Tuesday, July 04, 2006

A Folkie Star Spangled Banner

As I tuned in the Cubs/White Sox baseball game on Sunday, I was pleasantly surprised to find that singer/songwriter Michael McDermott was performing the national anthem. He managed to somehow both perform the song traditionally and yet to make it his own without upstaging the dear ol' gal. So on this 4th of July it seems only appropriate that I share this wonderful performance with the one or two of you who might eventually read this post. If you are interested (and you should be!), you can see it here:

http://www.cshs86.com/forum/downloads/McDermott_7-2-06.mov

Happy Birthday, USA.

3 comments:

Susan said...

Very tastefully done!

Last Sunday I was at a Rockies game with my Dad. It has become a tradition at Coor's Field since 9-11 to have someone perform "God Bless America" at the 7th inning stretch (followed of course by "Take Me Out To The Ball Game") The vocalist was all of 15 years old and gave her best rendition of the song in such a way as to, I suppose, make Mariah Carey's vocal gymnastics look like mere cartwheels. My Dad (who is 71 ) leaned over and said curmudgeonly-like, "Can't they just sing it plain for once?"

Tom said...

Amen! There's a wonderful moment on the Simpsons where they are at a minor league baseball game and the songstress who sings the national anthem does so many vocal gymnastics that that the song takes so long that people simply sit down, and even dose off, from shear exhaustion. I've heard too many similar takes on the Star Spangled Banner that approximate the exaggeration that was the Simpsons' experience.

I've seen a couple games at Coors Field, and I was very impressed by both the ballpark and the crowds. Would that I could go there more often.

Susan said...

Yes we have very loyal fans here in Colorado :) The stadium is right next door to my workplace - I can see it from my window! Great view. Oh, and of course there's the Mountains...