Aguilera flubs national anthem at Super Bowl
February 6th, 2011
09:31 PM ET

Aguilera flubs national anthem at Super Bowl

O say, can Christina have a do-over?

Christina Aguilera helped kick off Sunday's Super Bowl with a singer's nightmare, flubbing the words of "The Star-Spangled Banner" about 40 seconds into the song as tens of millions prepared to watch the game between the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Standing at midfield at Texas' Cowboys Stadium, the singer-actress mixed a previously sung clause with the one she was supposed to be on.

Here's what she sang, with the error in bold:

"O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
What so proudly we watched at the twilight’s last [unintelligible].â€

That fourth line was supposed to be: "O'er the ramparts we watch'd were so gallantly streaming."

In a statement released by her publicist, Aguilera explained what happened:

"I got so lost in the moment of the song that I lost my place," the singer said. "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 isn't the first person to have trouble with the song, as Time magazine's "Top 10 Worst National-Anthem Renditions" will remind us.

The list includes Michael Bolton's effort at a 2003 playoff baseball game in Boston's Fenway Park, where he had to pause midsong and check some notes before correctly getting through the same line that troubled Aguilera.

Aguilera sang the national anthem twice during last year's NBA finals. She delivered both performances without incident.

- CNN's Denise Quan contributed to this report.

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Filed under: Celebrity • Football • Pro football • Showbiz • Sports
soundoff (2,138 Responses)
  1. Paul http://www.youtube.com/ny007ny

    I am glad that no one here has never made a mistake. What a bunch of perfect people online has spawn. Good for you all.

    February 7, 2011 at 3:49 am | Report abuse |
  2. Dancing With the Barf

    "I can only hope that everyone could feel my love for this country and that the true spirit of its anthem still came through."

    You call that love? It sounded to me like she must really hate America. I think what Christina really loves is herself and the sound of her own voice.

    February 7, 2011 at 3:56 am | Report abuse |
  3. Rose

    Well, maybe if everyone would keep up with the news, then you would know why she was in the condition she was in

    February 7, 2011 at 3:58 am | Report abuse |
  4. Oh say can you barf

    My ears bled. The only part of the song I liked was at the end when the jet flyover drowned out her screeching.

    February 7, 2011 at 3:59 am | Report abuse |
  5. amerikan

    Agueliaroa flubs in singing national anthem?
    what's surprising?
    she's not even amerikan, just look at her name.
    i bet she would have sung it perfectly in spanish and what she shang was anthem of unidos estados.
    this is just another evidence that amerika is doomed.
    white amerikans can't ignore all the signs that they are slowly but SURELY getting marginalized before superseded completely.
    experts say 2050, usa will look no longer like amerika today and even farther from the great amerika that won the world wars. white amerikans never take this warning signs seriously...but you just wait for few more decades, one more generation before amerika sinks altogether, falling to the hands the minorities who are slowly overruning the country.

    February 7, 2011 at 4:05 am | Report abuse |
  6. Bill

    Screw the National Anthem.....God Bless Christina....she had the guts to try it....

    Thank you Christina.......250 million Americans just watched while you put it all out there.....

    Bill....St. Paul, Minneso

    February 7, 2011 at 4:06 am | Report abuse |
  7. thatgregguy

    So many posts over how someone sung the American National anthem. Who cares about how it was sung...America is finished and only a small percentage of you know that.

    February 7, 2011 at 4:10 am | Report abuse |
  8. mary

    It's simple..Learn the song..
    What's with these performers that screw it up.? They can manage to sing their own crap songs without screwing up..At least get the national anthem right..Or don't bother doing it..~!

    February 7, 2011 at 4:10 am | Report abuse |
  9. mary

    learn it or don't do it..
    It's the National Anthem. It's worth the effort learn it first.

    February 7, 2011 at 4:12 am | Report abuse |
  10. jl taylor

    The young lady did a good job. All of you no singing fools who did not like her performance can go to Yell. Extra (h)
    if needed.

    February 7, 2011 at 4:16 am | Report abuse |
  11. Neal

    I thought it was better than the Black Eyed Pea's performance.

    February 7, 2011 at 4:25 am | Report abuse |
  12. Mel

    I'm sorry – good enuff isn't good enough for me. She no doubt was paid bundles to sing the song, and should have darn well remembered the words. What a disgrace, as this is just another reason why other countries laugh at us!

    February 7, 2011 at 4:30 am | Report abuse |
  13. R. Mussared

    not only did she get the words wrong, but she sang it like CRAP!

    February 7, 2011 at 4:33 am | Report abuse |
  14. Christy

    I was excited when I heard Christina Aguilera was going to be singing the national anthem. I was kind of disappointed that once again Christina Aguilera made a song about her and her tunes. She's got a great voice and I think her voice is great when it comes to singing the national anthem but she needs to stop changing the tune. So, Christina Aguilera, I hope this is a lesson learned; you got a beautiful voice but please stop over singing and pleas stop changing the tune-especially when singing an iconic song like the national anthem.

    February 7, 2011 at 4:52 am | Report abuse |
  15. maimiedamie

    She sang it like she was in a rock concert. As far as I'm concerned you should have asked Martina McBride. Lovely person and lovely voice. I hate her voice and her attidtude. She must hate the United States of America. I compare her to Rose ODonnell. Remember when she sang it. Get Martina next year for heavens sake.

    February 7, 2011 at 5:03 am | Report abuse |
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