30 years ago. And no one’s done it better.
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Whitney Houston’s rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” reached No. 20 on Billboard’s Hot 100, and all proceeds from the single went to charity
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/super-bowl/2021/02/01/whitney-houston-iconic-anthem-super-bowl-25-almost-didnt-happen/4331181001/
https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/music/a35289826/whitney-houston-1991-national-anthem-super-bowl-performance/
How her version raised the bar, so to speak.
Miss you, Whitney. Always will.
/image Whitney Houston
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Charles Cornell did a great video about it:
@gnafuthemeh
I subscribed to that channel. He’s talking way over my head re some music nerd stuff but maybe I can pick up a little of it anyway.
He does s great job of demonstrating why this SSB version, combined with Whitney’s spectacular and exuberant singing, is so memorable.
@f00l @gnafuthemeh That is an INCREDIBLE explanation of the chord structure. I wish he had played that version all the way through without stopping after his comments, though.
I’m a music major and he is dead on with this! Great video!
Thanks for posting!
@f00l @Tadlem43 I wonder if part of it has to do with copyright. While the original song is of course in the public domain, that arrangement might still be under copyright. I know he’s careful about that on his YouTube channel, and sometimes he stops short to avoid too many ads showing up on his vids.
More recently, he and some other YouTubers have been posting extended versions of their videos on Nebula (you may have seen some of them promote signing up for it along with CuriosityStream). They’re not beholden to YouTube’s automatic flagging, and it’s fair use anyway when used for commentary. I don’t see an extended version of this one, unfortunately, but he’s got a lot of great longer videos on their. I signed up because it’s cheap and it’s another way to support them.
@gnafuthemeh Thanks for tell me about those sites. I’ll check them out!
Here’s a full clip of the song that will play in the meh forums instead of forcing a click over to youtube.
I was never a huge fan of Whitney’s music in general but that sure is the BEST rendition of the national anthem I can remember hearing! Her voice was amazing!
Whitney Houston knew that the National Anthem was the star, and she was the performer. She showed respect for it.
I hate it when singers think it’s about them. One of my greatest pet peeves.
@Tadlem43 Yep, so many horrendous butcherings of it.
Whitney’s version rocked, but give props to Gaga for her inauguration version.
@kc5rbq Adam Neely did a good video on Gaga’s version:
It’s a respectable interpretation, even though I do still think Houston’s is number one. See my earlier post about Nebula: Adam Neely is on there, too, with extended versions of these kinds of videos.
(I have no financial connection to CuriosityStream or Nebula; I’m just a satisfied customer.)
@gnafuthemeh @kc5rbq
A couple of things… he keeps saying what Gaga did, but it’s an arrangement, so it’s really what the arranger did. It’s a different arrangement that is traditional, but I don’t think it’s better…or even as good. But…I’m a traditionalist when it comes to the Star Spangled Banner.
I like her voice, esp. since she had the formal training for ‘Evita’, and you can hear it distinctly in this version, but I liked her other version better (2016) though she used much more flourishing.
And, it’s interesting that so very few people put their hands over their hearts, and so few of the military saluted. How sad.
In the USA today article it’s recounted the Whitney talked about how fond she was of the slow soulful Marvin Gaye version. I believe the orchestration that was designed for her version was inspired, in part, by what Marvin Gaye and his collaborators had done
@f00l No… Just…no. IMO.
@Tadlem43
Tastes vary. Renditions vary.
I like and revere the trad ones done well.
I also like the Gaye version.
@f00l lol Right…which is why I said ‘IMO’.
I played out the basic tune in my head at 3 4 time and then at 4 4 time and whispered the words along
Because of course nobody wants to hear me sing
anyway doing that head exercise allowed me to see how the change in the time signature of the song made it possible for Whitney to draw out those words and invest them with emotion
and also the unexpected way that some chording of the song went allowed her to play against that and to give more subtly and power to her interpretation because she had the sort of unexpected and extra room given by the diff chordng as an extra element she could work with
Or something like that
I really shouldn’t talk about music because I don’t know anything about it although at one point I could read it and play a little on the piano on a few stringed instruments
But playing the song out one way then another in my head let me see what a singer as magnificent is Whitney could do with the extra possibilities that the different arrangement gave her
@f00l Actually, you described it very well! Good job.
Always puts me in mind of the opening of Nashville and the wise words of fictional presidential candidate Hal Philip Walker…
@mossygreen I would definitely prefer “America The Beautiful” for a national anthem.