Photoshop adjustment not required |
Hire Exposay if you need a publicity photo! |
There it was another Sunday afternoon sporting event in the
USA. This one happened to be the almost weekly NASCAR event that takes place
every Saturday or Sunday through a large part of the calendar year. NASCAR folks
are pretty proud of their country so the event is always started with a
rendition of the US National Anthem—The
Star Spangled Banner. Hands on their hearts, hats removed and lots of flags
in plain view. But you can never be quite sure which version you are going to
get.
I applaud the drivers for not wincing in pain when the
latest singer (chosen by the local organizers, most likely) starts their
audition for the latest season of American Idol or The Voice. They are all over
the map in tempo, phrasing and even sometimes the words. And I think I have a
better handle as to why that happens.
I remember a late night talk show where Tom and Dick
Smothers (who are normally not real serious folks on stage) were lamenting
about their displeasure about how the song gets abused. They said “It is not
about the performer, it’s about the song” and you could see that the audience
really didn’t understand the frustration that these talented musicians and comediennes
were displaying.
So I tried Googling the American National Anthem and landed
on the page for the link above. In it I learned that the words are written by a
patriot named Francis Scott Key and they can pin it down to the very day that
the words got written in his poem (September 14 1814) and the circumstances
that triggered Mr. Key's stirring words as he wrote it during his imprisonment on
a British ship that was off shore of Ft. McHenry where the American flag still
flew.
But here is where the problem lies (in my opinion)—Composer:
unknown. So even this site will sell you the sheet music for $4 a copy, you
really aren’t sure if you are going to get the right tempo there or the “original”
musical score because there isn’t one. Now since I am Canadian, I’m not likely
to buy a copy of the sheet music so I don’t know if the tempo is even listed. I
have never been asked to sing the anthems at a hockey game in Canada where both
get played so I don’t think I need the sheet music, but I think I can do a
pretty good job of the words without need of a cheat sheet.
I still think that a better patriotic song would be America
the Beautiful as sung by the late Ray Charles which you still hear around Independence
Day on the July 4th holiday in the USA. Ray actually sings the
original words and then sings the ones they learned in school and he only
really adds a lot of soul and true feeling that augments the song as opposed to
abusing it. I used to sing that song sort of like Ray around the campfire at
night in the lake country of Ontario. A few brown pops made the soulful styling’s
of Ray come out a little easier. What a great song. Truly inspiring!
If you are a singer and you have been selected to sing the
Star Spangled Banner at an event, take Tommy and Dick’s words to heart and do
the song justice. Think of Mr. Key and park the trills and riffs for another
song. Show him the respect he so richly deserves.
I tried to send a copy of this story to the Smothers Brothers but the email on their site is no longer valid and they are listed as retired. The AOL story here does a good job explaining why? They sure made me laugh and I thank them for that. I just wanted to show proper respect as they did.
I tried to send a copy of this story to the Smothers Brothers but the email on their site is no longer valid and they are listed as retired. The AOL story here does a good job explaining why? They sure made me laugh and I thank them for that. I just wanted to show proper respect as they did.
No comments:
Post a Comment