Performances and adaptations of The Star-Spangled Banner

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.

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 resulting sound is somewhat unique. 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. His Latinized 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".)

During their 1977 tour of America, Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page would play the Star-Spangled Banner during his guitar solo.

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.

Sandi Patty (then known as Sandi Patti) reached national acclaim after her rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" was included during the ABC Statue of Liberty rededication broadcast on July 4, 1986.

The 1990 Yale Whiffenpoofs, invited to sing the national anthem during the first game of the 1989 World Series (before the Bay Area series was interrupted by the Loma Prieta earthquake), because of the recent death of Commissioner of Baseball, and former Yale President, Bart Giamatti, intermixed the Star-Spangled Banner with America the Beautiful. They were initially booed, but won the crowd over to rousing applause by the end of their nationally televised performance.

Thrash/Power Metal band Iced Earth have also covered the song as the first track of their 2004 album The Glorious Burden and as the introduction to the song "The Devil To Pay", off the same album.

The song was also recorded by Béla Fleck and the Flecktones on their 1991 album "Flight of the Cosmic Hippo".

Thrash Metal band Exodus recorded an anti-America song called "Scar Spangled Banner". It can be found on the album Tempo of the Damned.

Sufjan Stevens has covered the song, re-arranging the melody and adding in a new verse [http://brendoman.com/kyle/2006/08/09/the_star_spangled_banner] .

Roseanne Barr was once asked to sing it at a San Diego Padres baseball game. 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. She has not been asked to sing again at a baseball game since. [http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/WolfFiles/story?id=1941484 "Oh Say, Can't You Sing: Celebs Who Tortured the National Anthem: From Rosanne to Jimi Hendrix, 'The Star Spangled Banner' Sometimes Gets Mangled"] , Buck Wolf, ABC News, May 2, 2006.]

Steven Tyler of Aerosmith was invited to sing the national anthem at the 2001 Indianapolis 500. His performance, however, was widely criticised when he changed the lyrics of the last line from "...the home of the brave" to "the home of the Indianapolis 500." Two years later he was brought back to sing the song on opening day for the Boston Red Sox, and avoided scrutiny when he performed it correctly.

In 1993, 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.

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.

Blues Traveler lead singer John Popper and Motown legend Stevie Wonder played the national anthem on their harmonicas. Popper's rendition came in Game 4 of the 1996 World Series, and Wonder's rendition came in Game 3 of the 2005 NBA Finals

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.

Lucy Lawless sang the national anthem prior to a 1997 Anaheim Mighty Ducks Stanley Cup playoff game. Near the end of her performance, as she raised her hands up in the air, a strap of her red bodysuit fell off her shoulder, exposing her left breast to the crowd, which cheered wildly. Incidentially, the game aired on television stations in Detroit (the Detroit Red Wings were the Ducks' opponents) and Los Angeles that did not run .

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 "The National Emblem".

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.

Jesse McGuire's famous for his execution of the Star Spangled Banner, which he has performed for three U.S. presidents, and at several major sporting events, most notably the 2000 Daytona 500 and the 2001 World Series. He was lead trumpet for the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra of New York City and for the band Tower of Power.

Composer John Williams wrote two new arrangements; one for the Rose Bowl and one for a Red Sox playoff game at Fenway Park.

Whitney Houston version (Super Bowl XXV)

"The Star Spangled Banner" became a charity single recorded by R&B singer Whitney Houston and produced by Narada Michael Walden 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 "" in 2000.

After the September 11, 2001 attacks, 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 RIAA.

The two single releases of Houston's version are the only times the anthem has ever appeared on the Hot 100.

Other Super Bowl performances

Outside the United States

Outside the United States, "The Star-Spangled Banner" has been performed quite often in Canada. Before sporting events involving American teams, "The Star-Spangled Banner" is performed first, to respect the visiting team, then "O Canada," the Canadian national anthem. [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_qzFE_40t4 Rangers @ Leafs - Nov 10/07 - Anthem] ]

In the United States, if the sporting event involves a Canadian team, the Canadian national anthem is performed first, then the American. [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY7wwtcqg6M Doug Allen sings "O Canada" and "The Star-Spangled Banner"] ]

References