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.
Slobering male fan here: Bad performance, great hips. You're forgiven.
When a singer breaks up the notes, instead of holding the note, it is much easier on the vocal cords. Meaning, a real singer will hold the note...a no talent hack will sing the fakey gospel ooooaaaaooooaaaaoooo ooo yeah yeah yeah oooo oooh oh oh garbage. You never saw Pavarotti doing that gospel crapola.
For those of you couch critics, I would love to see you take your monkey butts up there and ATTEMPT to sing anything at all. Even with the mistake, it was still heart felt and still beautiful.
LMAOOOOO someone remixed her performance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0UVxnGb8Gg
Maybe they should pick the singer based on his or her ability to sing the national anthem well instead of celebrity value.
She's still HOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Everyone makes mistakes... just like the large majority of commenters on here who cannot write, spell or punctuate.
RE: whocares.com
Wow ... It's hard to imagine that there are people like you walking on our beaches, hiking in our mountains, fishing our rivers and watching our sporting events. My question to you, why are you here in the US? Perhaps it's because our country has so much more to offer those looking to make something of their life. I think it's pretty obvious that your home country doesn't have anything to offer you or you wouldn't be here. Certainly there must be some envy on your part if you're watching our Super Bowl and living in our country. You must be a poor miserable soul to call our national song stupid. I really do feel sorry for you. As a Veteran of the great nation, it's those people who stand up for what we protect that make this the most beautiful place in the world to live. So, with that my friend, I hope that a flood never washes away your home or some natural disaster puts you in a position of need because, it is OUR people who will have to rescue pethetic little you.
I wish the military choirs would sing it...so it would be done right..like a true American should sing it and hear it...
I've sung the anthem at two public events, a cappella, and managed to remember the words. I agree it would be better to stop paying celebrity singers who are clearly not up to the task.
O can can she think?
I also thought the half time show looked like an Old Testament pagan ceremony. Smoke. Raising hands.
this was the worst super bowl half time performance i have ever seen. Yes the national anthem was botched, and yes there was no way that the NFL was gonna allow Big Ben to win this Super Bowl (the image) knowing what he was accused of earlier in the season with his suspension and all. The officiating was obviously lob sided when it comes to where and when penalties were and were not called. the Cinderella story was completed with both the hallas trophy after 70 years going back to green bay as well as the lombardi trophy returning to it's original city of green bay..
green bay packer's fans thank you mike martz ( chicago bears offensive coordinator ) for once again making the difference
blah blah blah it's a stupid song - what the heck does it matter.
Fox played so much patriotic crud before the game it hardly makes a difference
I tuned the game in for one reason - to fricken watch football... okay, and watch the ads too.
If I wanna hear the national anthem I would put it on my mp3 player
There isn't much in between!
To err is human. Granted she should have been flawless singing the National Anthem but a mistake can happen at any given moment, any given time and any given place. Therefore I disagree with individuals who tend to say she is supposed to be an american. She is an american in every sense of the word. I don't see the relevance of such a comment. I n my personal opinion I think what happens is professonal singers or recording artists tend to exaggerate and try to put their own so called distinctive twist to the song that it has a potential of screwing up the song. I think they should keep in mind that when it comes to the National Anthem of our country I say keep it simple.