Discover Yahoo! With Your Friends

Explore news, videos, and much more based on what your friends are reading and watching. Publish your own activity and retain full control.

To get started, first

YOUR FRIENDS' ACTIVITY

    Christina Aguilera Joins Hillary Clinton on List of National Anthem Butchers -- And so What?

    By Carol Bengle Gilbert | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Mon, Feb 7, 2011
    This story comes from the Yahoo! Contributor Network, where individuals publish their unique perspectives on some of the world’s most popular websites.
    Do you have a story to tell? Become a Yahoo! contributor

    Christina Aguilera apologized Monday for singing an inane phrase during her performance of the national anthem on the Super Bowl. Instead of singing the correct words, "O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming," Aguilera sang, "What so proudly we watched at the twilight's last reaming."

    As reported on MTV's website, Aguilera issued a statement saying, "I can only hope that everyone could feel my love for this country and that the true spirit of its anthem still came through."

    Aguilera, 30, is no stranger to performing the national anthem, and her gaffe Sunday appears to be one of those momentary lapses when words fail. Aguilera has apparently been performing the national anthem publicly since the age of 7, so there's little doubt she knows the words.

    In New Jersey, Super Bowl fans were especially harsh on Aguilera. Comments on Newjersey.com ranged from calling Aguilera offensive names and criticizing her appearance to chastising her sound overall. One critic did acknowledge that it's not unusual for performers to occasionally blank on lyrics, even their own. Muzixndmd noted that both Bruce Springsteen and Bono have momentarily blanked when singing their own songs in concert.

    Aguilera isn't the first performer to publicly flub the Star Spangled Banner's lines. Time Magazine published 10 worst renditions of the national anthem, including an incident in which Michael Bolton stopped mid-song when performing at a MLB playoff to consult his notes before pronouncing the very line that ensnared Aguilera.

    But the flubs go beyond performers. Anyone who would criticize Aguilera's patriotism for confusing the words of the Star Spangled Banner ought to note that the U.S. Secretary of State and former First Lady even got the words to the national anthem wrong. In this Youtube video, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sang, " Oh say does our star-spangled banner yet wave..." instead of "Oh say does that star-spangled banner yet wave."

    When the former First Lady (she wasn't yet Secretary of State at the time) botched the national anthem, most commenters harped on her singing voice, with little attention paid to the incorrect lyrics.

    Maybe our national anthem is one of those songs that's prone to be flubbed. Or perhaps I'm unusually sympathetic, having gone to a college whose fight song contained the line "to our earthy wisdom's fane."

     

    There are no comments yet

    [ [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 2]], 'http://yhoo.it/KeQd0p', '[Slideshow: See photos taken on the way down]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 7]], ' http://yhoo.it/KpUoHO', '[Slideshow: Death-defying daredevils]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['know that we have confidence in', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/LqYjAX ', '[Related: The Secret Service guide to Cartagena]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['We picked up this other dog and', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JUSxvi', '[Related: 8 common dog fears, how to calm them]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 5]], 'http://bit.ly/JnoJYN', '[Related: Did WH share raid details with filmmakers?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 3]], 'http://bit.ly/KoKiqJ', '[Factbox: AQAP, al-Qaeda in Yemen]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have my contacts on or glasses', 3]], 'http://abcn.ws/KTE5AZ', '[Related: Should the murder charge be dropped?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JD7nlD', '[Related: Bristol Palin reality show debuts June 19]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 1]], 'http://bit.ly/JRPFRO', '[Related: McCain adviser who vetted Palin weighs in on VP race]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['A JetBlue flight from New York to Las Vegas', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/GV9zpj', '[Related: View photos of the JetBlue plane in Amarillo]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 15]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/white-house-stays-out-of-teen-s-killing-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120411/martinzimmermen.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['Titanic', 7]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/titanic-anniversary/', ' ', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/b/4e/b4e5ad9f00b5dfeeec2226d53e173569.jpeg', '550', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['He was in shock and still strapped to his seat', 6]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/navy-jet-crashes-in-virginia-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120406/jet_ap.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['xxxxxxxxxxxx', 11]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/russian-grannies-win-bid-to-sing-at-eurovision-1331223625-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/1/56/156d92f2760dcd3e75bcd649a8b85fcf.jpeg', '500', ' ', 'AP', ] ]
    [ [ [['did not go as far his colleague', 8]], '29438204', '0' ], [ [[' the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 4]], '28924649', '0' ], [ [['because I know God protects me', 14], ['Brian Snow was at a nearby credit union', 5]], '28811216', '0' ], [ [['The state news agency RIA-Novosti quoted Rosaviatsiya', 6]], '28805461', '0' ], [ [['measure all but certain to fail in the face of bipartisan', 4]], '28771014', '0' ], [ [['matter what you do in this case', 5]], '28759848', '0' ], [ [['presume laws are constitutional', 7]], '28747556', '0' ], [ [['has destroyed 15 to 25 houses', 7]], '28744868', '0' ], [ [['short answer is yes', 7]], '28746030', '0' ], [ [['opportunity to tell the real story', 7]], '28731764', '0' ], [ [['entirely respectable way to put off the searing constitutional controversy', 7]], '28723797', '0' ], [ [['point of my campaign is that big ideas matter', 9]], '28712293', '0' ], [ [['As the standoff dragged into a second day', 7]], '28687424', '0' ], [ [['French police stepped up the search', 17]], '28667224', '0' ], [ [['Seeking to elevate his candidacy back to a general', 8]], '28660934', '0' ], [ [['The tragic story of Trayvon Martin', 4]], '28647343', '0' ], [ [['Karzai will get a chance soon to express', 8]], '28630306', '0' ], [ [['powerful storms stretching', 8]], '28493546', '0' ], [ [['basic norm that death is private', 6]], '28413590', '0' ], [ [['songwriter also saw a surge in sales for her debut album', 6]], '28413590', '1', 'Watch music videos from Whitney Houston ', 'on Yahoo! Music', 'http://music.yahoo.com' ], [ [['keyword', 99999999999999999999999]], 'videoID', '1', 'overwrite-pre-description', 'overwrite-link-string', 'overwrite-link-url' ] ]

    News For You

    Loading...

    US News »

    • Gunman in Indiana standoff dies after shooting himself
      Snipers sit trained on a real estate office where authorities say a gunman is holding an unknown number of hostages in Valparaiso

      VALPARAISO, Indiana (Reuters) - A gunman took hostages in an Indiana real estate office on Friday, then released them after an eight-hour standoff and fatally shot himself in the head, authorities said. The gunman died at a hospital in Valparaiso, Indiana, about 40 miles southeast of Chicago, police said. "We believe there …

    • New Jersey man charged in Etan Patz death after 33 years Joseph Ax
      Hernandez is arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court via video link seen here in this courtroom sketch in New York

      NEW YORK (Reuters) - A man who police say confessed to strangling Etan Patz was charged with second-degree murder on Friday, 33 years after the 6-year-old boy vanished from his New York neighborhood and soon changed the way the nation responds to missing children. Pedro Hernandez, 51, who worked as a stock boy in a small …

    • Penn State ex-president sues over Sandusky emails: report
      Jerry Sandusky, former Penn State football defensive coordinator, arrives for a hearing at the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania

      (Reuters) - Pennsylvania State University's former president filed suit on Friday to force the school to turn over emails that are relevant to its probe of the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal, the Centre Daily Times newspaper reported. Sandusky, a former Penn State assistant football coach, goes on trial next month on …

    • Subtropical Storm Beryl forms off South Carolina coast

      MIAMI (Reuters) - Subtropical Storm Beryl formed off the South Carolina coast on Friday and forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center issued a tropical storm warning for parts of the Southeastern U.S. coast. Beryl had top sustained winds of 45 miles per hour and was in the Atlantic about 305 miles east of Charleston, …

    • Bud weakens to storm off Mexico's Pacific coast David Alire Garcia
      Hurricane Bud appoaches landfall in Mexico

      MANZANILLO, Mexico (Reuters) - Hurricane Bud weakened to a tropical storm as it churned closer to Mexico's coast on Friday, but brought heavy rains and strong winds that downed trees and closed schools and a major Pacific shipping port. The first hurricane of the 2012 season, Bud was downgraded to a tropical storm with …

     
    One money saving tip you probably haven't tried
    Add your ideas and help make it happen. Join the conversation.
    Episode 11: Hard times for Hometown Hardware
    Should Bill and Donna take on more risk to boost their business?
    One small business owner surprises Bill and Donna
    How Josh's comment on a Remake America video laid the groundwork for something bigger.
    Learn more about Remake America »