Performances and adaptations of The Star-Spangled Banner
Encyclopedia
In the course of the adoption of "The Star-Spangled Banner
" as the national anthem
of the United States, a variety of people have either sung or performed the anthem using a variety of instruments and methods. Some of these methods include using only one instrument, such as a guitar
or trumpet
. Other methods have included singing the anthem using different vocal ranges or even changing some of the words to show support for a home team or for an event. However, veterans groups have spoken out on occasion about these recordings, mainly calling them disrespectful to the country and to the anthem.
's unconventional major seventh chord in the first of his four 1941 arrangements of the "Star-Spangled Banner" led to an incident on January 15, 1944 with the Boston
police, but "Boston Police Commissioner Thomas F. Sullivan said there would be no action." "After Stravinsky conducted it with the Boston Symphony for the first time in 1944, the police informed the composer of a Massachusetts law against tampering with national property, and removed the parts from Symphony Hall." The incident soon established itself as a myth in which Stravinsky was supposedly arrested for playing the music.
One of the most controversial renditions of the anthem was Jimi Hendrix
's solo guitar performance at the 1969 Woodstock Festival
. Hendrix played the anthem with a number of distorted regressions (such as mimicking planes, bombs, and screams in reference to the Vietnam War), to great acclaim from the audience. The performance still has a number of detractors. It was voted 52nd on the list of the 100 greatest guitar solos of all time by readers of Guitar World
Magazine. Hendrix also recorded a studio version of The Star-Spangled Banner some time before Woodstock festival. That version features numerous guitar tracks played through octave shifting effects. The studio version is available on the Rainbow Bridge album and Cornerstones
collection.
An early controversial version was performed by José Feliciano
at the 1968 World Series
, a rendition that Feliciano has said negatively affected his career.http://www.youtube.com.offcampus.lib.washington.edu/watch?v=jrY9RVfVkwshttp://josefeliciano.com/?page=anthem His folk/blues approach did not sit well with everyone, but Detroit Tigers
announcer Ernie Harwell
, a musician in his own right, liked it and defended it (as noted in the CD collection, Ernie Harwell's Audio Scrapbook.)
Another famous rendition of the anthem was that of Marvin Gaye
at the 1983 NBA All-Star Game
at The Forum
in Inglewood, California
. Gaye's highly soul
-flavored performance also received much acclaim from the crowd.
Prior to Game 5 of the 1986 World Series
, Smokey Robinson
performed the national anthem before switching to the final four lines of America the Beautiful
after "...that our flag was still there." This was the first time{cn|date=May 2011}} that both the national anthem and "America the Beautiful" were arranged into the same song and melody. Other notable blendings of both songs included those by the Whiffenpoofs
prior to the 1989 World Series
opener and by singer Natalie Cole
at Super Bowl XXVIII
.
The entire crowd at Madison Square Garden
cheered loudly when New York Rangers
anthem singer John Amirante sang a stirring rendition of the Canadian
and American national anthems before the Rangers win over the Vancouver Canucks
in Game 7 of the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals
.. The National Hockey League
requires arenas in both the U.S. and Canada to perform both "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "O Canada" (Canadian national anthem) at games that involve teams from both countries, a practice that has also been picked up by Major League Baseball
. However, from 1997, when interleague play
began in baseball until 2004 when the Montreal Expos
moved to Washington, only the Canadian anthem would be played at games between the Expos and the Toronto Blue Jays
. One exception to this came in 2004, when three Expos "home" games were played in San Juan, Puerto Rico
(a commonwealth
of the United States). At those games, both the American and Canadian national anthems were played, as was La Borinqueña
(the commonwealth anthem of Puerto Rico). Five years later, when Wayne Gretzky
played his final game, Amirante changed the line of "O'er the land of the free" to "O'er the land of Wayne Gretzky" to reflect Gretzky's retirement.
Robert Merrill
sang the national anthem at seven World Series
games, more than any other performer, and all seven came at Yankee Stadium
: in Game 3 of the 1976
, 1978
, and 1999 World Series
, at the 1977
, 1981
and 1996 World Series
openers, and Game 2 of the 1998 World Series
.
Allusions to the tune appear in a number of classical works. For example, Richard Wagner
's "American Centennial March", commissioned for the centennial of U.S. independence in 1876, appears to repeatedly quote part of the theme. Sergei Rachmaninoff
arranged it for solo piano. The beginning of the song is also used in the beginning of the march titled "National Emblem
". Giacomo Puccini
used the opening notes as a motif throughout his opera Madama Butterfly
. "The Pneu World" for cello and piano, H.163 (1925) by Frank Bridge
is a parody on the opening bars of "The Star-Spangled Banner".
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir
's recorded version solved the range problem as any mixed choir might—with the male voices carrying the main melody in the lower part of the range, and the female voices carrying the upper part of the range while the male voices provide lower-keyed harmony. The MTC version also contains a rare singing of the fourth verse as well as the first.
Composer John Williams
wrote two new arrangements, one for the Rose Bowl and one for a Red Sox playoff game at Fenway Park.
Chicago Cubs
public address announcer Wayne Messmer
has performed the anthem on many occasions before Cubs games at Wrigley Field
. Messmer more notably sang the Anthem before Chicago Blackhawks games in the 1980s and 1990s at the old Chicago Stadium where the crowd notoriously roared throughout the performance (and still does at the United Center with current singer Jim Cornelison
). The most famous of Messmer's turns with the song was his performance before the 1991 NHL All-Star Game at the Chicago Stadium shortly after the ground attack in the Gulf broke out and just a week before Whitney Houston's performance at Super Bowl XXV. There was a fierce display of patriotism with flags waving and sparklers going off throughout the Old Gray Lady on Madison Street during Messmer's rendition as well as the roaring hockey fans completely drowning out the massive Barton Organ and nearly drowning out Messmer's vocals, again, a tradition at Blackhawk games.
For "The Star-Spangled Banner (The Times They Are A-Changin')," singer-songwriter Kevin Cryderman created a folk version using all of the words of F. S. Key's poem, with some intentional minor alterations. As the name of the song implies, the melody and chords are loosely based on Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'."
The anthem is also sung by residents of New York for the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami
for the relief of US$30 million for the victims of the disaster.
, who sang it at a San Diego Padres
baseball game in August 1990. As her voice was not well liked by the audience, because either she has little singing ability or because she purposefully botched the performance, the large crowd heckled her and threw objects onto the field in her direction in disgust. Her poor performance might have been forgotten, except that she appended a couple of gestures associated with baseball players (adjusting one's protective cup and spitting on the ground), which drew widespread complaints, including from then-President George H.W. Bush. She has not been asked to sing again at a baseball game since.
At the 1989 World Series
opener, after singing "that our flag was," the Yale Whiffenpoofs sang "still there" twice. Until that point, several of the Whiffenpoofs sang the National Anthem while the other members backed them up by singing "America the Beautiful."
In 1993, Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis
attempted to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" before a Nets
game. Lewis sang the entire song off-key and at a range too high for his voice. After his voice broke on the word "glare", he stopped and said "Uh oh", then said "I'll make up for it now" near the end of the song. He was widely ridiculed for the incident. ESPN
SportsCenter
anchor Charley Steiner
described Lewis' version of the national anthem as being written by "Francis Scott Off-Key".
At the 2001 Pro Football Hall of Fame Game
, Macy Gray
was booed after stumbling over the words, and singing offbeat.
When performing the anthem before a game in the 2003 American League Championship Series
at Fenway Park
, singer Michael Bolton
briefly forgot the lyrics and had to look at his hand, where he had apparently written them down for reference.
On April 25, 2003, during an National Basketball Association
game between the Portland Trail Blazers
and the Dallas Mavericks
, Trail Blazers' coach Maurice Cheeks
aided 13-year-old Natalie Gilbert in singing the National anthem. After Gilbert forgot the words at "At the twilight's last gleaming", Cheeks rushed over to help her and they finished it together, as the entire Rose Garden crowd sang with them. Cheeks and Gilbert received a standing ovation after the song was over.
Steven Tyler
of Aerosmith
was invited to sing the national anthem at the 2001 Indianapolis 500
. His performance, however, was widely criticised when after singing "free" he sang some kind of phrase leading into "bam-de-la-bam-bam", and also he changed the lyrics of the last line from "...the home of the brave" to "the home of the Indianapolis 500."
Robert Goulet
forgot the lyrics when invited to sing the anthem before one of Muhammad Ali
's championship bouts in the 1960s. He was often chided for this, usually by people who were not aware that he was Canadian by birth.
In 2002, pop-singer Anastacia
sang the national anthem before the 2002 MLB All-Star Game
In it, she sang "perilous night" instead of "perilous fight". This was the first in a long line of debacles that night after all of which the game ended in a 7-7 tie in 11 innings.
In 2006, as Aretha Franklin was singing the anthem at Super Bowl XL, with Aaron Neville
and Dr. John
, after singing "free", she said "yes".
René Marie
substituted the anthem's lyrics with those of "Lift Every Voice and Sing" at a Denver civic event in 2008.
Anita Baker
was criticized for her performance of the Star-Spangled Banner at Game 4 of the 2010 NBA Finals
.
Pop singer Christina Aguilera
sang the national anthem for the Pittsburgh Steelers
and the Green Bay Packers
, the two teams for Super Bowl XLV
, and changed the lyrics from "what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming" to "what so proudly we watched at the twilight's last gleaming" and omitted the lines "Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight," and "O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?" while she sang the anthem at the Super Bowl.
At the December 5, 2010 NFL game with the Denver Broncos
traveling to the Kansas City Chiefs
, the Zac Brown Band
sung the national anthem. After messing up the lyrics on the 2nd line of the song, they were met with boos. They started over and sang the lyrics correctly.
/R&B singer Whitney Houston
and produced by music director Rickey Minor
, along with Houston herself, to raise funds for soldiers and families of those involved in the Persian Gulf War
. Houston performed "The Star Spangled Banner" at Super Bowl XXV
in 1991. The recording of her live performance was released as a single
in the U.S. on February 12, 1991 and as the Gulf War was drawing to a close, and it peaked at number twenty on the Billboard Hot 100
. Its B-side was "America the Beautiful
". The single's video
comprises footage from the recording of Houston's performance at the Super Bowl in 1991.
The song would not be released elsewhere until it appeared on Whitney: The Greatest Hits
in 2000.
After the September 11 attacks in 2001, Arista Records
arranged a re-release of Houston's version of "The Star Spangled Banner" (again with "America the Beautiful" as the B-side), with all profits going towards the firefighters and victims of the attacks. It peaked at number six on the Hot 100 and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America
.
The two single releases of Houston's version are the only times the anthem has ever appeared on the Top 40 of Billboard's Hot 100 pop singles chart. José Feliciano's 1968 rendition was released as a single after his performance, peaking at #50 on the Billboard Hot 100 late in 1968.
The Star-Spangled Banner
"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States of America. The lyrics come from "Defence of Fort McHenry", a poem written in 1814 by the 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, Francis Scott Key, after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy ships...
" as the national anthem
National anthem
A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people.- History :Anthems rose to prominence...
of the United States, a variety of people have either sung or performed the anthem using a variety of instruments and methods. Some of these methods include using only one instrument, such as a guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
or trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
. Other methods have included singing the anthem using different vocal ranges or even changing some of the words to show support for a home team or for an event. However, veterans groups have spoken out on occasion about these recordings, mainly calling them disrespectful to the country and to the anthem.
Versions
Igor StravinskyIgor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
's unconventional major seventh chord in the first of his four 1941 arrangements of the "Star-Spangled Banner" led to an incident on January 15, 1944 with the Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
police, but "Boston Police Commissioner Thomas F. Sullivan said there would be no action." "After Stravinsky conducted it with the Boston Symphony for the first time in 1944, the police informed the composer of a Massachusetts law against tampering with national property, and removed the parts from Symphony Hall." The incident soon established itself as a myth in which Stravinsky was supposedly arrested for playing the music.
One of the most controversial renditions of the anthem was Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
's solo guitar performance at the 1969 Woodstock Festival
Woodstock Festival
Woodstock Music & Art Fair was a music festival, billed as "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music". It was held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm in the Catskills near the hamlet of White Lake in the town of Bethel, New York, from August 15 to August 18, 1969...
. Hendrix played the anthem with a number of distorted regressions (such as mimicking planes, bombs, and screams in reference to the Vietnam War), to great acclaim from the audience. The performance still has a number of detractors. It was voted 52nd on the list of the 100 greatest guitar solos of all time by readers of Guitar World
Guitar World
Guitar World is a monthly music magazine devoted to guitarists. It contains original interviews, album and gear reviews and guitar and bass tablature of approximately five songs each month. The magazine is published 13 times per year...
Magazine. Hendrix also recorded a studio version of The Star-Spangled Banner some time before Woodstock festival. That version features numerous guitar tracks played through octave shifting effects. The studio version is available on the Rainbow Bridge album and Cornerstones
Cornerstones: 1967-1970
Cornerstones 1967-1970 is a 1990 compilation album by American guitarist Jimi Hendrix. It features 18 of his greatest hits, including live renditions of "Fire" and "Stone Free" from the Atlanta International Pop Festival, July 4, 1970. It was released on the Polydor label in the United Kingdom and...
collection.
An early controversial version was performed by José Feliciano
José Feliciano
José Feliciano is a Puerto Rican singer, virtuoso guitarist and composer known for many international hits including the 1970 holiday single "Feliz Navidad".-Childhood:...
at the 1968 World Series
1968 World Series
The 1968 World Series featured the defending champion St. Louis Cardinals against the Detroit Tigers, with the Tigers winning in seven games for their first championship since 1945, and the third in their history...
, a rendition that Feliciano has said negatively affected his career.http://www.youtube.com.offcampus.lib.washington.edu/watch?v=jrY9RVfVkwshttp://josefeliciano.com/?page=anthem His folk/blues approach did not sit well with everyone, but Detroit Tigers
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are a Major League Baseball team located in Detroit, Michigan. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit in as part of the Western League. The Tigers have won four World Series championships and have won the American League pennant...
announcer Ernie Harwell
Ernie Harwell
William Earnest "Ernie" Harwell was an American sportscaster, known for his long career calling play-by-play of Major League Baseball games. For 55 years, 42 of them with the Detroit Tigers, Harwell called the action on radio and/or television...
, a musician in his own right, liked it and defended it (as noted in the CD collection, Ernie Harwell's Audio Scrapbook.)
Another famous rendition of the anthem was that of Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....
at the 1983 NBA All-Star Game
1983 NBA All-Star Game
The 33rd National Basketball Association All-Star Game was played on February 13, 1983 at The Forum in Inglewood, California. The Eastern Conference defeated the Western Conference, 132–123. The Most Valuable Player was Julius Erving. Billy Cunningham coached the Eastern Conference team...
at The Forum
The Forum (Inglewood, California)
The Forum is an indoor arena, in Inglewood, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. From 2000 to 2010, it was owned by the Faithful Central Bible Church, which occasionally used it for church services, while also leasing the building for sporting events, concerts and other events.Along with Madison...
in Inglewood, California
Inglewood, California
Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, southwest of downtown Los Angeles. It was incorporated on February 14, 1908. Its population stood at 109,673 as of the 2010 Census...
. Gaye's highly soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
-flavored performance also received much acclaim from the crowd.
Prior to Game 5 of the 1986 World Series
1986 World Series
The 1986 World Series pitted the New York Mets against the Boston Red Sox. It was cited in the legend of the "Curse of the Bambino" to explain the error by Bill Buckner in Game 6 that allowed the Mets to extend the series to a seventh game...
, Smokey Robinson
Smokey Robinson
William "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. is an American R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. Robinson is one of the primary figures associated with Motown, second only to the company's founder, Berry Gordy...
performed the national anthem before switching to the final four lines of America the Beautiful
America the Beautiful
"America the Beautiful" is an American patriotic song. The lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates and the music composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward....
after "...that our flag was still there." This was the first time{cn|date=May 2011}} that both the national anthem and "America the Beautiful" were arranged into the same song and melody. Other notable blendings of both songs included those by the Whiffenpoofs
The Whiffenpoofs
The Yale Whiffenpoofs are the oldest collegiate a cappella group in the United States, established in 1909. Best known for "The Whiffenpoof Song", based on a tune written by Tod Galloway and adapted with lyrics by Meade Minnigerode & George S Pomeroy , the group comprises college...
prior to the 1989 World Series
1989 World Series
†: Game 3 was originally slated for October 17 at 5:35 pm; however, it was postponed when an earthquake occurred at 5:04 pm.-Game 1:Saturday, October 14, 1989 at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, California...
opener and by singer Natalie Cole
Natalie Cole
Natalie Maria Cole , is an American singer, songwriter and performer. The daughter of jazz legend Nat King Cole, Cole rode to musical success in the mid-1970s as an R&B artist with the hits "This Will Be ", "Inseparable" and "Our Love"...
at Super Bowl XXVIII
Super Bowl XXVIII
Super Bowl XXVIII was an American football game played on January 30, 1994, at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia, to decide the National Football League champion following the 1993 regular season. The National Football Conference champion Dallas Cowboys defeated the American Football...
.
The entire crowd at Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
cheered loudly when New York Rangers
New York Rangers
The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the borough of Manhattan in New York, New York, USA. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . Playing their home games at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers are one of the...
anthem singer John Amirante sang a stirring rendition of the Canadian
O Canada
It has been noted that the opening theme of "O Canada" bears a strong resemblance to the "Marsch der Priester" , from the opera Die Zauberflöte , composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and that Lavallée's melody was inspired by Mozart's tune...
and American national anthems before the Rangers win over the Vancouver Canucks
Vancouver Canucks
The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver, :British Columbia, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The Canucks play their home games at Rogers Arena, formerly known as General Motors Place,...
in Game 7 of the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals
1994 Stanley Cup Finals
The 1994 Stanley Cup Final was a best-of-seven playoff series contested between the Eastern Conference champion New York Rangers and Western Conference champion Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League...
.. The National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
requires arenas in both the U.S. and Canada to perform both "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "O Canada" (Canadian national anthem) at games that involve teams from both countries, a practice that has also been picked up by Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
. However, from 1997, when interleague play
Interleague play
Interleague play is the term used to describe regular season Major League Baseball games played between teams in different leagues, introduced in . Before the 1997 season, teams in the American League and National League did not meet during the regular season...
began in baseball until 2004 when the Montreal Expos
Montreal Expos
The Montreal Expos were a Major League Baseball team located in Montreal, Quebec from 1969 through 2004, holding the first MLB franchise awarded outside the United States. After the 2004 season, MLB moved the Expos to Washington, D.C. and renamed them the Nationals.Named after the Expo 67 World's...
moved to Washington, only the Canadian anthem would be played at games between the Expos and the Toronto Blue Jays
Toronto Blue Jays
The Toronto Blue Jays are a professional baseball team located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Blue Jays are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball 's American League ....
. One exception to this came in 2004, when three Expos "home" games were played in San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...
(a commonwealth
Commonwealth
Commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has sometimes been synonymous with "republic."More recently it has been used for fraternal associations of some sovereign nations...
of the United States). At those games, both the American and Canadian national anthems were played, as was La Borinqueña
La Borinqueña
La Borinqueña is the official anthem of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. After Puerto Rico became the "The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico" in 1952, the first elected governor, Luis Muñoz Marín, signed law #2 of July 24, 1952 that stated that the musical composition known as "La Borinqueña" was to...
(the commonwealth anthem of Puerto Rico). Five years later, when Wayne Gretzky
Wayne Gretzky
Wayne Douglas Gretzky, CC is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. Nicknamed "The Great One", he is generally regarded as the best player in the history of the National Hockey League , and has been called "the greatest hockey player ever" by many sportswriters,...
played his final game, Amirante changed the line of "O'er the land of the free" to "O'er the land of Wayne Gretzky" to reflect Gretzky's retirement.
Robert Merrill
Robert Merrill
Robert Merrill was an American operatic baritone.-Early life:Merrill was born Moishe Miller, later known as Morris Miller, in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York, to tailor Abraham Miller, originally Milstein, and his wife Lillian, née Balaban, immigrants from Warsaw, Poland.His mother...
sang the national anthem at seven World Series
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
games, more than any other performer, and all seven came at Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium was a stadium located in The Bronx in New York City, New York. It was the home ballpark of the New York Yankees from 1923 to 1973 and from 1976 to 2008. The stadium hosted 6,581 Yankees regular season home games during its 85-year history. It was also the former home of the New York...
: in Game 3 of the 1976
1976 World Series
The 1976 World Series matched the defending champion Cincinnati Reds of the National League against the New York Yankees of the American League, with the Reds sweeping the Series to repeat. The Reds became the only team to sweep an entire multi-tier postseason. The Reds are also the last National...
, 1978
1978 World Series
-Game 1:Tuesday, October 10, 1978 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, CaliforniaWith Yankee ace Ron Guidry unavailable at least until Game 3, the Dodgers pounded twenty-game winner Ed Figueroa. Figueroa left after two innings, allowing home runs to Dusty Baker and Davey Lopes. Lopes would add a...
, and 1999 World Series
1999 World Series
The 1999 World Series, the 95th edition of Major League Baseball's championship series, featured a rematch between the defending champions New York Yankees against the Atlanta Braves during the month of October, with the Yankees sweeping the Series in four games for their second title in a row,...
, at the 1977
1977 World Series
-Game 1:Tuesday, October 11, 1977 at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New YorkThe Dodgers drew first blood off Don Gullett in the first when Davey Lopes walked and scored on a Bill Russell triple. Ron Cey made it 2–0 on a sacrifice fly...
, 1981
1981 World Series
The 1981 World Series matched the New York Yankees against the Los Angeles Dodgers, marking their third meeting in the Series in five years as well as a record eleventh Series meeting overall and last Series meeting to date...
and 1996 World Series
1996 World Series
-Game 1:Sunday, October 20, 1996 at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New YorkGame 1 and Game 2 were originally scheduled for Saturday, October 19 and Sunday, October 20, respectively. Rain on October 19, however, washed out Game 1. The schedule was moved up one day, with Game 1 and Game 2 rescheduled for...
openers, and Game 2 of the 1998 World Series
1998 World Series
The 1998 World Series, the 94th edition of Major League Baseball's championship series, matched the New York Yankees against the San Diego Padres . The Yankees swept the Series in four games to capture their second championship in three years, and their 24th overall...
.
Allusions to the tune appear in a number of classical works. For example, Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
's "American Centennial March", commissioned for the centennial of U.S. independence in 1876, appears to repeatedly quote part of the theme. Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music...
arranged it for solo piano. The beginning of the song is also used in the beginning of the march titled "National Emblem
National Emblem
National Emblem is a march composed in 1902 and published in 1906 by Edwin Eugene Bagley. It is a standard of the American march repertoire, appearing in eleven published editions....
". Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...
used the opening notes as a motif throughout his opera Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...
. "The Pneu World" for cello and piano, H.163 (1925) by Frank Bridge
Frank Bridge
Frank Bridge was an English composer and violist.-Life:Bridge was born in Brighton and studied at the Royal College of Music in London from 1899 to 1903 under Charles Villiers Stanford and others...
is a parody on the opening bars of "The Star-Spangled Banner".
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir
Mormon Tabernacle Choir
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, sometimes colloquially referred to as MoTab, is a Grammy and Emmy Award winning, 360-member, all-volunteer choir. The choir is part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . However, the choir is completely self-funded, traveling and producing albums to...
's recorded version solved the range problem as any mixed choir might—with the male voices carrying the main melody in the lower part of the range, and the female voices carrying the upper part of the range while the male voices provide lower-keyed harmony. The MTC version also contains a rare singing of the fourth verse as well as the first.
Composer John Williams
John Williams
John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
wrote two new arrangements, one for the Rose Bowl and one for a Red Sox playoff game at Fenway Park.
Chicago Cubs
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...
public address announcer Wayne Messmer
Wayne Messmer
Wayne K. Messmer is one of three public address announcers for the Chicago Cubs. He sings "The Star-Spangled Banner" before many Cubs games, as well as prior to many Chicago Wolves American Hockey League games. Messmer is part owner of the Chicago Wolves...
has performed the anthem on many occasions before Cubs games at Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field is a baseball stadium in Chicago, Illinois, United States that has served as the home ballpark of the Chicago Cubs since 1916. It was built in 1914 as Weeghman Park for the Chicago Federal League baseball team, the Chicago Whales...
. Messmer more notably sang the Anthem before Chicago Blackhawks games in the 1980s and 1990s at the old Chicago Stadium where the crowd notoriously roared throughout the performance (and still does at the United Center with current singer Jim Cornelison
Jim Cornelison
James Cornelison is a tenor who sings The Star-Spangled Banner and O Canada at the beginning of home games for the Chicago Blackhawks. Cornelison started singing the anthem for the Blackhawks part time in 1996; he has been singing the national anthem for the Blackhawks full time since 2007...
). The most famous of Messmer's turns with the song was his performance before the 1991 NHL All-Star Game at the Chicago Stadium shortly after the ground attack in the Gulf broke out and just a week before Whitney Houston's performance at Super Bowl XXV. There was a fierce display of patriotism with flags waving and sparklers going off throughout the Old Gray Lady on Madison Street during Messmer's rendition as well as the roaring hockey fans completely drowning out the massive Barton Organ and nearly drowning out Messmer's vocals, again, a tradition at Blackhawk games.
For "The Star-Spangled Banner (The Times They Are A-Changin')," singer-songwriter Kevin Cryderman created a folk version using all of the words of F. S. Key's poem, with some intentional minor alterations. As the name of the song implies, the melody and chords are loosely based on Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'."
The anthem is also sung by residents of New York for the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
The 2011 earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tohoku, also known as the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, or the Great East Japan Earthquake, was a magnitude 9.0 undersea megathrust earthquake off the coast of Japan that occurred at 14:46 JST on Friday, 11 March 2011, with the epicenter approximately east...
for the relief of US$30 million for the victims of the disaster.
Notable errors, changed or forgotten lyrics
Perhaps the most infamous rendition of the national anthem came from comedienne Roseanne BarrRoseanne Barr
Roseanne Cherrie Barr is an American actress, comedian, writer, television producer and director. Barr began her career in stand-up comedy at clubs before gaining fame for her role in the sitcom Roseanne. The show was a hit and lasted nine seasons, from 1988 to 1997...
, who sang it at a San Diego Padres
San Diego Padres
The San Diego Padres are a Major League Baseball team based in San Diego, California. They play in the National League Western Division. Founded in 1969, the Padres have won the National League Pennant twice, in 1984 and 1998, losing in the World Series both times...
baseball game in August 1990. As her voice was not well liked by the audience, because either she has little singing ability or because she purposefully botched the performance, the large crowd heckled her and threw objects onto the field in her direction in disgust. Her poor performance might have been forgotten, except that she appended a couple of gestures associated with baseball players (adjusting one's protective cup and spitting on the ground), which drew widespread complaints, including from then-President George H.W. Bush. She has not been asked to sing again at a baseball game since.
At the 1989 World Series
1989 World Series
†: Game 3 was originally slated for October 17 at 5:35 pm; however, it was postponed when an earthquake occurred at 5:04 pm.-Game 1:Saturday, October 14, 1989 at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, California...
opener, after singing "that our flag was," the Yale Whiffenpoofs sang "still there" twice. Until that point, several of the Whiffenpoofs sang the National Anthem while the other members backed them up by singing "America the Beautiful."
In 1993, Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis
Carl Lewis
Frederick Carlton "Carl" Lewis is an American former track and field athlete, who won 10 Olympic medals including 9 gold, and 10 World Championships medals, of which 8 were gold. His career spanned from 1979 when he first achieved a world ranking to 1996 when he last won an Olympic title and...
attempted to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" before a Nets
New Jersey Nets
The New Jersey Nets are a professional basketball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
game. Lewis sang the entire song off-key and at a range too high for his voice. After his voice broke on the word "glare", he stopped and said "Uh oh", then said "I'll make up for it now" near the end of the song. He was widely ridiculed for the incident. ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
SportsCenter
SportsCenter
SportsCenter is a daily sports news television show, and the flagship program of American cable network ESPN since the network launched on September 7, 1979. Originally broadcast only daily, SportsCenter is now shown up to twelve times a day, replaying the day's scores and highlights from major...
anchor Charley Steiner
Charley Steiner
Charles Harris "Charley" Steiner is an American sportscaster and broadcast journalist. He is currently the main play-by-play voice for the Los Angeles Dodgers Radio Network, paired with Rick Monday.-Early career:...
described Lewis' version of the national anthem as being written by "Francis Scott Off-Key".
At the 2001 Pro Football Hall of Fame Game
Pro Football Hall of Fame Game
The Pro Football Hall of Game is an annual National Football League exhibition game that is held the weekend of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's induction ceremonies. The game is played at Fawcett Stadium, which is located next door to the Hall of Fame building in Canton, Ohio...
, Macy Gray
Macy Gray
Macy Gray is a Grammy Award-winning American R&B and soul singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress, famed for her distinctive raspy voice, and a singing style heavily influenced by Billie Holiday and Betty Davis.Gray has released five studio albums, with her fifth studio album, The Sellout,...
was booed after stumbling over the words, and singing offbeat.
When performing the anthem before a game in the 2003 American League Championship Series
2003 American League Championship Series
-Game 1:Wednesday, October 8, 2003 at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New YorkBacked by three home runs, Tim Wakefield shut the Bombers down in Game 1.-Game 2:Thursday, October 9, 2003 at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York...
at Fenway Park
Fenway Park
Fenway Park is a baseball park near Kenmore Square in Boston, Massachusetts. Located at 4 Yawkey Way, it has served as the home ballpark of the Boston Red Sox baseball club since it opened in 1912, and is the oldest Major League Baseball stadium currently in use. It is one of two "classic"...
, singer Michael Bolton
Michael Bolton
Michael Bolton is an American singer and songwriter. Bolton originally performed in the hard rock and heavy metal genres from the mid 1970s to the mid 1980s, both on his early solo albums and those recorded as the frontman of the band Blackjack...
briefly forgot the lyrics and had to look at his hand, where he had apparently written them down for reference.
On April 25, 2003, during an National Basketball Association
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
game between the Portland Trail Blazers
Portland Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers, commonly known as the Blazers, are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. They play in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . The Trail Blazers originally played their home games in the...
and the Dallas Mavericks
Dallas Mavericks
The Dallas Mavericks are a professional basketball team based in Dallas, Texas. They are members of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association , and the reigning NBA champions, having defeated the Miami Heat in the 2011 NBA Finals.According to a 2011...
, Trail Blazers' coach Maurice Cheeks
Maurice Cheeks
Maurice Edward "Mo" Cheeks is a retired American professional basketball player and assistant coach for the Oklahoma City Thunder. He was the head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association from May 23, 2005 to December 13, 2008...
aided 13-year-old Natalie Gilbert in singing the National anthem. After Gilbert forgot the words at "At the twilight's last gleaming", Cheeks rushed over to help her and they finished it together, as the entire Rose Garden crowd sang with them. Cheeks and Gilbert received a standing ovation after the song was over.
Steven Tyler
Steven Tyler
Steven Tyler is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, best known as the frontman and lead singer of the Boston-based rock band Aerosmith, in which he also plays the harmonica, and occasional piano and percussion. He is known as the "Demon of Screamin'", due to his high screams...
of Aerosmith
Aerosmith
Aerosmith is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "The Bad Boys from Boston" and "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues, and has inspired many...
was invited to sing the national anthem at the 2001 Indianapolis 500
2001 Indianapolis 500
The 85th Indianapolis 500 was held at Indianapolis on Sunday, May 27, 2001. Race rookie Hélio Castroneves led the final 52 laps and won his first Indy 500.-Changes for 2001:...
. His performance, however, was widely criticised when after singing "free" he sang some kind of phrase leading into "bam-de-la-bam-bam", and also he changed the lyrics of the last line from "...the home of the brave" to "the home of the Indianapolis 500."
Robert Goulet
Robert Goulet
Robert Gerard Goulet was a Canadian American entertainer as a singer and actor. He played the role of Lancelot in the Broadway musical Camelot of 1960.-Early life:...
forgot the lyrics when invited to sing the anthem before one of Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...
's championship bouts in the 1960s. He was often chided for this, usually by people who were not aware that he was Canadian by birth.
In 2002, pop-singer Anastacia
Anastacia
Anastacia is an American singer-songwriter. Anastacia has been highly successful in Europe, Asia, South Africa and South America, but has had only minor success in her native United States...
sang the national anthem before the 2002 MLB All-Star Game
2002 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
The 2002 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 73rd playing of the midsummer classic between the all-stars of the American League and National League , the two leagues that make up Major League Baseball. The game was held on July 9, 2002 at Miller Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the home of...
In it, she sang "perilous night" instead of "perilous fight". This was the first in a long line of debacles that night after all of which the game ended in a 7-7 tie in 11 innings.
In 2006, as Aretha Franklin was singing the anthem at Super Bowl XL, with Aaron Neville
Aaron Neville
Aaron Neville is an American soul and R&B singer and musician. He has had four top-20 hits in the United States along with four platinum-certified albums...
and Dr. John
Dr. John
Malcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, Jr. , better known by the stage name Dr. John , is an American singer-songwriter, pianist and guitarist, whose music combines blues, pop, jazz as well as Zydeco, boogie woogie and rock and roll.Active as a session musician since the late 1950s, he came to wider...
, after singing "free", she said "yes".
René Marie
Rene marie
René Marie is a songwriter and jazz vocalist. She began her professional music career at age 42. In 1999, she performed at Blues Alley in Washington, D.C. and signed a contract with the St. Louis-based MAXJAZZ label...
substituted the anthem's lyrics with those of "Lift Every Voice and Sing" at a Denver civic event in 2008.
Anita Baker
Anita Baker
Anita Baker is an American R&B/soul jazz singer-songwriter. To date, Baker has won eight Grammy Awards, and has four platinum albums and two gold albums to her credit....
was criticized for her performance of the Star-Spangled Banner at Game 4 of the 2010 NBA Finals
2010 NBA Finals
The 2010 NBA Finals was the National Basketball Association championship series for the 2009–10 season. The best-of-seven playoff was contested between the Los Angeles Lakers, champions of the Western Conference and defending NBA champions, and the Boston Celtics, champions of the Eastern Conference...
.
Pop singer Christina Aguilera
Christina Aguilera
Christina María Aguilera is an American recording artist and actress. Aguilera first appeared on national television in 1990 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994...
sang the national anthem for the Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...
and the Green Bay Packers
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...
, the two teams for Super Bowl XLV
Super Bowl XLV
Super Bowl XLV was an American football game between the American Football Conference champion Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference champion Green Bay Packers to decide the National Football League champion for the 2010 season. The game was held at Cowboys Stadium in...
, and changed the lyrics from "what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming" to "what so proudly we watched at the twilight's last gleaming" and omitted the lines "Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight," and "O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?" while she sang the anthem at the Super Bowl.
At the December 5, 2010 NFL game with the Denver Broncos
Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver, Colorado. They are currently members of the West Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
traveling to the Kansas City Chiefs
Kansas City Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. They are a member of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Originally named the Dallas Texans, the club was founded by Lamar Hunt in 1960 as a...
, the Zac Brown Band
Zac Brown Band
Zac Brown Band is an American country music, southern rock, and folk band based in Atlanta, Georgia. The lineup consists of Zac Brown , Jimmy De Martini , John Driskell Hopkins , Coy Bowles , Chris Fryar and Clay Cook...
sung the national anthem. After messing up the lyrics on the 2nd line of the song, they were met with boos. They started over and sang the lyrics correctly.
Whitney Houston version (Super Bowl XXV)
"The Star Spangled Banner" became a charity single recorded by PopPop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
/R&B singer Whitney Houston
Whitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston is an American singer, actress, producer and a former model. Houston is the most awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness World Records, and her list of awards include 1 Emmy Award, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among...
and produced by music director Rickey Minor
Rickey Minor
Rickey Minor is a music director, composer and music producer, now best known as musical director and bandleader for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno after Kevin Eubanks left. Minor was born in Monroe, Louisiana to parents Cole and Goldie Minor and was raised in South Central Los Angeles, CA...
, along with Houston herself, to raise funds for soldiers and families of those involved in the Persian Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
. Houston performed "The Star Spangled Banner" at Super Bowl XXV
Super Bowl XXV
Super Bowl XXV was an American football game played on January 27, 1991 at Tampa Stadium in Tampa, Florida to decide the National Football League champion following the 1990 regular season. The National Football Conference Champion New York Giants defeated the American Football Conference ...
in 1991. The recording of her live performance was released as a single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
in the U.S. on February 12, 1991 and as the Gulf War was drawing to a close, and it peaked at number twenty on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
. Its B-side was "America the Beautiful
America the Beautiful
"America the Beautiful" is an American patriotic song. The lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates and the music composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward....
". The single's video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
comprises footage from the recording of Houston's performance at the Super Bowl in 1991.
The song would not be released elsewhere until it appeared on Whitney: The Greatest Hits
Whitney: The Greatest Hits
-International edition:-Whitney: The Unreleased Mixes:Whitney: The Unreleased Mixes is a limited-edition four-record vinyl set, containing eight full club versions of selected remixes found on the American release...
in 2000.
After the September 11 attacks in 2001, Arista Records
Arista Records
Arista was an American record label. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment and operated under the RCA Music Group. The label was founded in 1974 by Clive Davis, who formerly worked for CBS Records...
arranged a re-release of Houston's version of "The Star Spangled Banner" (again with "America the Beautiful" as the B-side), with all profits going towards the firefighters and victims of the attacks. It peaked at number six on the Hot 100 and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
.
The two single releases of Houston's version are the only times the anthem has ever appeared on the Top 40 of Billboard's Hot 100 pop singles chart. José Feliciano's 1968 rendition was released as a single after his performance, peaking at #50 on the Billboard Hot 100 late in 1968.
Certifications
| Countryhey babe its jennifer i love yuhh ♥ | Certification | Sales/Shipment |
|---|---|---|
| United States | Platinum | 1,000,000 |