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Quantifying the diva-ness of national anthem performances

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Re: Quantifying the diva-ness of national anthem performances

#11

Post by charcircuit »

dctoedt wrote: post #4

Relevant Reddit thread: "Why can't singers perform the national anthem without changing the melody? It's not just what happened on Sunday night football, it's literally every time someone performs the (American) national anthem. They go off and add their own notes and change the anthem to make it their own personal showcase. Just sing the damn song the way we all learned it." https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/commen…

I've noticed this happens with covers of other songs too and it angers me to no extent when they deviate from the original beyond changing the octave and such.

Re: Quantifying the diva-ness of national anthem performances

#12

Post by steve_adams_86 »

nostromo wrote: post #8

I'm glad Fergie is still being mercilessly mocked [1] -- because since that went viral I think people have toned the diva-ness way down. It's a good thing because a lot of people sing along in the stands if given the opportunity -- which is largely impossible with most of these big ego diva renditions. 1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DkDrZa0F4c

Wow, that was weird. Totally weird.

Far better than I could do, without a doubt.

Re: Quantifying the diva-ness of national anthem performances

#13

Post by Detrytus »

The weird thing is that they even hire all those singers to perform. The way it's done in my country is that there's an orchestra that plays the melody, and the people in the audience are expected to sing, which they always do :) But maybe that's because our national anthem is much better suited to be sung by a crowd than the American one?

Re: Quantifying the diva-ness of national anthem performances

#14

Post by dylan604 »

Trevor Noah has a bit about how 'muricans are the only ones that sing the national anthem all the damn time. He adds how it's also the only anthem where it is sung differently each time depending on the performer.

Personally, I have always felt very strange in the entire concept of having to sing this at various events or in school as well as the pledging of allegiance. It just feels very cultish or something you'd expect a dictatorship to make its citizens do. Like when we are shown videos of the North Koreans lined up praising the dear leader, the videos of US school kids doing their version of it just rubs me the wrong way

Re: Quantifying the diva-ness of national anthem performances

#16

Post by munchler »

charcircuit wrote: post #11
dctoedt wrote: post #4

Relevant Reddit thread: "Why can't singers perform the national anthem without changing the melody? It's not just what happened on Sunday night football, it's literally every time someone performs the (American) national anthem. They go off and add their own notes and change the anthem to make it their own personal showcase. Just sing the damn song the way we all learned it." https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/commen…

I've noticed this happens with covers of other songs too and it angers me to no extent when they deviate from the original beyond changing the octave and such.

Gotta disagree with you there. The whole point of a good cover is to put your own spin on the song. If it's just a note-for-note redo of the original, why bother? The best covers end up "owning" the song, and the original is sometimes forgotten. Do you think Johnny Cashs's version of "Hurt" would've been better if he tried to sound like Nine Inch Nails?

Re: Quantifying the diva-ness of national anthem performances

#17

Post by rl3 »

mynameishere wrote: post #9

I found the website a little inscrutable but I think "Bleeding Gums" has it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny2azUt5d3Y ...apparently the session singer nailed it in one take.

Voiced by Daryl L. Coley if anyone's curious.[0]

Bleeding Gums Murphy was ultimately portrayed by three voice actors across the character's arc.

[0] https://simpsons.fandom.com/wiki/Daryl_L._Coley

Re: Quantifying the diva-ness of national anthem performances

#18

Post by anigbrowl »

munchler wrote: post #16
charcircuit wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've noticed this happens with covers of other songs too and it angers me to no extent when they deviate from the original beyond changing the octave and such.

Gotta disagree with you there. The whole point of a good cover is to put your own spin on the song. If it's just a note-for-note redo of the original, why bother? The best covers end up "owning" the song, and the original is sometimes forgotten. Do you think Johnny Cashs's version of "Hurt" would've been better if he tried to sound like Nine Inch Nails?

You can make a song your own without trying to rewrite the whole melody. A particularly dramatic example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5Cp55MvX54

Re: Quantifying the diva-ness of national anthem performances

#19

Post by cafard »

Detrytus wrote: post #13

The weird thing is that they even hire all those singers to perform. The way it's done in my country is that there's an orchestra that plays the melody, and the people in the audience are expected to sing, which they always do :) But maybe that's because our national anthem is much better suited to be sung by a crowd than the American one?

The Star Spangled Banner is a strain for most of the population.

Re: Quantifying the diva-ness of national anthem performances

#20

Post by andy99 »

dctoedt wrote: post #4

Relevant Reddit thread: "Why can't singers perform the national anthem without changing the melody? It's not just what happened on Sunday night football, it's literally every time someone performs the (American) national anthem. They go off and add their own notes and change the anthem to make it their own personal showcase. Just sing the damn song the way we all learned it." https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/commen…

As a sort of counterpoint, Jimmy Hendrix's version of the national anthem was incredibly popular and influential. The issue is it's easy to try to do some over-the-top thing with the anthem, it's just very hard to do it well so most efforts flop.
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