Spanish, Gulf of Mexico, West Florida, Amelia Island, War of 1812, Marquesas Islands, Spanish Florida, Caribbean, Algiers, Tripoli (source of the Marine Corps Hymn), Amelia Island, Oregon, Africa...

Geez, people! Did you all fail http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_wars#Extraterritorial_and_major_domestic_deployments"? Crickey!
 
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  • #59
mugaliens said:
I dunno. Something about millions of Americans having died for our country, throughout the Revolutionary, Second Cherokee, Chikamauga, Northwest India, Shay's Rebellion Whiskey Rebellion, Quasi, Frie's, Barbary, Spanish, Gulf of Mexico, West Florida, Amelia Island, War of 1812, Marquesas Islands, Spanish Florida, Caribbean, Algiers, Tripoli (source of the Marine Corps Hymn), Amelia Island, Oregon, Africa...

Geez, people! Did you all fail http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_wars#Extraterritorial_and_major_domestic_deployments"? Crickey!

Maybe over 1 million. About 1.2 to 1.3 million if you count Confederate casualties, but I'm not sure you should count troops that died fighting against the US.

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf

Maybe less official, but easier to read (and he does count Confederate deaths):

http://www.militaryfactory.com/american_war_deaths.asp
 
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  • #60
Honestly, I don't see a link between number of deaths and football. Actually I wonder if connecting these things is not abuse of the memory of these people. When the anthem is sang at every occasion it becomes a routine and soon nobody remembers what it is all about.