I really wasn't impressed with any of them.  ....and the halftime show sucked. I did think Lady GaGa nailed the Anthem.

I really wasn't impressed with any of them.  ....and the halftime show sucked. I did think Lady GaGa nailed the Anthem.

I missed the Anthem before the game but I just now watched it. I think that she did a great job of it and I don't see what others are complaining about.

I agree, she did a bang up job on the anthem.  I liked the half time show.

I missed the Anthem before the game but I just now watched it. I think that she did a great job of it and I don't see what others are complaining about.

....and the Beatles still suck. 

Right....heathen. 

....and the Beatles still suck. 

Heretic! BUURRRNNN him!

Some of us refuse to drink the BeatleJuice. (Kool-Aid)   

GP is from southern ILL after all...   

I really wasn't impressed with any of them.  ....and the halftime show sucked. I did think Lady GaGa nailed the Anthem.

[rant]I'm a retired Army musician, so take what I'm saying for what it's worth. I've had more honest-to-God musical training than most and I <bleep> sure know what I'm talking about.

Entirely TOO MANY LIBERTIES taken with the National Anthem. Rhythmic (almost no rhythm in Ga-Ga's performance; what little there was featured big gaps while she hot-dogged it for the camera), Harmonic (definitely some more "advanced" chord structures in there), and extraneous notes, though not at bad as some I've had the misfortune of hearing.

The quality of her voice is good and she's had some training - her ear is also very good. I'd also say that her performance completely overshadowed the insult that Roseanne Barr gave us many years ago.

I just want to hear the National Anthem as I've played it thousands of times -- no more, no less.

Yep. Haters gonna hate. 

[/Rant]

The problem, as I see it, is most singers don't love the song or have an appreciation to what that song stands for. For some of us, that song done PROPERLY, can and will bring a tear to your eyes. The hype of the game, the crowd, and the magnitude of the viewing audience have too much influence on the singer. The real influence should come from love of country and the respect being given to those who have given so much to afford us the freedom and justice refered to in the song.

Just my .02

The problem, as I see it, is most singers don't love the song or have an appreciation to what that song stands for. For some of us, that song done PROPERLY, can and will bring a tear to your eyes. The hype of the game, the crowd, and the magnitude of the viewing audience have too much influence on the singer. The real influence should come from love of country and the respect being given to those who have given so much to afford us the freedom and justice refered to in the song.

Just my .02

+5

To many, it's just an olde English drinking song. 

Since I'm not handicapped with any musical talent at all I can, in happy ignorance, decide what I like and dislike without the liability of knowing if it has been performed to predetermined standards.     

Since I'm not handicapped with any musical talent at all I can, in happy ignorance, decide what I like and dislike without the liability of knowing if it has been performed to predetermined standards.     

Indeed you can. Sometimes I think I've been cursed -- I get wrapped up in the technical details and forget what the hell it was I was supposed to get out of the "musical experience." 

Since I'm not handicapped with any musical talent at all I can, in happy ignorance, decide what I like and dislike without the liability of knowing if it has been performed to predetermined standards.     

By "predetermined standards" do you mean, "as it was written"?  Gaga does have a nice voice, but her rendition was god-awful slow.
Of course, I think Whitney Houston's version was the best I've heard, mostly because I was huddled in a tent in Saudi Arabia during Desert Storm watching the game via vhs tape a couple weeks late when I first heard it.

[rant]I'm a retired Army musician, so take what I'm saying for what it's worth. I've had more honest-to-God musical training than most and I <bleep> sure know what I'm talking about.

Entirely TOO MANY LIBERTIES taken with the National Anthem. Rhythmic (almost no rhythm in Ga-Ga's performance; what little there was featured big gaps while she hot-dogged it for the camera), Harmonic (definitely some more "advanced" chord structures in there), and extraneous notes, though not at bad as some I've had the misfortune of hearing.

The quality of her voice is good and she's had some training - her ear is also very good. I'd also say that her performance completely overshadowed the insult that Roseanne Barr gave us many years ago.

I just want to hear the National Anthem as I've played it thousands of times -- no more, no less.

Yep. Haters gonna hate. 

[/Rant]

I completely agree with you.

+5

To many, it's just an olde English drinking song. 

Expand on that, please..

+5

To many, it's just an olde English drinking song. 

Expand on that, please..

Yes. Jim. They're all drinking songs to you, right?

 

Expand on that, please..

From Wiki:

"The Anacreontic Song", also known by its incipit "To Anacreon In Heaven", was the official song of the Anacreontic Society, an 18th-century gentlemen's club of amateur musicians in London. The tune was later used by several writers as a setting for their patriotic lyrics. These included two songs by Francis Scott Key, most famously his poem "Defence of Fort McHenry". The latter combination became known as "The Star-Spangled Banner" and was adopted as the national anthem of the United States of America, in 1931.

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

Here's a modern-day performance of the song:

! No longer available

Here's apparently a copy of page 1 of the original sheet music.

I find it interesting that the original meter was 6/4. The meter most commonly played today is 3/4. Mathematically it doesn't mean much; it simply doubles the number of measures in the piece. If the performance above can be construed as accurate to the original, the tempo is much faster than Ga-Ga's version. Which tells me, principally, that Ga-Ga wasn't interested in performing the National Anthem of our country, she was interested in performing period.

But whatevah. At the end of the day, she got paid and that's the important thing.

Wow, you learn something new every day!  Didn't know that.  So Key appropriated the tune and here I thought all these years he made it up along with the words.