"Meatloaf" sang it too, at a baseball All Stars game - and KNOCKED it out! He really did a great job. The Star Spangled Banner is ONE song that I really hate to "customize". I'm not really sure if it's a patriotizm issue, or not but I think it should be done straight, and ONLY straight.
It's difficult to sing, but it's inspiring to hear, and in these days of madnes and trouble - I welcome it with great pleasure.

The best vocal performances of the Star-Spangled Banner I have ever heard are done by high-quality Barbershop quartets. Until you have heard one of them do it, you don’t know what you’re missing! (DonM: I personally, along with about a dozen other River Cities Jubilee Barbershop Chorus members, will be performing it at the March 16 Mudbugs hockey game in the Bossier Arena, so reserve your tickets now! :-) )
Actually, IMHO, part of the problem is with the nature of the Anthem itself. Awhile back there was a movement to replace “The Star-Spangled Banner” with “America, the Beautiful” as our National Anthem (“The Star-Spangled Banner” would remain as a well-known patriotic song, just as “America, the Bautiful” is now). I must say I fully agree with that movement, and wish it would be done, for several reasons:

1. A National Anthem should be something that could be sung well by an average citizen. “The Star-Spangled Banner” does not qualify, due to its very wide pitch range (1½ octaves in the normal melody, two octaves when soloists try to get fancy-shmancy). “America, the Beautiful” does (only 1¼ octaves). The meter of “The Star-Spangled Banner” is also irregular, and its rhythm confusing, and its harmonic structure violates several accepted rules of harmonic progressions. Compare with “America the Beautiful,” which has CMD (Common Meter Doubled: 8686 8686) meter, and a harmonic structure which follows the usual rules, including resolutions from II7 or IIm7 chords back to the Tonic (I) down the Circle of Fifths. As for rhythm, we need not go past the very first note: “Oh—…” has to be stretched to cover two notes, while the very next time that melodic sequence occurs, it’s two syllables (words, actually): “Whose broad.…” This sort of thing is indicative of the greater underlying problem with our current Anthem, namely, that Francis Scott Key did not set out to write a song, but a poem. It was never meant to be set to music. To make matters worse, the music it is set to is the tune to an old English pub song. Sure, over the years we’ve gotten used to it being re-arranged into a martial maestoso-style National Anthem music with dramatic chord sequences, etc., but that doesn’t change the fact that underneath all the shiny chrome plating, it’s still an old drinking tune!
2. A National Anthem should say something about the nation itself, not just a flag or a particular battle in a centuries-old war. Moreover, it should not insult a nation who was our enemy at that time but is an ally today, especially in these times when we need all the allies we can get. Have you ever read the third verse of “The Star-Spangled Banner” (note that most sheet music and hymnal versions omit the original third verse and renumber the fourth verse as verse #3)? The original third verse is very strongly anti-British, almost to the point of Anglophobia! Compare that with the third verse of “America, the Beautiful,” which could just as easily apply to the FDNY and NYPD and especially Flight 93 heroes of September 11, 2001, as to the Revolutionary War heroes: “Oh, beau-ti-ful, for he-roes proved / In lib-er-a-ting strife. / Who, more than self, their coun-try loved, / And mer-cy more than life!” And, of course, the whole song is very systematically about America as a whole.

[This message has been edited by COMALite J (edited 02-11-2002).]

I disagree. It's an IDENTITY. I wouldn't change a note, and I still get chills when I hear the first drum roll. Regardless of how it came about - it's our national signature, and I'm proud to sing it. It has NO relation to drinking to me, they just adapted the melody and NOT the words. As for the latter verses - not many (including ME) ever even hear them. The first verse is the only part I ever do.
I take pride in having the extra "umpfh" to belt the song out. There is no reason to expect that everyone can sing at all. It's a tough song, but it has a special place in my heart, and no "theory lesson" or comparrison to other songs will change that.
1 vote to keep it "as is" !

Quote: 1 vote to keep it "as is" !
-----------------------------------

I agree, no National Anthems should be changed
from the way the composers did it, and that's
the way we have learned the songs from the
beginning.
It's a national "sacred thing", and I guess every
person love and have strong feelings regarded to
both the National Anthems and country, not to forget
about the Flag.
GJ

I have to agree with UD here. The fact that the music was adapted from an old pub song should have no relevance. My family is third generation Salvation Army (needless to say I am the black sheep of the family!) but many of the hymns sung there are all based on old pub and music hall tunes. I think it was the founder William Booth who said " Why should the devil have all the best tunes?"
I know I am English and so it really has nothing to do with me but when I hear your national anthem it makes even me bristle with pride!

So what if the third verse is anti British? We Brits have not always been quite as fairhanded as we like to think ourselves today. There was an old saying that went....The sun never sets on the British Empire. A wit once retorted ...No and that is because God does not trust the English in the dark.
ttfn
Tony (proud to be an English black sheep)

Though I personally feel 'America the Beautiful' best captures the beauty and diversity of our great Country, I honor & respect the tradition the 'Star Spangled Banner' represents as well. The Star Spangled Banner has become the hallmark of our American culture. I just can't imagine attending a baseball or football game without it. Here's what I usually do for my shows: I perform BOTH songs back to back.