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.
How about you stop posting useless stuff everyone? Instead of worrying about this maybe you could be furthering yourselves rather than bashing someone who made a mistake. It happens.
Not shocking from my point of view. She should be embarrassed.
Has-been.
I sure hope they didn't pay her for screwing up the national anthem. Why can't these "pop" stars just sing the song in a traditional manor instead of "MAKING THEIR OWN". The song is about the country not their "Johnny come lately" careers.
We KC-Chiefs fans were treated to Hanna Montana's dad for the sesson opener. Much more scary.
Are you kidding?Billy Ray Cyrus would have been perfect for the song.
Wow, what a conversation we have going here. I love the National Anthem – it represents every American's pride in our country. I've always felt it should be sung exactly the way it was written. All these 'divas' who try to make it their own song by changing the tune are sickening. BUT, when they can't even get the words right, it's disgraceful. Maybe it's time to have video recordings of the National Anthem sung by the Marine Corps choir and the Army Band. Show it on those big expensive video screens and maybe some of the fans could learn something too.
It's the National Anthem. It is not the Anthem according to Christina Aguilera. Sing it the way it was written or sit down – melody and lyrics. You are suposed to be leading us in singing, not showing off.
I didn't notice she repeated the line. I was already so disgusted by the way she sang it that I guess I tuned that out. Like others have said, just sing the song the way it was written. It's a great melody with great words, but too often people pretend oversinging the song is emotionally singing it.
She should stick to pop music. National anthems are not pop music!!
At least we know she wasn't lip-syncing?
When you get upset that your three minutes of nationalism are interrupted... your priorities are out of order.
yet another white pop-star giving the R&B treatment to the national anthem. And completely sucking at it. Marvin Gaye did it at a Lakers game in the '80's (and it was GREAT) but he could do that because he was MARVIN EFFIN' GAYE!! The rest of them just need to stop. Just hire a brass band to play it and be done with it.
she's not white. blacks arent the only ones who can sing R&B. be for real!
big deal! She forgot the words. I've heard songwriters forget the lyrics to their own songs. This really isn't news. We have bigger issues going on than a flub on a song. I've noticed that many of you leaving comments can't even spell correctly. So to sit here and judge her. Pleeease!
I bet SNL has fun with this one.
I was more insulted by the players who were jumping around, talking and not placing their hands over their hearts.