A Carolina Hurricanes blog with occasional news about the rest of the NHL.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

anthem singing

I strongly encourage everyone to watch this stunning "rendition" of O Canada by the Edmonton crowd before game three of the Oil/Ducks series.


As an American, I am both amazed and awestruck by this. It nearly brought me to tears. We Americans simply stand and mouth the words to the Star Spangled Banner. On a good day, we might mumble the words. I'm kind of embarrassed by that. We have a common misconception that singing the national anthem, or being patriotic in any way means that you support the current commander-in-chief. I refuse to go off on a political diatribe, but I'll just say that it's flat out embarrassing to see how loudly and proudly Canadians sing their national anthem, compared to how sheepishly we "sing" ours.

Assist to Eric McErlain of Off Wing Opinion.

8 comments:

The Acid Queen said...

Wow.

That's beautiful, absolutely beautiful--and it warmed my heart to see Joey Moss belting it out with all his heart, too.

Wish our crowd would do something like that and maybe teach Holly a thing or two about staying on-meter (and how to properly pronounce those big words like "hailed").

d-lee said...

The thing I hate the most about Holly's singing of the anthem is her "perilous", which she pronounces "pear-O-less".

Oh, how I miss Karen.

DrFrankLives said...

I sing my butt off, and I can't stand the current commander in chief.

mike w said...

Yes, but you have to understand: we Edmontonians were REALLY drunk.

Jeff J said...

"We Americans simply stand and mouth the words to the Star Spangled Banner.

Isn't that because you need a four-octave vocal range to sing it?

Anonymous said...

It is my considered opinion that the 'Canes fans do a pretty good job of belting out our anthem. It is a difficult proposition, at best, when Holly sings it like a funeral dirge and adds her own dipsy doodles to the melody. Bring Karen back!!!!!!!!!!!!! That being said, I have long thought that the Edmonton fans are amazing.

Bill Purdy said...

I went to a Blackhawks game maybe 10 years ago, and some black guy belted the national anthem and pretty much brought me to my knees. I've never really heard a rendition of our own anthem that powerful, and I certainly haven't heard one anything close to it at the RBC.

Holly adds phantom syllables to the beginning of words that n-just... n-drives... n-me... n-crazy. I just try to focus on the flag and drown the poor girl out with my own off-key rendition.

Worst part of a potential CAR-EDM SCF matchup is the prospect of having to hear Holly butcher O Canada two more times.

d-lee said...

I hope very much that the Canes decide to replace Holly with some professional act if we make it to the SCF. For the life of me, I can't remember what we did in '02.

And for the record, I really wish the gale force media folks would quit playing that one clip from South Park: The Movie on the jumbotron whenever we play Canadian teams. It seems so .... juvenile.

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