After listening to Ingrid Anders’ performance at the MLB Home Run Derby on Monday night, I think we may now be able to take back the coveted trophy for worst performance of the national anthem at a major American sporting event. . Listen to it.
To my ears, this was far worse — and more bizarrely out of tune — than the only real game — Fergie’s performance at the 2018 NBA All-Star Game. [I have eliminated Roseanne Barr’s spectacularly awful 1990 performance before a San Diego Padres game from consideration because she clearly wanted it to be awful, and that violates the rules of the competition.]
I don’t mean to be too critical of Ms. Andress, who admitted after the show that she was drunk. Apparently, she had a pretty serious drinking problem – getting drunk before the biggest show of your life so far is a horribly self-destructive act. She subsequently entered rehab, and I sincerely wish her the best, although her Instagram post announcing her decision was not encouraging and, I hope, taken as sarcasm:
“I’m not going to bullshit you, I was drunk last night. I’m going to check into a facility today to get the help I need… I’ll let you guys know what rehab is like! I hear it’s great pleasure.
Speaking of national anthems, the recent international football tournaments in Europe and the United States have rekindled my love for them – there’s nothing like hearing thirty thousand or so people sing “La Marseillaise,” “Italia Song,” or “Italy.” oh! Canada! , let the blood flow.
It makes me wonder if there’s ever been a good comparative study of the world’s national anthems. I think they are very interesting because they all– As far as I can tell, the last one sounds like it was written in Vienna or Dresden around 1880. China, Cameroon, El Salvador, Bahrain, Uruguay, Pakistan…
Which is strange, if you think about it. All these countries -… Nicaragua, Senegal, the Comoros Islands, Malaysia, Tunisia, Argentina… – each have their own very unique Domestic musical traditions, each of which has its “anthem” that sounds like it came from the studio of Johann Strauss.
Apparently, much of the explanation for this striking homogeneity is that it is a relic of colonial times. But many artifacts of the increasingly distant colonial era were abandoned—constitutions were rewritten, new languages were declared “official,” public school curricula were revised, and so on. Might be an interesting subject for a book.
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