Anyone besides me think the rendition of The Star Spangled Banner just...

[3catwoman3]

...sung by the 4 student athletes at the first Final 4 game was pretty damn terrible?

[Irish_Dem]

1. Singing the Star Spangled Banner and sounding terrible is a time honored tradition.

It is one of the givens in American culture.

[Marcus IM]

2. Yep. A cringeworthy song at that. SO bad they leave out the important "controversial" verses.

More appropriate for America, imo ..

[LakeArenal]

3. It's not an easy song to sing.

I admire anyone who belts out a song public. If they are terrible I admire them even more.

[leftieNanner]

4. When my daughter played HS basketball

They had students perform the anthem. One poor girl wasn't quite up to the task.

Eleven key changes. I counted.

Took guts though.

[3catwoman3]

5. 11unintentional key changes, I am...

… going to guess.

[leftieNanner]

7. Yes

Unintentional.

It was painful.

[Paladin]

8. We're burdened with an awful national anthem. (nt)

[sdfernando]

14. Well it did start out as a pub drinking song

It is so much easier to listen to the bad pitch when you are inebriated.

[ProfessorGAC]

23. And, Because Of That...

...the song was meant to be sung faster.
It's most often sung at 85 to 90 beats per minute. Sometimes slower.
The original song was sung at 110-120 beats per minute.
So, we end up with a song with too much dead time for singers to torture the audience with needless vocal gymnastics & melodramatic delivery.

[debm55]

17. I agree. I love Ray Charles singing America. Star Spangled Banner, to me, glorifies war.

[keithbvadu2]

9. Let's see how Donald respects The Flag and National anthem...

Link to tweet

[Deuxcents]

10. I like America the Beautiful. It's much more appropriate and not so militaristic..imo

[wnylib]

19. I like America the Beautiful, too.

But the lyrics have references to God, so there are a lot of Americans who would object to it. Those references would need to be changed in order for every one to accept it.

[Permanut]

11. That would be the song that includes a line about the "land of the free"..

which it never has been.

[Aristus]

12. It's based on an old English drinking song.

You have to be drunk to sing it as it deserves.

[Ocelot II]

20. "To Anacreon in Heaven" was the club anthem of The Anacreontic Society,

which was a gentlemen's club that met once a month in London in the late 18th century to eat, drink and sing. There were a number of these clubs at the time, which were the precursors of the glee club. The composer of the tune was a professional musician, John Stafford Smith.

"The Anacreontic Song served as the "constitutional song" of the Society. After the initial concert and meal, the Song would be sung in order to open the after-supper, more light-hearted part of proceedings. The verses, which are difficult to sing because of their wide range, would be sung by a solo singer, with the entire Society joining in the refrain. Although it is often described as a "drinking song", Lichtenwanger states that "To Anacreon in Heaven" "was not a barroom ballad, a drinking ditty to be chorused with glasses swung in rhythm", but "convivial, ... in a special and stately way". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Anacreontic_Song

[ProfessorGAC]

24. Inauthentic

It's too slow. This version was influenced by the way we do the anthem.
This song is meant to be at a quicker tempo.
It's in waltz time. In the 18th century, the waltz was not a slow dance.
Not as fast as a polka, but quicker than this.
Think of the tempo of Beethoven's Fur Elise.

[Conjuay]

13. I am especially fond

Of the renditions that sound like a yodeling competition.

[ironflange]

15. To be fair, those kids were scared to death

It's hard to hold pitch in that situation.

[Ocelot II]

16. Years ago I learned to sing it one syllable off.

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 through
The perilous fight o'er
The ramparts we watch'd 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--?

It comes out one note short. If the song is in A-flat you sing a B-flat instead of A-flat as the last note on "brave." Drives listeners nuts.

[targetpractice]

18. That is hilarious..

... I don't know how to sing or about music, but I tried to imagine what you were describing and sang it to myself... It's really annoying yet funny.

[yellowdogintexas]

21. It should be sung by the attendees IMHO

Our symphony orchestra plays it before every concert, all 800 or so attending stand and sing and it sounds so nice.

The FWSO has had decades of practice playing it and the Bass Hall has perfect acoustics. Who could ask for more?

Even the Concerts in the Garden sound good and there are usually 3 x more people.

I sincerely dislike "celebrity" vocalists about 98% of the time. In the past few years the KY Derby has gone back to just the crowd singing and it is so much better.

[3catwoman3]

22. Despite whatever it's origins might be, and despite the...

…troublesome lyrics of seldom-sung verses, I confess to liking the melody of our anthem. My favorite way to heart is a majestic instrumental version with lots of brass and percussion, especially cymbals. No harpy crap in the middle. Brisk pace.