Backfield In Motion

This one goes back to 1966, a soul song by Mel & Tim is the only football tune I know, and it isn't even a football tune. It uses some clever double entendre about a cheatin' lover to get the point across. Nope, this rant isn't about cheatin' lovers, because that is something that I lack. I'm barking about the performance by a true rock hero, Steven Tyler of Aerosmith. He sang the Star Spangled Banner at the opening of the AFC conference title game on Sunday, January 22nd, 2012. It was awful. he sounded like a wounded animal, baying for a mate to come help get his leg out of a steel trap. Aerosmith is a band that I like, they've been undergoing some problems with personnel in-fighting, which is bound to happen to any group that's been together as long as they have. After several well publicized stints in various rehabs, Steven seemed to irritate the members more by taking on the role of a Judge on the hit television show, American Idol. This is a show that I tried watching in it's early stages and found deplorable, so I haven't seen his on-screen personna, but if he is going to belt out sour notes like he did this past Sunday, I think he'd better expect a shitstorm of negative criticism coming his way.
Let's face it, our National Anthem is not a particularly good song. It is based on the tune to an old British drinking song, who we fought a battle to be free from, forming a new nation that has evolved into one of the greatest in the world. Yet there are probably a bunch of drunken blokes laughing it up and throwing darts at a pub wall in the same tune as our representative anthem, that to me seems like we started out on the wrong foot. It has verses that span a range that a trained opera singer cannot comfortably vocalize, so we expect a bunch of dipshit celebrities to do so? We're in for a long string of disappointments.
I've seen and heard all sorts of versions of this musical disater being performed, and most of the singers don't seem to understand that this is a formality that should be gotten through as quickly as possible, yet many try to jazz it up by adding all sorts of wavers and warbles to their renditions, making it even more painful to listen to. I'll agree that it's too late to change our anthem, there are many veterans who know nothing about music who insist that this a good composition, and I repsec thwat they did to feel this way, but hey, grow some ears and USE them! Our national anthem is a punchline to a bad joke and due to tradition, we're stuck with it.