A wonderful rendition Gary.

The thing is if you want the song sung in a particular way then tell the singer or choose a singer who will sing bit that way . Then every body will be happy ... Except the folks that like to hear the national anthem jazzed up a bit. Who might be a significant number judging by the trend.

Curious, Spalding, but does the UK anthem get bent around? When I lived there I only ever heard it in its traditional form.

In short yes if sung and even sometimes instrumentals

I honestly doubt that ANYONE today (wounded vet or serviceman or operatic singer) would sing our National Anthem in the style that it was originally performed in. You only have to listen to turn of the century recordings of singers (both popular and classical) to realize just how MUCH has changed in a century!

Now take this back to how people spoke and sung in the 18th century, and you realize how much more different their vocal stylings would have been to even THAT.

Fossilizing how the National Anthem is performed to how YOU remember it from your youth is egotism, no more, no less. It has always been a work in progress, and expecting the world to stop just for YOUR sensibilities makes a mockery of the whole process. If you REALLY respect how the anthem should be sung, perform it exactly as it was originally, or give up on criticizing how it is evolving. YOUR version of it is no less of a departure from the original's than today's singers.

Let us also not forget that the original melody for our hallowed anthem was stolen (sampled!) from a bawdy drinking song, and only the words changed. Sounds pretty much like contemporary music if ever I heard it!