My favorite version is Whitney Houston’s Super Bowl performance of the national anthem after we entered Operation Desert Storm. It was a very patriotic time in our country and an excellent performance with a little personal flair but one that stayed very true to the original. Definitely my favorite.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Posts: 6040 | Location: Upstate NY | Registered: February 28, 2002
Although they are not in current favor today (and have, in fact, changed their name under pressure of the current climate), the Dixie Chicks nailed it in 2003 for the Super Bowl.
You can't truly call yourself "peaceful" unless you are capable of great violence. If you're not capable of great violence, you're not peaceful, you're harmless.
NRA Benefactor/Patriot Member
Posts: 2857 | Location: Peoples Republic of North Virginia | Registered: December 04, 2015
"I'm yet another resource-consuming kid in an overpopulated planet raised to an alarming extent by Hollywood and Madison Avenue, poised with my cynical and alienated peers to take over the world when you're old and weak!" - Calvin, "Calvin & Hobbes"
Posts: 18494 | Location: Sonoma County, CA | Registered: April 09, 2004
The aforementioned Whitney version. It's pretty much perfect. The orchestral arrangement is wonderful and her pitch is just amazing in that setting. Too bad the jets were a few seconds late.
Runner up for me would be Faith Hill for many of the same reasons.
There ain't much difference in the man I want to be and the man that I really am.
Posts: 10980 | Location: Marietta, GA | Registered: February 10, 2009
Marlana VanHoose VanHoose was born on June 25, 1995, VanHoose was born with Cytomegalovirus (CMV) which hindered the development of her optic nerve, rendering her blind at birth and a diagnosis that she would not live past one year of age. After her first year her parents were told that the virus was in remission. At the age of two, VanHoose was diagnosed with a mild case of cerebral palsy.[1]
Posts: 27602 | Location: Gunshine State | Registered: November 07, 2008
Rene Rancourt sang it for decades before Boston Bruins games. Loved it when they played a Canadian team so you got both anthems.
As for the best rendition, I was in the crowd at the old Boston Garden the night after we started the bombing in Gulf War I. Rene pulled out all the stops and the place went completely nuts
Harshest Dream, Reality
Posts: 3853 | Location: W. Central NH | Registered: October 05, 2008