A reader writes:
I am so glad that you picked up the Deschanel/National Anthem question. I just watched the video of it earlier today and was so pleased. The part of the song that we sing the most – the first stanza – is really a series of questions. This form betrays the seriousness and uncertainty present in the hymn, and I am always touched by the searching tone of it, especially the last question: "Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave; O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?". It is a meditation of concern on whether or not we are going to make it, not a triumphant ode to having already done so. We would do well to recover this reflection right now! So, I say Deschanel was dead on in her approach.
Another agrees:
Zooey sang it like she meant it. Even the way she softened the ends of most of the lines gave the audience room to hear themselves singing along, and isn't that supposed the be the point?
Her job was not to deliver an aria to a silent hall; it was to lead the crowd in singing the song. However dramatic or pleasing Whitney Houston's rendition might have been, you can't sing along to it. You can only listen. Which would be great on an album, but is exactly wrong at the start of a ballgame. Singing the national anthem is supposed to be a participatory ritual, not a spectator sport.
Update from a reader:
Along those lines, the Portland Timbers, a team new to Major League Soccer this year, just went ahead and let the fans sing the national anthem at their first home game this year. It was pretty neat.
Another:
As for that Whitney Houston rendition, I remember it well – it was Super Bowl XXV, where the Bills lost after Scott Norwood's last-second Field Goal attempt missed wide right. It was also during Gulf War I, and public patriotism was high at that time, so it really resonated. I was ultimately disappointed to learn that Houston's rendition was lip-synced. It's a rather common practice, but it still diminishes it for me for some reason.
Another points out:
Almost immediately after you posted the Zooey Dechanel anthem rendition, it was pulled off YouTube for violating a copyright of MLB Advanced Media. Isn't there something against laying claim to the national freaking anthem? And to have it done by the purveyors of the national pastime seems doubly egregious.
The Dish 