Oversinging & Murdering the National Anthem

By Rod Dreher • July 29, 2012, 1:46 PM

Peter K. sends in this stick-a-hatpin-in-your-ears example of national-anthem butchery, this time at the hands of an 11 year old girl who held an entire Dallas soccer stadium hostage as she slowly tortured “The Star-Spangled Banner” to death.

It’s not that the kid can’t carry a tune. I checked out some of her other performances online. She can sing. It’s that in the national anthem performance, she engaged in oversinging — that trashy-baroque, show-offy style that has become so popular. I hate that stuff, with its hyper-emoting egotism. It’s everywhere. Somebody needs to stop this poor kid before she damages her vocal cords and her reputation.

Posted in Art & Architecture, Hathos. Tagged Harper Gruzins, national anthem, oversinging.

37 Responses to Oversinging & Murdering the National Anthem

Dan Davis says:

July 29, 2012 at 2:22 pm

I couldn’t bring myself to click on the link. As a retired Navy musician, I can’t stand what is done to the national anthem all the time at sports events. It’s not a pop song, and it’s not soul or gospel either. It should be performed “straight”. As an opponent of the American Empire and of military-worship in general, I wonder why it should be featured at sporting events at all, but that’s another subject.
Fran MacAdam says:

July 29, 2012 at 2:41 pm

It’s of a piece with what “patriotism” and our “exceptionalism” has also become.
Peterk says:

July 29, 2012 at 3:24 pm

some have said it is not nearly as bad as the renditions performed by Roseanne Barr’s or Carl Lewis’, but I’ll let you decide

Rosanne Barr’s rendition
http://youtu.be/ls1YVhcLD2c

Carl Lewis’ rendition
http://youtu.be/3kU9XwcOIfI

you were warned!
Gus says:

July 29, 2012 at 3:52 pm

Blame American Idol for making oversinging a national obsession.
Tyro says:

July 29, 2012 at 4:58 pm

Outside of the fact that the singer simply isn’t that good, much of the blame for the over-singing we see in situations like this lies with the National Anthem itself. It simply lends itself to the temptations of over-singing.
Michelle M says:

July 29, 2012 at 5:11 pm

Have you never seen the Maya Rudolph skit about this on SNL? Nails it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIaMtyJroVw

and of course, classic Rick Moranis:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ye7s4ybA7h4
AnotherBeliever says:

July 29, 2012 at 5:32 pm

To be fair, it ain’t the easiest song to be sung. However, the singing still should not be SO bad that listening to it while maintaining a straight face and respectful posture should be rendered nearly impossible. It’s all I ask…
Beth says:

July 29, 2012 at 5:34 pm

That little girl in the clip is fairly off key. She needs to go back to her voice coach, and stay away from sining anything like this.
Bob Dob says:

July 29, 2012 at 5:51 pm

Oh Lord, couldn’t get past the opening. It started out as singing as an athletic event, the exercise of the vocal cords. I’ll take your word that it continued like that for 3 minutes. Where were the poor girls parents and the stadium staff?

This is an extreme, but it has been a trend for ages now, at least 20 years. I’ve always blamed Mariah Carey and her look-at-my-range oversinging, but like all abd things the roots are probably deeper than that.

I wonder when people will get comfortable with beauty in singing again? It’s like singers are afraid of just showcasing a beautiful voice. It’s not like evolution went in reverse after Jo Stafford and there are no beautiful voices being produced anymore. People can still sing like that, and they can do it with contemporary instrumentation and song forms, too, so why not? You either have to have an edge in your voice or do vocal gymnastics nowadays, and it’s getting old.
CD File says:

July 29, 2012 at 6:23 pm

Complete agreement with both Tyro and Gus. I would love to see the song replaced. what’s wrong with “America the beautiful”by Katherine Lee Bates or “God bless the USA”by Lee Greenwood?
johan says:

July 29, 2012 at 6:48 pm

Yes, it is bad what people do with this song. Everyone thinks they are a diva or a soul-man or something. I simply mute the TV. Best version I’ve heard recently was at a SF Giants game: a brass band, and no singer!
Darwin's S-list says:

July 29, 2012 at 7:02 pm

In terms of technique, what a lot of what she’s doing is melisma: singing one syllable across several notes rather than one syllable per note. When contemporary singers do this, they tend to use a lot of blues-scale notes to fill out the syllable. This is for two reasons. First, most contemporary listeners equate it with some kind of soulful authenticity. Second, using the blues scale lets you make use of lots of descending minor thirds, which is the easiest interval to sing (pretty much everyone can nail it: the kids’ taunt “NA-na-na na-NA-na” has two). After being exposed to enough of it, I just write it off as a crutch for hacks.

The poor girl ought to spend a couple of years listening to Ella Fitzgerald and Patsy Cline. Both sang “straight” but managed to use compelling phrasing – small accents, syncopation, changes in mood.
Dave Dutcher says:

July 29, 2012 at 8:28 pm

Why should an 11 year old girl even be up in front of a crowd singing like that? Yeah, there are prodigies in any field, but a lot of people even with talent can spend most of their adult lives learning and expressing it. Why the rush to push this on someone who isn’t even in junior high?

It’s weird you blame her for oversinging when you really should blame the parents for forcing her into the spotlight or her teachers for aiming way to high for her age.
Siarlys Jenkins says:

July 29, 2012 at 9:06 pm

Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” is an anthem for the exceptionalism faction. Sort of, “America uber Alles.” Now “America the Beautiful” stretches the truth a bit, but what anthem doesn’t? It’s a grand vision anyone could identify with, and a national anthem should be stirring and uncontroversial at the same time, as that song is. Those who insist that our national anthem should be an apology in ten verses won’t like it, but they could never agree on any national anthem.

I admit I’m partial to Leadbelly’s “Bourgeois Blues,” but, that too is the anthem of a faction, albeit one I sympathize with. “My County Tizathy” wouldn’t be bad either (any old sci-fi fans out there?), but “America the Beautiful” is more secular.
Nate says:

July 29, 2012 at 9:25 pm

“…that trashy-baroque, show-offy style that has become so popular.”
Yeah, I see your point. The National Anthem can be done very badly when people try to do it up and stretch it out too much (thanks Michelle M for linking to Maya Rudolph’s EPIC parody of this trend). I’m not entirely sure, though, that it needs to be sung totally ‘straight’ to be done well or right. I’m thinking of Brian McKnight from the 2005 All Star game as my example here. A bit stylized, but still pretty much awesome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFbh_rUi8QE
I dig his way of doing it, though I reckon reasonable people can disagree.
Deggjr says:

July 29, 2012 at 9:26 pm

Hey look, it’s Enrico Palazzo!
Beyng says:

July 29, 2012 at 9:36 pm

What about “Dixie”?
Charles Cosimano says:

July 29, 2012 at 9:48 pm

The national anthem was never meant to be sung sober. Give her a few years and a half of a bottle of vodka and she’ll manage it.
TWylite says:

July 29, 2012 at 10:15 pm

I think it started with Whitney Houston’s version in the 1991 Super Bowl, right in the middle of the first Gulf War, if memory serves. It launched the school of “why sing 2 notes when you can sing 20 in the same space” vocal chord gymnastic showboating, perfected by Mariah Carey. Of course, the same disease affects instrumental musicians the world over, too. Entire genres of jazz and heavy metal are based on the premise that more notes per second equals higher quality.
Douglas Bilodeau says:

July 29, 2012 at 11:34 pm

Re Tyro’s comment: “Outside of the fact that the singer simply isn’t that good, much of the blame for the over-singing we see in situations like this lies with the National Anthem itself. It simply lends itself to the temptations of over-singing.”

This is true. The tune comes from an 18th century British drinking song, “The Sons of Anacreon” (or various other titles), i.e. literally trashy-baroque, in Rod’s phrase. It’s a lot more melodious in the baroque style, you could even dance to a version I once heard done. There’s a passable performance on Youtube – add /watch?v=ydAIdVKv84g to the basic url.

The taste for elaborate ornamentation varies over time and cultures. Coloratura soprano Bel canto was all about over-singing to impress opera fans. Over the past several decades, US pop culture has come into contact with other highly ornamental traditions, notably Middle Eastern singing (example – Sting’s ‘Desert Rose’, a duet with Algerian Rai singer Cheb Mami; also Israeli Yemenite singing) and the Irish Gaelic a capella tradition. As an example of the latter, picked at random, search for “Celia Ní Fhártharta Corn Uí Riada 1999” on Youtube. Ignore the first dozen or so seconds of intro music.

I love all these ornamental styles: Bel canto, Middle Eastern and Irish. (And there are many others I’m less familiar with.) But since they are traditions, or pop elaborations of traditions, the performers learn some sense of what’s pleasing and what’s just annoying.
Naturalmom says:

July 30, 2012 at 12:18 am

I’m with Dave Dutcher. A child should never be put in front of a crowd to sing this song. Very accomplished adult singers have fumbled it. It’s cruel to put an 11 year old in this position, regardless of her singing style. Cruel to her, and cruel to the crowd! I haven’t watched the clip though. As the mother of a just-turned-12 year old girl I don’t care to gawk at the public humiliation of someone else’s baby.

I wouldn’t mind seeing America the Beautiful made the standard sports song if we must have one at all.
David J. White says:

July 30, 2012 at 3:33 am

What bothers me about all of this is the fact that the national anthem at sporting events has become a spectator event in the first place. If it’s the national anthem, why not have the people sing it? When my father took me to Cleveland Indians games when I was little, they never had a soloist or featured group singing the national anthem; the stadium organist played it and the crowd sang it. So what if it wasn’t perfect? We have few enough civic liturgies in this country. The national anthem should be sung by the people. It shouldn’t be used as yet another occasion to feed individual egos. And yes, I know it can be hard to sing. So what? Perfection isn’t the point.
Floridan says:

July 30, 2012 at 9:09 am

I’d replace the “Star Spangled Banner” with “This Land is Your Land.”
Siarlys Jenkins says:

July 30, 2012 at 11:13 am

As Woodie Guthrie wrote it, the song was “This Land AIN’T your land, This land ain’t my land, until we take a stand, and take back our land.” Popular Front and all that. You really want to open up all that?

“Dixie” has about as much place as our national anthem as “Home on the Range.” To begin, most states don’t grow cotton.
Uncle Vanya says:

July 30, 2012 at 11:28 am

At my nephew’s HS graduation we were forced to stand at rapt attention listening to one of his classmates hyper-emote The National Anthem.

Granted, it is not the easiest song to sing, but everyone has become so tired of interminable variations by Maddonna-wanna-bes that they will welcome someone who sings it with simplicty, without adornment. And, sometimes simplicity is best. Simple and lovely tunes like “Adoro te devote” or “Salve Regina” can’t be improved by adornment.

Maybe, in future, we can let our national anthem speak for itself instead of being butchered by a singer hammying it up.
Maxine says:

July 30, 2012 at 11:29 am

Totally agree with David J. White. No soloists, no spectacle. The people should sing it. Done.

That said, I do like Marvin Gaye’s performance at the 1983 NBA All Star game.
Uncle Vanya says:

July 30, 2012 at 11:34 am

Please, never sing “God Bless the USA.” It has all the class and nuance of Sunday service at the mega-church with Pastor Silas Dogwood in his polyester suit waving his bible and telling everyone that Jesus loves a cheerful giver, so “Give! Give! Give!,” followed, afterward, by a trip to the Piggly-Wiggly where they’re having a sale on breakfast, burritos, 12 burritos/pack, 3 packs for just 5$, while supplies last.
Roland de Chanson says:

July 30, 2012 at 12:34 pm

I think the USA should use My Country T’is of Thee as its national anthem.

Oh wait….

Still, on second thought, if Congress changed it right away, Britain would at least get to hear their song more than once.
Roland de Chanson says:

July 30, 2012 at 12:37 pm

oops – hit “send” to quickly.

…. hear their song more than once at the Olympics.
TWylite says:

July 30, 2012 at 12:39 pm

Uncle Vanya, you forgot to mention the special on personal sweet tea mini-kegs to wash down those burritos.
Floridan says:

July 30, 2012 at 1:29 pm

Siarlys: “As Woodie Guthrie wrote it, the song was “This Land AIN’T your land, This land ain’t my land, until we take a stand, and take back our land.” Popular Front and all that. You really want to open up all that?”

You really need to check your information before going public — the original lyrics to the song began “This land is your land . . . ” and although like many folk songs various artists changed the wording from time to time, the song never began as you claimed.

As for the “Popular Front,” your chronology is off. The Popular Front was over before Gutherie wrote the song and long gone before it was recoded and released.

Interestingly, Lee Greenwood covered the song on his album “American Patriot.”
Ethan C. says:

July 30, 2012 at 2:12 pm

Yes, the original lyrics to “This Land is Your Land” are the same as the ones we sing today.

Now there is an additional verse about a sign that says “no trespassing” or “private property”, depending on the version, and that verse doesn’t get sung much anymore.

But given the present state of American copyright laws and the public domain, maybe we ought to pay a little more attention to that verse.
David J. White says:

July 30, 2012 at 7:43 pm

A friend of mine who lives in New York attended the gala premiere of the Disney movie “Pocahontas” in Central Park years ago. She told me that as part of the festivities, the attending crowd was led in a sing-along. One of the songs? “This Land is Your Land”. As my friend commented when telling me this story, that is wrong on so many levels. Not only is “This Land is Your Land” obviously a bad choice for a movie talking about first contact between Europeans and American Indians; but in addition, Woodie Guthrie’s point was that that “This Land is Your Land” — i.e., it belongs (or should) to you, to me, to all of us, private individuals, and not to big corporations like Disney.
David J. White says:

July 30, 2012 at 7:46 pm

PS — I remember an evening in graduate school spend with a group of other graduate students having a sing-along. We started singing “This Land is Your Land”, and suddenly realized that one of the other students was singing different lyrics. She was Canadian, and in school she had learned a version that had been rewritten for Canadians with lyrics referring to Canada. She also knew a version of “Erie Canal”, except it was about the Welland Canal.
JonF says:

July 31, 2012 at 7:27 am

Supposedly there’s a forgotten (or at least never sung) racist third verse to the Star Spangled Banner which Key penned because he was mightily peeved that his slaves ran off with the invading Brits.
Of course there’s verses to Germany’s National Anthem (Deutschland Über Alles) that it’s illegal to sing in Germany– the ones talking about Germany conquering everyone which, though predating the Nazis, was their favorite part of the song
Siarlys Jenkins says:

July 31, 2012 at 1:07 pm

Floridan, perhaps you are also unaware that Guthrie sang this verse:

As I was walking that ribbon of highway,
I saw a sign that, said Private Property,
And on the other side, it didn’t say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.

Guthrie worked and reworked his music many times, and what he sang in the 1930s was very different from what commercial producers published in the 1950s and 1960s.

Life didn’t begin after World War II, although from the way certain folk songs were sanitized, you might think it did.
AnotherBeliever says:

July 31, 2012 at 10:13 pm

I like the national anthem as it is, aside from the very difficult tune. The lyrics speak of the moment after a long dark when daybreak finally reveals that it was a very hard-won fight, but won none-the-less. It was not without sacrifice. Those rockets were not fireworks. When we salute the flag, we remember those who came before us, many giving up their lives, and also those who stand beside us today. We are one nation.