Singing a Certain Song

If you’re a professional singer and you’re asked to sing the Star-Spangled Banner at the Super Bowl or the NBA All-Star Game or at one of the games in the NBA Finals, the NHL Finals or the World Series, do yourself and your audience's ears a favor: rehearse. Many times.

The temporarily-reunited Destiny’s Child sang the song at today’s NBA All-Star Game and, aside from wowing all of the male on-lookers by looking good (you go, girls), they sang a harmony-laden and excellent version of the Banner—they didn’t just rely on the fact they are very good singers; it was obvious that they practiced, over and over again.

In contrast, the duet between Aaron Neville and Aretha Franklin at the Super Bowl some weeks back was a dog-howler. (I know that someone will attempt to yank my sista-card for saying that out front, but my card has armed guards, so good luck getting to it.)

Frankly, all Star-Spangled Banner renditions must measure up to Whitney Houston’s magical 1989 1991 Super Bowl performance. I watched it in a room full of GIs at an NCO Club in Germany. Many tears were seen around the room after Whitney sang, including my own.

I was lamenting the other day that, while I never liked many of Whitney’s song choices, she was undeniably talented and that it seems that nearly every female pop vocalist is trying to be the next Whitney without benefit of having her pipes. Of course, Whitney doesn’t even have Whitney’s pipes anymore (though, if reports are correct, she is definitely in possession of another type of pipe or two.)

Sigh. Such is life.

Comments

[torchy]

Though I played and watched b'ball intensively in my formative years it's no longer the game I enjoyed watching so I can't really comment on Destinys Childs performance since I didn't see it. But I was totally enthralled by the Super Bowl anthem, the complexity of the rhythm and simplicity of the arrangement, even though Aaron Nevilles forced falsetto usually creeps me out.
While on the subject of sports and black entertainers I thought Bryant Gumbel got served a steaming heap of crow for his remarks about the "paucity of black athletes" at the Winter Olympics. The next day a kid named Shani Davis, from the streets of Chicago, wins a gold medal in speed skating. All amidst stress between him and other members of the US Olympic speed skating TEAM due to the extra public attention and scrutiny that came to bear because of Shanis race. I think that backstory proves more interesting than anything Bryant Gumbel could ever utter.

[out of context guy {skinner]]

And who could forget Rosie Odonnels beau.... ERRR rosanne Barrs beautiful rendition from years back Burning the flag used to be a crime ... HOWCOME butchering the anthem goes unpunished?

[LB]

Agreed! Practice, practice, practice. I muted the TV as soon as Aaron Neville started singing...

Too bad Aretha will be remembered for a while as the woman who botched the "Banner" with Neville. A few years ago she filled in for Pavarotti at some awards show, and she sang a song he's famous for: Nessun Dorma. This soul-singing sister belted out that opera tune like nobody's business. People were on their feet. Celine Dion's mouth was wide open in amazement.

I have the MP3 of Whitney's 1991 performance, and it is spine-tingling, especially when she hits the high note at the end.

[Business babe]

I thought Aretha was at least involved in an interesting rendition of it this year, however...why would they put the most powerful woman's voice I can recall with the world's whimpiest male voice??

[Strider]

I'm a semi-professional singer (e.g I also have a day job...). I sang Italian arias and showtunes and such through college, and now work for a band that does everything from classical to Talking Heads. I've sung in several languages and many different styles...

...and I have to say that The Star Spangled Banner is one of the most difficult songs around. It is a HARD song to sing well -- largely because it has a wide range and you've really got to NAIL those high notes.

This is all just a long winded way of saying that I entirely agree with Baldi here. Any experienced singer should realize this, and know that they should Practice, Practice, Practice before tackling that song.

I didn't see the All-Star game, though now I would be curious to hear the recording of the Anthem. I'm not a big fan of Destiny's Child simply because I don't like that style of music, but I will say that they have a commanding skill with harmonies.

[Tully]

Amen.

[DarkStar]

I didn't see it but I'm not surprised that they did well.

The song is one of the more difficult songs to sing, not because people don't know it, but because of the wide range involved.

[silvermine]

That's always bugged me about Whitney Houston. She has one of the most incredible voices ever, and she uses it singing dreck. I mean, not just that she sings pop, but the songs in particular that she chooses are just the dreck of pop. I wish she had better taste...

[Justin]

That's always bugged me about Whitney Houston. She has one of the most incredible voices ever, and she uses it singing dreck. I mean, not just that she sings pop, but the songs in particular that she chooses are just the dreck of pop. I wish she had better taste...

I agree. She has an amazing voice--a once in a generation type voice, but she never lived up to her potential. I actively can't stand her body of work.

[Tully]

Once again, Amen.

[T-Steel]

Harmony is a lost art in singing these days. I get so amused when I see these boy and girl pop bands with 4 - 6 members all singing in unison, no harmony at all. Makes no sense and dulls your sound. I've been playing piano/keyboard for over 25 years. Whenever I work with young singers these days, it is painfully obvious they don't practice their craft. I practiced the piano for 1 hour a day at least, EVERY DAY, 365 days a year since I was 8 years old. Practice makes improvement.

[Sapper Mike]

Ya gotta watch those Whitney memories. I must have been drunk on my SDNCO tour the night before the big game, because about one hour before the game start, we have a muster. As I can hear her voice coming out of the barracks window, I am being told by my CO "Thanks for volunteering to go to Saudi for Desert Storm." Only time I guess I was so drunk I forgot I volunteered! And on SDNCO duty, no less!

[babylonandon]

Practice IS always important.

Anyone doing the SSB for a national audience should have enough respect for our country to prep properly for it, but in this day and age there are many who will botch it just to make a statement.

On Whitney: sad, sad, and such a waste. It is also sad that many of the really well-known pop tunes that made others big never came her way. She did really make Dolly Parton's "I will always love you" for "The Bodyguard".

There are other great voices out there to match hers, though.

Aretha, Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, and Celine Dion (I can't stand her arrogant attitude - too much French in her genes I suspect). Not to mention several of the ladies we have heard on American Idol.

Whitney chose a dirtbag like Bobby Brown over common sense and a crack pipe over the beauty of her music. Stupid.

[CuriousTexan]

I'd rather hear someone sing the anthem and mean it than do it well and turn it into top 40. If you can find a copy of Jose Feliciano's version of the anthem, it'll make you cry every time. It's slower and the range has been clipped to suit his abilities, but the emotion he puts into it tells you exactly how much he loves this country and how grateful he is for the oppurtinities and freedoms we have.

[Silicon valley Jim]

Allow me gently to disagree with some of you. If you notice the singer's voice, he/she hasn't done a good job. It's about the music, not about the performer. Singing in a manner that calls attention to the singer's voice is equivalent to a musician's calling attention to his instrument.

I think that this applies with particular force to a national anthem, and I think that ours should take no longer than 70 seconds to sing.

[joesmokabo]

Hi I just wanted to ask where you got your name . I love it. My brother and I have been calling people that for decades.

[Tony]

I really hate it when pop singers try and put too much... how do I say this properly... "soul" into the SSB. They turn the word "free" (as in "land of the free") into 15 syllables by what sounds like yodeling it.

Just sing it already.

[Strider]

Hrm... Trackbacks aren't working for some reason (I don't know if it's on my end or yours). Hope you don't mind me sticking it in comments....

Trackback:
http://www.striderweb.com/blog/218

[out of context skinner ... GUY]

I think Miss Locks has got herself a fella Shes not blogging quite so proliferantely
SP ? word??? , I do expect her back though. with an increased lust for telling it like it is
I just hope she isnt kinder and gentler shes too nice already!!!!!!

[out of context skinner]

I have to disagree Im wathing the womens figure skating [ as we speak] and I am amazed at how the so called worse are so gracefull { I hate that faggot announcer they keep bringing back every 4 years luckyly they never show him Hes probably wearing a too too in the booth . Anyways these girls are gracefull like swans gliding in a pond or frogs leaping in unison I think if they sarted hockey teams with the best dancers, from each country, Gave them hockey sticks . nets and pucks, and set one country against another, in an elimination process One where style would count JUST as much
as scored goals ..... we'll ,
then we'd have more queers watching hockey and thus a much
happier diversified audience .

[Roy Lofquist]

I agree that Jose Feliciano's rendition was the most memorable, if not my favorite performance, of the Star Spangled Banner. I much prefer the song as written. It is the National Anthem. It is in march cadence and derives much of its meaning from this. Performers can show their virtuosity on other songs.

The exemplar of this is the U.S. military. The military, by the way, has amongst its members a large number of excellent musicians. Catch a concert near you. They're free and you will marvel at the performance.

[beautifulatrocities]

I always thought Whitney had a good voice but was not a great singer; she belted everything out like it was God Bless America. Someone like Patsy Cline didn't have a great voice, but had a lot of emotion in her voice that touched audiences

[beautifulatrocities]

I feel sorry for Whitney's kids. I hope someone pays attention to them. Can you imagine the circle of vultures that have their claws in Whitney? She's like those human Volkswagens Richard Simmons finds who haven't been out of bed for 5 years. You're like, okay, this is a group effort here, SOMEONE is obviously making breakfast for them.....

[out of context skinner]

YEA KINDA LIKE DRONES FEEDING THE QUEEN

[Bane]

I DON'T APPRECIATE YOUR IMPLIED RACISM, LITTLE MISSY!

But let me just ask you, has Mariah Carey gone the Micheal Jackson/Anna Nicole Smith route, or what!

She's whiter than Mikey, and fatter than Anna. Aunt Jemima please!

Looks like she is trying to smuggle cottage cheese in to the country in her surgically altered ass-pouches.

Oh, how the Mighty have fallen...

[Bane]

ps...my comment was directed at My Darling Juliette, lest any of you plebes mistake yourselves as worthy of my attention.

[Christopher Taylor]

I just wish people wouldn't feel the compelling need to embellish and "reinterpret" the national anthem. People quite honestly have not come to the game to see you wow them with your amazing vocal skills. Just deliver the song, for once? Please?

[Darleen]

Singers.... pffft.

The rendition of the National Anthem that raises goosebumps for me is when it is performed by a full band.

>band mom

[baldilocks]

joesmokabo: See my "About" link. :-)

Skinner: No fella--unfortunately--just working hard.

Bane: Mariah, as I understand it, is mostly of white descent.

As to her vocal skills, she was the main one I was thinking of when I said: "...nearly every female pop vocalist is trying to be the next Whitney without benefit of having her pipes."

An aside: I seem to recall thinking favorably on a Beyounce Knowles-rendition of the SSB sung at a recent major sporting event. (Beyounce is one of the former Destiny's Child members, for those who don't know.)

[skinner]

Baldilocks welcome back . You need to put youre photo back up on this blog I told you not to
take it off . We'll actually , I didnt but I thought it, And you should have listened to me anyway.
Teal marie would agree and shes a woman . boy am I in trouble.
Im telling ya the caricture is attractive and its speaks alot
But its only gonna get dates with Elmer Fudd and youll feel good for her but youll steal be home Sat. night BRING THE PHOTO
BACK !!!!!! (please]

[neofundamental]

Your post made me sentimental. I miss Whitney Houston.