The perilous flight of Patti LaBelle's National Anthem remix

I was working the TiVo "jump back" button pretty hard during last night's performance of the National Anthem prior to Game 4 of the World Series on Fox.

That's because I kept hearing new lyrics to the American classic coming out of the mouth of soul legend Patti LaBelle, who was effectively doing an encore to her performance of the National Anthem at the U.S. tennis Open.

It's one thing to interpret the National Anthem by injecting new beats and notes -- it's a pregame tradition that has rewarded such superstars as Jimi Hendrix, Marvin Gaye and Whitney Houston with career highlights. But LaBelle took it to the next level with editorial enhancements to the words written by Francis Scott Key.

"Did she just say 'the skylights' last gleaming'?" I said to Mrs. TV Barn as I reached for the remote. Yes, upon further review, it turns out she did sing that very lyric. And "the perilous flight." And "from the clouds we watched" (WTD?). All lyrics, no doubt, that were meant to be overlooked in the course of her soaring unaccompanied vocals, which were, I will admit, impressive.

And after all, everyone can relate to a gleaming skylight and taking a perilous flight and looking down from the clouds, so you can't say Ms. LaBelle didn't make the lyrics more relevant to our modern sensibilities.

But something tells me she didn't do it on purpose.

Chip Franklin and I talked about LaBelle's memorable performance, the upcoming election and a whole lot more in our weekly chat on KOGO Radio in San Diego this morning:

(or download it)

Here's video of Patti -- judge for yourself:

Comments

[Sheila Bailey]

I was shocked at the botchery she did of our national anthem. No doubt, Ms. LaBelle's vocal range will astound the world, but for heaven's sake...get the words right. If you don't know the words, have someone hold up some cue cards. That made me sad last night.

[Eric]

I too was busy hitting the "skip back" button on my DVR while watching Ms. LaBelle's rendition of the national anthem.

I do not share the view of the author and previous commentator in being impressed with the vocal range during the performance, I was too distracted by the changing lyrics. While I was sitting there I was having flashbacks to the disgraceful performance by Roseanne Barr - obviously she had far less musical talents, but at least she got the words right. Ms. LaBelle may have meant well (unlike Roseanne), but try and remember that singing the national anthem is not about the performer.