Yowzer! Bowzer tackles the “The Star-Spangled Banner”.
“The Star-Spangled Banner” has been trivialized, tortured and trampled upon at ballparks throughout America. Obviously, there are completely acceptable renditions of the anthem sung before baseball games, but too many alleged singers, given the privilege of singing the national anthem, are acting like they are singing torch songs in a lounge.
They are singing painfully elongated versions of the anthem, in which the meaning of the song is distorted, warped, lost. All that remains is these people trying to impress the world with their vocal chops. Instead, in regard to this anthem, they become something like Roseanne Barr.
You’ve heard it. You’ve seen it, You’ve known it. What can be done with these people? Well, they could be arrested. What would be the charge?
Treason.
You don’t have to be a super-patriot to be offended by what is being done to the national anthem of our Republic on a nightly basis. All you have to be is an American.
... The other version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” that stands apart from all others would be the one delivered by Jimi Hendrix and his electric guitar at Woodstock in 1969. Hendrix was a guitar genius, but this rendition leaves no basis of comparison. Feedback, distortion, emotion and all, it went almost four minutes.
To cast this in baseball terms, many people want to put asterisks next to the records of players who have used performance-enhancing drugs. We can also put an asterisk by Hendrix’ anthem, because he was using performance-enhancing drugs. But Jimi lasted less than one year after this performance, dying at age 27. He was, at least, posthumously elected to a Hall of Fame.
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Seinfeld once was asked if his recently converted Jewish dentist's lame Jewish jokes offended him "as a Jew." To which Jerry replied, "No. They offend me as a comedian." Which was the perfect response.
And while these pitiful pop versions of the Star-Spangled Banner aren't nearly on the level of offensiveness as Bauman says, they should (for the most part) offend the musical sensibility of anyone who knows the difference between a national anthem and American Idol. It's almost embarrassing to watch them, sort of like watching a blackfaced Al Jolson sing "Mammy."
Huey Lewis & the News used to be regulars at Candlestick; they always did a solid a cappella version.
In agreement with the rest.
I think MLB should reach an agreement whereby they have a military band play it before all the big events -- All Star Games, postseason stuff, etc. It has a nice, official feel, and nobody has to spring for / listen to Mariah Carey. I'm sure the Marine Corps or Army would be happy for the publicity, too.
2) The singers are usually pop stars and not people actually trained in voice.
3) The acoustics at ballparks are terrible.
About the only really good version I've ever heard before a ball game is Meat Loaf (really) at the 1994 All-Star Game. Yowza!
The problems are in the seventh inning. I didn't mind it for a year or two, but now it's time to move on. Whether it's April 14 in the sleet at Safeco, or August 3 in the suffering at GABP (or especially if it's March 14 at Maryvale), all I want to hear is about peanuts, crackerjacks, and rooting for the home team. I will no longer stand for any variation, no matter how "beautiful" the celebration of America might be.
Play the anthem, whatever version you want. After that, it's play ball.
The Yankees' default recording, bless their hearts, is the Marine Corps Band, who blow through that bad boy at the pace it should be played. Of course, they balance that out with the dreadful Kate Smith GBA every game.
2) The singers are usually pop stars and not people actually trained in voice.
3) The acoustics at ballparks are terrible.
Check, check, and check. For better or worse, we have a spectacular anthem that only about .001% of the human race is even capable of not butchering. Compare that to the world's most beautiful national anthem, which is almost impossible to mess up. Even the Commies couldn't ruin it when they had control over the lyrics.
I've heard a lot of good versions before a game. They generally just involve the person trying to sing instead of making it about them. Unfortunately that rules out about 95% of female singers
The problem is that it's really all about the marketing and the "synergy." The butchering of the anthem is the last thing that the suits worry about, unless someone grabs a crotch or shows major cleavage.
I don't know what Bauman's problem is, though. Butchering the anthem is an integral part of baseball.
Not to say that a lot of those interpretations don't suck...
In fact, it was pretty much the last good thing that happened that baseball season...
Glad you linked to that--as soon as I read your post, I thought to myself, "At least, it was stirring in Casablanca." To state the obvious: what an awesome movie.
Meat Loaf is a master at a certain kind of overdone song you or may not like, but the Star-Spangled Banner is right in his wheelhouse.
Glenn Donnellan played the National Anthem on a violin made out of a regulation bat. It sounded a lot like Jimi Hendrix, but he doesn't play as long.
Whitney
I know, but what can I say. The girl had pipes.
They've done it a number of times in various locales (NBA All-Star Game in '91, and most memorably, on Ken Burns' Baseball documentary), but the only time I got to hear it live was before Cal Ripken's record-breaking game.
It's over 2 minutes in length, but it's worth every bone-chilling moment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J49Sq87gFsU&NR=1
This is a great idea.
WFU had a string "band" - I have no idea who it was, but it was far more than a quartet and it was mostly violins - play the anthem before their home game with Miami the other night and it was incredible. Just a beautiful piece.
I always thought that the fact that it was open to interpretation was one of the strengths of the American anthem.
Not to say that a lot of those interpretations don't suck...
That's freedom for you; let people be free and individuals and a great many of them will do stupid, offensive things.
This reads like grumpy old man talk. Its a two minute song. Not everyone can sing it well. Lets just get over it shall we?
My Country Tis of Thee would have been a much better choice for the US.
We had to scramble to type up the words and display them on the scoreboard so Darius Rucker could read them while he was singing because he was so hungover that he could barely speak, let alone remember the complex lyrics.
Um, yeah. Except it's the national anthem of the country we rebelled against. So, it wasn't going to happen.
It's also pretty whiny.
France, Germany and Poland all have great anthems.
I wish North Americans would stop playing anthems before inter-club sporting events altogether. It's fascist, unless the national side is involved.
Fascist!? Nationalistic maybe. But, then wouldn't it be more nationalist when you're playing another country?
Yeah, yeah...I know. It's still a good song.
"Columbia the Gem of the Ocean" was in the running until late in the 19th century. Solid song.
Mo Cheeks may not have been that great a coach, but he's certainly a decent human being.
"America the Beautiful" could work OK, if not for the fact that it has like seventeen verses.
I'm enough of a hippy that I'd probably like "This Land Is Your Land" as well as anything.
Really? That's pretty cool.
I've heard several excellent reditions by barbershop quartets (or choruses), though I admit to bias. As a former member of SPEBSQSA (alas, no chapters within reasonable commute from where I now live), I find barbershop harmony right near the top of my preferences in music.
Terrorist.
Terrorist.
Terrorist.
Mr. Cheney?
Constant public displays of nationalism = fascism. It also suggests a certain insecurity, like you can't trust your neighbour if he isn't repeatedly endorsing how wonderful is the place we all live in.
The anthem was introduced at ballgames, I thought, in the time of 1917, and 'one-hundred per cent Americanism', just preceding the 1919 Red Scare, and just after the refounding of the Ku Klux Klan. Time to let go of that. Globalisastion, sought by socialists, imposed by capitalists, is destroying what makes each of our countries unique.
"This Land Is Your Land" probably should be the national anthem. It's hard to capture the spirit of a democracy, but it comes pretty damn close. Too bad it was written by a pinko.
I, uh, don't know how to respond to this.
Not quite the same level, but I was at a college basketball game a few weeks ago and they had a seven year old girl sing the Anthem. She cracked pretty bad at the "rockets red glare" part, but the crowd just cheered her on and gave her a standing ovation. A woman was in front of me kind of conducting her - I presume her mother - and at the end her face was covered in tears. Kinda choked me up a bit.
And reflexive equating of patriotism with nationalism = reductionism.
Comin' again to save the ############' day, yeah!
This is insane.
Concur.
Globalisastion, sought by socialists, imposed by capitalists, is destroying what makes each of our countries unique.
And not liking this makes you a facsist?
So, as a response, we should just play the anthem before international contests, just like everyone else?
I, uh, don't know how to respond to this.
And here I thought it was a form of totalitarianism. Constant public displays of nationalism being enforced by government might qualify as a facet of fascism, but the broader statement is, as another has already noted, absurdly reductionist.
It's in 3/4 time, so it's a WALTZ, not a march.
Can you march to a waltz? Hut-two-three, hut-two-three -- I guess, if you don't mind starting out on a different foot every other time.
First time I realized this was at Camden Yards a few years ago. Pat Morita(!) sang the SSB and the tempo was really obvious.
Very controversial at the time. Ernie Harwell arranged for all three anthem singers for the games in Detroit, since he was/is a songwriter and had music biz connections. Feliciano was up and coming at the time, not a big star, but one of Harwell's friends in the biz recommended him. The Tigers were worried about another of the three singers, Marvin Gaye, doing something dastardly to the anthem, but Gaye, who had Sinatra-like ambitions, sang it arrow-straight. There was a firestorm of protest after Feliciano, and Harwell's wife, Lulu, seeing the screaming headlines in an airport on her way home to Florida, was sure Errnie was about to be fired. Harwell said the Tigers just gave him "a slap on the wrist." I don't know what that was. Maybe a fine?
I dislike the U.S. anthem, just because I'm sick of hearing it and don't see the point of the pregame playing. It's not a march, by the way, it's an old English drinking song!
I like the Canadian anthem very much. I think it's stirring and has a kind of beautiful version of nationalism -- I like the "we stand on guard" stuff more than the "rockets red glare" stuff, though the difference is subtle. For my money, though, the best national anthem on the planet is Greece. I wish they were better at Olympic sports.
If I wrote a 2000-word essay, explaining in more detail, nobody would read it. They'd just take a statement out of context and start a fight. So I decided to save myself the work.
That's my personal fave in the patriotic song genre. And if you're into the whole brevity thing, you don't have to sing every verse before the game.
My Country Tis of Thee's inoffensive, but kinda lame. It doesn't have the sort of, I dunno, grandeur you expect of an anthem.
EDIT: And, what snapper said. You could quibble with my use of "inoffensive" given the history.
FWIW, that scene was somewhat more than half-lifted from the great Jean Renoir's "Grand Illusion". It's stirring there too.
I like the fact that it's straightforward and unadorned. It seems very appropriate.
Hearing Wayne Messmer sing "So lick my butt and suck on my balls" would make all of our lives complete.
It's about a dude witnessing his country hold off an attack by the forces of their former motherland/colonizers/oppressors/enemies, while being held captive by the same! He doesn't know how the fight is going to end and the anthem captures his travails through anxiety, surprise, and pride as he discovers his nation won a small measure of victory. It's not a bunch of vague promises and threats, it's about a small, meaningful, and illustrative contest in our country's history.
And, importantly, it doesn't whitewash the fact that to love and defend your homeland means that eventually you're going to have to let loose rockets and bombs and care about things like whether your banner is still flying at the end of the day. These are the practicalities of nationhood and independence that exist long after the theoretical debates have been scared off and drowned out by the drumbeats of war.
But maybe Francis Scott Key was just a crypto-fascist.
I remember singing that in choir in elementary school--but only the first verse. It wasn't until years later that I learned the (far more "subversive") later verses. Needless to say, it (along with actually learning something about Woody Guthrie the man) changed my perspective on things.
Changed it for the better, but of course YMMV.
OK, somebody needs to be in charge of casting the BBTF version of Casablanca with BBTF posters. I'm not qualified.
There are marches in 3/4 time. For example, it was a popular time signature for Scots retreat marches.
But SSB does just that, yes? (Unless you meant the lyrics.)
But not from another anthem.
at least they don't butcher it.
99% of people who butcher the song are female. the worst i ever heard was andy pettitte's wife - i swear she took 4 minutes to finish the thing. by the time she got to the glaring red rockets i was really regretting that the Box won't let you take in cases of rotten tomatoes/fruit to throw (think of michigan j frog) at any self important byttch who forces everyone to listen to butchery. or is it botchery? or is it byttchery?
i personally would prefer america the beautiful but too many people would object because of all the God stuff in all the verses.
what a country
divided between people who INSIST that God stuff is put in EVERYthing
and
people who INSIST that NO God stuff is put in ANYthing
Primey.
1. Meathead complaining to Archie about the SSB. "What kind of word is ye-et?" "Shut up, I don't want to have none of tha-at"
2. Kazakhstan national anthem per Borat: Kazakhstan greatest country in the world.
All other countries are run by little girls. Kazakhstan’s prostitutes cleanest in the region.
Except of course Turkmenistan’s
3. Our SSB is to the tune of an English drinking song, "Oh Thus Be It Ever"
Too early. But the Progressive Movement was a proto-fascist impulse.
Our SSB is to the tune of an English drinking song, "Oh Thus Be It Ever"
"Oh thus be it ever" is really just a line from the fourth verse of the SSB. The original was called "The Anacreon Song" or "To Anacreon in Heaven".
Too early. But the Progressive Movement was a proto-fascist impulse.
Jesus, here we've got crypto-fascists, proto-fascists, quasi-fascists, neo-fascists, retro-fascists, and even steroid fascists---------Whatever happened to the real Castoria?
I think one of the problems with singing the Star Spangled Banner at ballgames is that's it's usually done a capella. If it was set to music you wouldn't have the problem of the pace being all screwed up.
Fight, fight America
Kick fascist ass
Democratize them, and apprise them
Human rights or feel our might forevermore!
and so on. Rough draft. Feel free to edit.
My (and my father's) alma mater has an anthem that uses the same tune as "Deuscheland Uber Alles."
Let's just say it was apparently an interesting event when my grandfather (who fled Poland in 1939) attended my father's graduation
I recall one drawn-out rendition that wasn't very good at a Brewers' game. After the song ended there was a pause and Bob Uecker said on the broadcast, "Well....that was certainly one of the.... longest renditions of the national anthem we've heard."
I have no problem with the SSB. But I'm sick to death of God Bless America. Now that's a crappy song.
Heh.
I may be a retro-socialist, but don't you DARE call me a retro-fascist.
Albert Brooks used to do a bit along these lines. Folks auditioning with new suggestions for the national anthem. My favorite was the guy who kept the SSB tune and began, "As we stand here and wait for the ballgame to start . . . "
When we learned it in school band in the '60s in a Midwestern community full of German Americans, the music book titled it simply "Austrian Hymn"
When I used to get home from school my mother would always be watching the Kate Smith Show and Kate always sang that song. I really, really hate it.
Let's just say it was apparently an interesting event when my grandfather (who fled Poland in 1939) attended my father's graduation
My Jewish grandfather (who was in WWII) used to sing the Horst-Wessel-Lied just to make my mom uncomfortable (L'Internationale, as well).
You'd get a more positive reception if you were retro-sunni, especially in February.
Speaking of national anthems, patriotism, democracy and all that's right and true, did you see this article?
I bet it goes well with black pudding.
Anyone who grew up a Boston Bruins fan in the mid-70's feels much the same way.
I was amused as well.
This isn't much of a contribution but, in keeping with posts like #12, among others:
my college girlfriend (a would-be opera singer) did anthems from time to time and was a big believer in doing them quickly with a minimum of flair - it's about the song, not the singer. I, of course, thought this was awesome and she was well received accordingly.
There's also a hymn, Glorious Things Of Thee Are Spoken, that has the same melody. It's interesting hearing it played in church.
I approve of lionizing the Puritans.
Assuming, of course, that it's one of those gladiator games things that involves lions.
This isn't exactly true. Although the legislation allowed pubs to open 24 hours, I'm guessing about 99.9% of them, if they bothered to make use of the legislation at all, went for extended licensed hours at weekends, to 1 a.m. or 3 a.m.
There were certain parts of London, such as Camden Town, where pubs were allowed extended licensed hours (to 1 a.m. in the only one I frequented) Fridays and Saturdays because of the numerous clubs in the area. Also, pubs around the butchers' market at Smithfield usually served alchohol early in the morning to those working there, because they started work at around 4 a.m. and were considered entitled to a lunchtime pint at 8 or 9 a.m. Lock-ins were also easy to find if you wanted one. What the legislation did, however, was to extend the Camden Town/Smithfield principle to the rest of the country.
The binge-drinking problem is more to do with the tolerance of public drunkeness. And England has a long history of high-tolerance of public drunkeness. In civilized countries, public drunkeness is frowned on, but what you do in your home is your own business.
And he's headed toward 30,000 comments. I stand in awe.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkI7F5u1BGY
I still can't figure out what is more amazing, remixing the music, bringing back-up dancers, or the shouts to the crowd asking them to clap their hands.
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