As a PA announcer and sports DJ for 18 years now, as well as hearing the song in upwards of at least two or three times a week for seven total years here at the SNAP, I have heard a lot of good and bad renditions of the song.
I have never liked it when someone changes keys in the middle of the song because the "rockets red glare" is above their vocal range. If it is, then a singer should start in a lower key so that when the high notes come, they are more easily reached.
Having sung the anthem myself for Checkers games as well as locally, I can tell you that I make sure to start in a lower key so that when I get both to the high and low notes, I am not reaching for a note. Singing in public for me is gut-wrenching enough (I would much rather announce), so why add drama to it by reaching for a note?
You can find horrible versions of the anthem all over the Web and YouTube (just search for Carl Lewis and Rosanne Barr) but I don't think Steven Tyler's was all that bad.
He did get one word wrong, saying "As bombs bursting in air" instead of "The bombs bursting in air", but that is less of a problem to me then when singers sing "For the land of the Free" instead of our banner waving "o'er the land of the free" which sounds so beautiful.
Also, I'm not big on personalizing the anthem, unless you have a voice like Whitney Houston and can get away with it. Most singers that try to sing it like Whitney sound like they can't find the right note, or just don't a forceful-enough gospel voice to pull it off like she did at the Super Bowl.
Tyler hit every note spot on and the only personalization he did was give "land of the free" a little Tyler yell, which did not bother me at all.
I was more bothered by his Patriots scarf he had on, but since Aerosmith is a Boston-based band, I guess a Dolphins fan like me can let that go.
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