No, not Bruce Springsteen. He was awesome. :-) I'm talking about the national anthem.
Jennifer Hudson's perverted rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner disgusted me. Sure, it was passionate and all, and I guess she looked patriotic. But that doesn't change the fact that she CHANGED THE UNDERLYING RHYTHMIC STRUCTURE of our national anthem.
It's one thing when Aretha Franklin changed My Country 'Tis of Thee at Pres. Obama's inauguration. For one, My Country 'Tis of Thee is solely a ceremonial piece. It holds no official status in America, and isn't an official symbol for anything. For another thing, she just changed a couple bars. She didn't fundamentally reinvent the entire piece's foundation.
When Gregory Lee Johnson burned the American flag in 1984, he was protesting actions by the Reagan administration. Maybe he was justified, and maybe he wasn't, but everyone agrees that he had a compelling reason for descrating one of our country's most sacred symbols. Ms. Hudson wasn't protesting a war, or even making a statement. She was simply showing off by
Now, I'll admit that my patriotism is occasionally different than what you'd expect. But I think we can all agree that our national anthem is sacred. It represents not just America right now but all of America's history - the Declaration and the Bill of Rights, freedom from slavery and the right to vote, and yes, even our wars, when they were right and when they were wrong. So I accuse Jennifer Hudson of the unpatriotic perversion of a sacred national symbol, because I am offended.
I agree that it was certainly not traditional, but there's a history of the Superbowl versions of the National Anthem being unexpected, to say the least. I believe she was trying to make her own personal statement (read comeback after personal family tragedy) and the result was that she came across as showing off the range of her voice rather than the simplicity and elegance of the tune itself. In the end, however, the singers may be forgotten but the song always prevails.