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].”
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.
Most of you couldnt remember the 3rd line even if pay over 5 million. Get over it she made a mistake yet she sang beautifully and with passion. Give this young, slim and beautiful white Latina a break.
SHE WAS PAID TO SING IT. IF YOU ARE PAID TO DO SOMETHING, YOU SHOULD KNOW HOW TO DO IT. ..
With all the times she's done it at other events you would think she would know the words by now. Bottom line, she just really doesn't give a ****.
I personally found nothing "beautiful" in her presentation.
There lies the problem......She did not sing well at all.......She was flat far too often......and using a flamboyant singing style to cover up a voice that apparently could not hold a clean note for the required time........This is a style that has become popular with young singers recently and is an unnecessary garnishment.......It is a tough anthem to sing and does not need these embellishments........
No.
Is this really a news story?
All that howling, YIKES! Why didn't she just sing the song as it is suppose to be. Oh, and perhaps review the word to the song a little also.
Maybe she needs a teleprompter like the President.
Another talentless WH*RE appearing at the Super Bowl.
amen – thank you....very true
I am sick and tired of people taking our National Anthem and creating their own version. No other country permits their Anthem to be so tortured. If she did that to the Russian National Anthem, she would have been sent to Siberia. Since it the way it was written, and that includes knowing the lyrics. I have seen Christina sing the National Anthem twice and she has destroyed it twice.
Showed me a person who was sent to Siberia for making a mistake? I am sure it happens all over Europe too but nobody gets kill. Ask Pau Gasol if any of his Spanish friends in Europe had been kill for messing up the Spanish Nat'l anthem? Any Italians or Frenchies?
Get over she did a wonderful job. Most folks here cant remember any lines after the 3rd ones.. I know I can't. Give this young and beautiful white Latina a break. I thought she was great!!
You are treating her as if she started the war in Iraq and had over 1 million innocent dead Iraqis and over 20,000 US soldiers. How about sending Bush and Cheney to jail for that. We got our priorities all screwed up in the good ole USA.
NO. She didn't do a "Wonderful Job" she did a stylized hack job. And if you can't remember anything after the 3rd line maybe you need to go back to elementary school.
She should have exposed her pierced ta-ta's and tramp stamp while she was at it. What a total bimbo.
Dear Christina A, got one thing to say to you...Robert Merrill.
Peace!
Best rendition of the national anthem I've heard since Lt. Frank Drebin's.
As was mentioned in another article, she has sang it correctly at other venues, so she does know the words, it was just a mistake. The best QB's still throw interceptions, the best receivers still drop passers, and the best singers still mess up lines. Not that I'm calling her a 'best' singer, the performance still made me cringe, forgotten lines or not. I'm just saying, giver her a break. It's not like she's the first to screw up the Anthem.
At least she didn't do what Fergie did to the nation.
Maybe she visited the Steeler's locker room before prior to singing and still had a mouthful of...........(insert answer)_____________________!
I would like to see....just once....a performer who is chosen to sing this anthem, come out and sing the song without adding her chortling riffy vocal zigzags. I like christina and all of that, but her performance was one of the grossest things I've ever seen.
Christina Aguilera? Seriously? Christina Aguilera? There aren't any other Latina-Americana's who know the words to the National Anthem? Really? NFL, next year, see if we can get Osama bin Laden to do it. I bet he would do a better job of learning the words. Somebody earlier compared her to a a cat that someone had stepped on. LOL. Her rendition was foolish but not knowing the words to MY national anthem is totally unprofessional. Did she get paid for that?
I bet you couldnt sing it pass the 2nd line!! She did a wonderful job!! Did you actually notice that mistake?
She is a beautiful white Latina with very strong pipes. Get Britney next time and you will see how bad it will be.
I'm with you. Britney couldn't have been hired for this even because she wouldn't have been able to stagger around long enough to FIND Texas. 🙂 C.A. did a great job!
Her version stunk anyway and so does she. Yes, she got it wrong, but she also got her race wrong when singing it too. I'm just saying.