When Chris Stapleton sang the Star-Spangled Banner at this year's Super Bowl he drew rave reviews. Some who reviewed the proceedings even went so far as to say he was the most soulful singer of the day. That's saying something given soul singer Baby Face had sung America the Beautiful moments before. But no matter how well Stapleton sang there was one thing he didn't do. He should have sung the word banner correctly. How do I know? I was a student of Mrs. Taylor in 1957 at Camelia Avenue Elementary School.
Mrs. Taylor was the music teacher. She moved her large body in and out of all classrooms teaching music and singing to all grade levels. Accompanying herself on the autoharp, she'd hold court for a few minutes before we'd launch into songs like The Erie Canal or Faniculi Fanicula. But Mr. Taylor was at her best when she was complaining about how few singers sang the Star Spangled Banner correctly. In short, the issue, which was obviously the bane of her existence, was that most singers sang, "Oh say does that star-spangled ban an er (3 syllables) yet wave, instead of singing ban ner (2 syllables) This rally bothered her. It pissed her off. She felt the need to extol the virtues of correctly singing the anthem until she was blue in the face.
For some reason, the figure of Mrs. Taylor will not leave me alone. I can still see her, strumming away on her autoharp, sucking that lower front tooth, singing along with us, and then stopping suddenly.
"Did any of you young people see yesterday afternoon's football game? That young singer had a lovely voice but who's teaching these people, to sing the anthem. It's ban er, not ban an er!!
If I heard her rant once I heard it a hundred times. Perhaps that's why I still cringe when I hear the national anthem. When they sing it right, which is less often than singing it wrong, I turn to whoever is near me, and mumble, she got it right.
Post Script: I read somewhere a while ago that the average kid in this country hears the Star-Spangled Banner thousands of times by age 14. That's easy to believe because it is played and/or sung before every athletic contest, on every level from K-12, and of course before professional games, boxing matches, and all manner of ceremonies from graduations to civic events. It is as if we need to be reminded constantly, this is who we are, and this is how we started. Occasionally you can see the athletes themselves or the audience members sing or mouth the words. But what do we really know? I once told a class of mine that I'd give a $100. bill to anyone who could recite the lyrics perfectly right now. Many tried, but all failed. It's a strange lyric anyway, but what we think we know isn't necessarily true. I was too cocky in my dare, but I knew my money was safe. Go on, right now try it and see how far you get.
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