Our national anthem - rarely sung, only performed

An interesting take on the singing of the national anthem from the folks at Powerline:

These days, it seems, our Anthem is rarely sung without the trilling of every third note and doubling of the total syllable count. The singing of The Stars Spangled Banner has become a performance (but rarely a good one) rather than a tribute to the country. To understand what such a tribute would sound like, one must think back to the rousing renditions of "God Bless America" that were belted out at sporting events following 9/11. Or, for some of us, to the version of the Stars Spangled Banner by Robert Merrill that they used to play at Yankee Stadium.

I hadn't reflected for years about the de-anthemization of our Anthem until last week when I watched the broadcast of the match between our national soccer team and England's at Wembley Stadium. Before every international soccer match, the anthems of the competing countries are played or performed. The players line up in the center of field and, in most cases, sing along loudly. Whether the singing helps jack them up or merely serves as a release of nervous energy is unclear. But there's no doubt that it pumps up the crowd and contributes to the unique atmosphere of these events.

Since the U.S. was the visiting team, our Anthem was performed first, in the now-usual fashion. Given all of the self-indulgent, individualized riffs, the players couldn't possibly sing along. Instead, they shuffled aimlessly waiting for the performance to end. Then came the English song--God Save The Queen. Here is a song that even Jose Feliciano (who first made his name deconstructing an anthem of a different sort, Light My Fire) would be hard-pressed to stylize. To my knowledge it is always sung the same way--stirring. In this instance, it certainly was. As English captain John Terry and the rest of the cast belted out the number, I felt slightly embarrassed.

The rest of the story is here.