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You are here: Home / The Big Scandal of the Day

The Big Scandal of the Day

by John Cole|  January 22, 20131:11 pm| 150 Comments

This post is in: Bring On The Meteor, Serenity Now!

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Bring on the meteor.

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Reader Interactions

150Comments

  1. 1.

    dmsilev

    January 22, 2013 at 1:14 pm

    I take it this means we now have President Romney?

  2. 2.

    redshirt

    January 22, 2013 at 1:15 pm

    Too bad there were no nip-slips.

    We need a warm weather inauguration site! New Orleans, 2017!

  3. 3.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    January 22, 2013 at 1:16 pm

    Wait until they find out Obama lip synced his inaugural address.

  4. 4.

    Unabogie

    January 22, 2013 at 1:17 pm

    It’s not like there were any more gun massacres recently…

  5. 5.

    artem1s

    January 22, 2013 at 1:17 pm

    Ah, the lack of teleprompter outrage has become clear now.

  6. 6.

    Stoned Stats

    January 22, 2013 at 1:17 pm

    Maybe Kelly Clarkson should have as well.

  7. 7.

    dmsilev

    January 22, 2013 at 1:18 pm

    @Belafon (formerly anonevent): He used a teleprompter, did he not?

    IMPEACH!

  8. 8.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    January 22, 2013 at 1:18 pm

    Impeach her!

  9. 9.

    Ben Franklin

    January 22, 2013 at 1:19 pm

    Milli-Vanilli

  10. 10.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 22, 2013 at 1:19 pm

    The stupid of our “journalists”. It BURNS!

  11. 11.

    Bulworth

    January 22, 2013 at 1:20 pm

    You mean they aren’t going ballistic over Michelle Obama’s “eye-roll”? Guess they’re not on their game these days.

  12. 12.

    Robin G.

    January 22, 2013 at 1:20 pm

    Doesn’t that almost always happen, though? Singing in the cold isn’t good for vocal chords.

  13. 13.

    TaMara (BHF)

    January 22, 2013 at 1:20 pm

    Bring on the meteor.

    Can. Not. Come. Soon. Enough.

  14. 14.

    RSA

    January 22, 2013 at 1:21 pm

    I also like an Exclusive! report sandwiched between other identical news stories.

  15. 15.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 22, 2013 at 1:21 pm

    OK, so she lip synched to her own voice. This is what passes for a scandal in our MSM today, not lying your ass off to kill hundreds of thousands in Iraq?

    As Ben points out, it’s not like a case of Milli-Vanilli where the voices were not those of the seen “performer”.

    Besides, Beyonce is very, very easy on the eyes. Michelle Obama easy.

  16. 16.

    Sterling

    January 22, 2013 at 1:21 pm

    Are House republicans going to launch an investigation to see who authorized this deception?

  17. 17.

    Mart

    January 22, 2013 at 1:24 pm

    Paraphrasing the end of the link T’eo story below… why do journalists think this is a story, and why do media consumers care?

  18. 18.

    Zam

    January 22, 2013 at 1:26 pm

    Impeachable offense. In fact if my Facebook feed is any indication anything done in the us by a Black man is grounds for obama’s impeachment or at least a nullification of ye election results

  19. 19.

    the Conster

    January 22, 2013 at 1:26 pm

    Yo Yo Ma and his playing partner air cello’ed/violined Simple Gifts last time, too – cold screws up the sound of the instruments, and as a focus of the ceremony you don’t want people talking about you and not the president. But hey, look, a shiny thing!

  20. 20.

    Poopyman

    January 22, 2013 at 1:27 pm

    Twitter reaction

  21. 21.

    karen marie

    January 22, 2013 at 1:27 pm

    How does this work? Is she just making her mouth move but not really singing, or is she singing but it’s not going into the amplification system? If the latter is the case, aren’t the people in the immediate vicinity hearing her fake singing as well as the prerecorded singing?

  22. 22.

    jayboat

    January 22, 2013 at 1:27 pm

    I’m of the camp that wishes Beyonce had put a little more of her trademark ‘stylings’ into the performance.

    But, that’s just me.
    (wink, wink, nudge, nudge…)

  23. 23.

    Zifnab25

    January 22, 2013 at 1:29 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    This is what passes for a scandal in our MSM today, not lying your ass off to kill hundreds of thousands in Iraq?

    In all fairness, that wasn’t a scandal until at least 2005.

    But if it makes you feel better, I can point you over to Reason or RedState, where you can hear all about brave citizen journalists screaming “Unconsta-ma-tutional!” and “You’ll pry my shoulder-mounted death cannon from my cold, flaccid wing-wong!”

  24. 24.

    Ash Can

    January 22, 2013 at 1:31 pm

    Wait till these people find out that bubblegum-pink isn’t Nicki Minaj’s natural hair color.

  25. 25.

    Amir Khalid

    January 22, 2013 at 1:32 pm

    Shrug. Unless Obama secretly appointed Beyonce to his administration, and she was performing as an officer thereof, I don’t see how this embarrasses anyone but her, if that. Given that outdoor performances in winter can be hard on musical instruments (including singers’ throats) she had a perfectly good reason for lip-synching and no cause for shame.

  26. 26.

    Disco

    January 22, 2013 at 1:33 pm

    Why was Beyonce there to begin with?

  27. 27.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    January 22, 2013 at 1:35 pm

    @Disco: To sing the National Anthem.

  28. 28.

    Disco

    January 22, 2013 at 1:35 pm

    @Belafon (formerly anonevent):

    That doesn’t really answer my question.

  29. 29.

    Amir Khalid

    January 22, 2013 at 1:36 pm

    @Disco:
    So your question is … ?

  30. 30.

    artem1s

    January 22, 2013 at 1:36 pm

    @jayboat:

    I’m of the camp that wishes Beyonce had put a little more of her trademark ‘stylings’ into the performance.

    no no no no no no no, seriously, i’m getting to the point where i think the national anthem should, by law, only be performed by a sanctioned military band. it has become a ridiculous spectacle and i’m tired of each and every performer trying to outdo the last. i for one will be really glad when this particular fad passes. if you are going to invite a world class performer to your event, let them perform something singable.

  31. 31.

    justdale

    January 22, 2013 at 1:37 pm

    How is there not a Rosie mug with “Bring on the Meteor”?

  32. 32.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    January 22, 2013 at 1:38 pm

    @artem1s: I don’t think was talking about the singing.

  33. 33.

    Ash Can

    January 22, 2013 at 1:38 pm

    @Disco: Wayne Newton wasn’t available.

  34. 34.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 22, 2013 at 1:39 pm

    @Disco:

    OK, she was there to kidnap the kids to force Obama to invite her to a little ménage à trois with Michelle.

    The Secret Service, however, knowing all about this in advance because JayZ told them about it, put the kibosh on the entire thing.

    Beyonce has been sentenced to life at the Grammys, which Fat Tony Scalia has ruled is not cruel and unusual punishment.

  35. 35.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    January 22, 2013 at 1:39 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    The Marine Band said that they had pre-recorded all their music too just in case. While they played live because the weather turned out nicer than expected you can bet if it had been snowing like had been forecast they would have used the pre-recorded stuff too. Any kind of precip can play hell on the reed instruments in particular. It could be that she woke up with the sniffles that morning and decided to go with the pre-recorded version rather than risk embarrassment to both herself and POTUS. I don’t blame her at all.

  36. 36.

    catclub

    January 22, 2013 at 1:39 pm

    @artem1s: You probably want those kids off your lawn, too. Good luck waiting for your vindication. (I will be there, resigned to it.)

  37. 37.

    suzanne

    January 22, 2013 at 1:41 pm

    Uh, didn’t Whitney lip-synch the Anthem at the Super Bowl when she supposedly did it the best EVAR?!?! Christina Aguilera should have done that the year she effed up the words.

    I want to be Beyonce when I grow up.

  38. 38.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 22, 2013 at 1:41 pm

    @artem1s:

    Or Jimi Hendrix’s version of it.

  39. 39.

    Forum Tramsmitted Disease

    January 22, 2013 at 1:42 pm

    no no no no no no no, seriously, i’m getting to the point where i think the national anthem should, by law, only be performed by a sanctioned military band. it has become a ridiculous spectacle and i’m tired of each and every performer trying to outdo the last.

    @artem1s: As a musician, I could not agree more. It was a ridiculous song in the first place, and then…modern amplification was developed and people started to actually sing the fucking thing.

    Stop.

  40. 40.

    artem1s

    January 22, 2013 at 1:42 pm

    @Belafon (formerly anonevent):
    yea, I know. just getting out the kvetch

  41. 41.

    artem1s

    January 22, 2013 at 1:42 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    amen!

  42. 42.

    Ash Can

    January 22, 2013 at 1:43 pm

    @artem1s:
    @catclub:

    I pretty much agree with artem1s. Those kids are welcome to stay on my lawn if they can sing the damned anthem without screwing around with it and making it all about them.

  43. 43.

    Forum Transmitted Disease

    January 22, 2013 at 1:43 pm

    @artem1s: As a musician, I could not agree more. It was a ridiculous song in the first place, and then…modern amplification was developed and people started to actually sing the fucking thing.

    Stop. Please.

  44. 44.

    Shrillhouse

    January 22, 2013 at 1:44 pm

    Did the people who actually sung on those Milli Vanilli records ever get the Grammys that were rightfully theirs?

    After all, someone had to record those vocals. Unless, it was done by robots.

    If so, did the robots ever get their justly earned Grammys?

    Or would giving the award to a robot cheapen the prestige of the Grammys?

  45. 45.

    Amir Khalid

    January 22, 2013 at 1:46 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:
    That version is all kinds of awesome. It should be played at official events whenever the public is not expected to sing along.

  46. 46.

    Comrade Dread

    January 22, 2013 at 1:47 pm

    @artem1s: Yeah, I think I read that if played and sung properly as it was written, each verse would clock in at 52 seconds, but most performers stretch it out to 2 or 3 times that with their vocal stylings.

  47. 47.

    jl

    January 22, 2013 at 1:48 pm

    Been out of the intertubes loop since Friday mid day. But did hear the president’s inaugural address on the news radio machine out in the boondocks. Liked it, did not have a ‘post-partisan depression’ afterwards.

    Now lets see if my out of the loop training session gives me the discipline to ignore the nonsense.

    Who gives a rat’s whatever if she lip synched it?

  48. 48.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 22, 2013 at 1:48 pm

    @Shrillhouse:

    I think it’s fair to say that the Grammys in that case were awarded on the basis of the video presentation of the song, not the song itself.

  49. 49.

    srv

    January 22, 2013 at 1:48 pm

    That was really a Beyonce animitronic, as she had to take a black helicopter to Newtown to lead the coverup there.

  50. 50.

    artem1s

    January 22, 2013 at 1:49 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    or the Bleeding Gums Murphy version…

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7xixfoG8Ag

  51. 51.

    Pococurante

    January 22, 2013 at 1:49 pm

    No way Sweet Baby James lip-synched.

    No way I say!

  52. 52.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    January 22, 2013 at 1:50 pm

    @Ash Can: I don’t mind that they interpret it, or any songs. Then again, I like both Depeche Mode’s and Lacuna Coils versions of “Enjoy the Silence” and NIN and Johnny Cash’s versions of “Dirt.”

  53. 53.

    Mnemosyne

    January 22, 2013 at 1:51 pm

    What’s funny is that one of the friends I was watching the inauguration with yesterday was convinced Beyonce was lip-syncing because her throat wasn’t moving right. (The friend works in a recording studio, so she knows what the physical act of singing looks like.) She’ll be happy to know she was right, because we were all skeptical!

  54. 54.

    Soonergrunt

    January 22, 2013 at 1:51 pm

    @Amir Khalid: Yo Yo Ma talked about this extensively after the last inauguration. The string quartet did something to their bows so that they wouldn’t make any noise while a recording played because the sound of wood strings in the cold is, to use his words “pretty horrifying.” He also stated that the USMC Band was faking it as well for the same reason, which the USMC Public Affairs office responded with something along the lines about how all their uniforms were just perfect and hey look, a shiny thing!

    The DC Press Corpse is fucking useless.

  55. 55.

    catclub

    January 22, 2013 at 1:51 pm

    @Ash Can: I also agree that it would be nice if they performed it that way. I was just pointing out that such is not going to happen, and he might as well yell at clouds and tell about the onion on his belt, for the amount of change in national anthem performance practice that will ensue from his pointed denunciation of the latest vocal stylings of the yoots.

  56. 56.

    NotMax

    January 22, 2013 at 1:51 pm

    Next: microphones used made in China.

    This is how the republic will end – not with a bang, but with a simper.

  57. 57.

    jl

    January 22, 2013 at 1:53 pm

    Except, damn, I am a hard platinum man. Looks like GOP will fold, at least for next four months on the debt ceiling. Still think Obama should not have given up options in dealing with debt ceiling, but maybe that is just because I wanted some platinum walking money jingling in my pocket. I was looking forward to them platinum coins, with some evil face on ’em.

  58. 58.

    daveNYC

    January 22, 2013 at 1:54 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    OK, she was there to kidnap the kids to force Obama to invite her to a little ménage à trois with Michelle.

    The Secret Service, however, knowing all about this in advance because JayZ told them about it, put the kibosh on the entire thing.

    Beyonce has been sentenced to life at the Grammys, which Fat Tony Scalia has ruled is not cruel and unusual punishment.

    Totally unbelievable. Had that been her plan, Obama would have had the Secret Service hand her as many hostages as was necessary for her to pull off her plan.

  59. 59.

    Comrade Dread

    January 22, 2013 at 1:56 pm

    I think the only remaining question we have is “What did the President know and when did he know it?”

    We’ll need a special prosecutor and an 18 month investigation to find out.

  60. 60.

    SatanicPanic

    January 22, 2013 at 1:58 pm

    How soon til the Nuge is in jail or dead?

  61. 61.

    mouse tolliver

    January 22, 2013 at 1:58 pm

    @Unabogie:

    It’s not like there were any more gun massacres recently…

    Shots fired at a community college in Texas just now. If it’s a day that ends in Y, people are getting shot in the United States.

  62. 62.

    wasabi gasp

    January 22, 2013 at 1:58 pm

    Lip syncing is bullshit. It should be followed by a jiggy hoedown instead of excuses.

  63. 63.

    GregB

    January 22, 2013 at 1:58 pm

    You know who else lip-synched the national anthem?

    Hitler.

  64. 64.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 22, 2013 at 1:59 pm

    @NotMax:

    This is how the republic will end – not with a bang, but with a simper.

    The Marine Corps Band playing “Simper Fideles”?

  65. 65.

    Another Halocene Human

    January 22, 2013 at 1:59 pm

    This is worse than the time Yo-Yo Ma bow-synched his performance of “American Masturbation Fanfare” or whatever the fuck that arrangement was in negative-fuck-your-instrument-up degree weather at the last inauguration!

    Orly Taitz will be looking into this post haste!

  66. 66.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 22, 2013 at 2:01 pm

    @SatanicPanic:

    I think he’s still got until sometime in April before his own prophecy is due.

  67. 67.

    Shrillhouse

    January 22, 2013 at 2:03 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Technically, the Grammy was for “Best New Artist” So, that would suggest that meant singing…

  68. 68.

    AxelFoley

    January 22, 2013 at 2:04 pm

    @Disco:

    Why was Beyonce there to begin with?

    Exercising her rights as a citizen who votes? Or better yet, minding her own fucking business?

    What’s it to you?

  69. 69.

    Naugty Noo-Noo

    January 22, 2013 at 2:07 pm

    Wow. Because performers only use DAT a lot. Especially when outdoors in iffy weather.

    For someone singing the National Anthem during the Inauguration and aware fifty zillion people will release the kraken if she doesn’t nail each note, pre-recorded would be the way to go.

  70. 70.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    January 22, 2013 at 2:08 pm

    I was listening to an interesting tidbit on MSNBC on Monday, (I think it was from Rachael) she was saying that while we think today’s congress is disfunctional the reason the inauguration is held outside to begin with is that one year (don’t remember which) the two parties couldn’t decide which chairs to use when it was held indoors so they just said “sod it” and moved it outside. Fun fact.

  71. 71.

    Napoleon

    January 22, 2013 at 2:08 pm

    @Disco:

    Why was Beyonce there to begin with?

    Have you ever seen Beyonce? She can go anywhere she wants to.

  72. 72.

    Another Halocene Human

    January 22, 2013 at 2:09 pm

    @Comrade Dread: Why all the stylings hate? The song sounds stupid, and very British. The stylings, while not unique to American music, are an American tradition and the specific style in which they are done owes a lot to Gospel music, making it most certainly ‘our thing’.

    Shorter: as long as we’re going to continue to call that POS our “national anthem” what’s wrong with doing it our way?

    Also, too, singing that song is like singing “Pomp & Circumstance” but if you do sing it, it should be with dotted quarter notes, kinda like the Handel theme (Sarabande) from Barry Lyndon? And a springier tempo, like the horn arrangements. Should sound a bit like “When the Homefront Goes Marching Along” but without the jazziness.

  73. 73.

    Linda Featheringill

    January 22, 2013 at 2:10 pm

    @SatanicPanic:

    79 days.

    http://countingdownto.com/countdown/176293

  74. 74.

    JustAnotherBob

    January 22, 2013 at 2:11 pm

    @artem1s: The Star Spangled Banner is a terrible piece of music. I don’t care what people do when they sing it, I’ll turn down the volume on all versions.

    It’s a new century. Can’t we adopt a new piece of music?

    I’ll nominate “This Land is Our Land”. I’m much more into redwood forests than bombs bursting overhead.

  75. 75.

    jibeaux

    January 22, 2013 at 2:12 pm

    Obviously the guillotine is too good for her, but that baby is really right cute so I say let’s call it a draw and move on.

    For the second time, I’m watching a live feed of the President and the Mrs. greeting visitors to the White House. I don’t know why, but I find it really moving. They’re just naturals at it.

  76. 76.

    jp7505a

    January 22, 2013 at 2:13 pm

    OT – if it’s Tue what college campus is being shot up today. early reports 3 hurt by gunfire at Lone Star College in texas(sigh)

  77. 77.

    Another Halocene Human

    January 22, 2013 at 2:13 pm

    Hell, that song is actually crying for baroque/early Classical “stylings”.

    I want to hear a very precise Mozart soprano take it on.

    Maybe then we can all agree that “God Save The Queen” ought to have been left in Old Europe where it belongs.

  78. 78.

    Another Halocene Human

    January 22, 2013 at 2:14 pm

    @jp7505a: Who knew that wingnut heads exploding would cause so much collateral damage?

  79. 79.

    Comrade Dread

    January 22, 2013 at 2:15 pm

    Why all the stylings hate?

    I don’t know, because it seems like a challenge for all singers to try and fluff the piece so they end up dragging it out and stretching it out until the song becomes a tedious musical death march turning a three hour sporting event into what seems like a 6 hour one. /hyperbole

    52 seconds is fast and upbeat.

  80. 80.

    Another Halocene Human

    January 22, 2013 at 2:16 pm

    @wasabi gasp: Andrew Jackson, America’s First Redneck President, started his term with a beer-soaked hoedown. That didn’t end too well for the Cherokee Nation all rednecks claim lineage from.

  81. 81.

    Joshua Norton

    January 22, 2013 at 2:17 pm

    Oh boo freaking hoo wingnutters. That’s pretty much the standard way of performing now.

    When you’ve shelled out $125 to see “Wicked” and find out EVERYTHING is pre-recorded and lip-synched then you may have a reason to bitch.

    Until then STFU with your non-existant “scandals”.

  82. 82.

    joeyess

    January 22, 2013 at 2:17 pm

    Congressional hearing in the House of Representatives must be convened immediately to get to the bottom of this nefarious, Kenyan/Muslim/Soshoolist plot to undermine the meritocratic integrity of the evil leftwing media complex.

    … or something like that.

  83. 83.

    catclub

    January 22, 2013 at 2:18 pm

    @JustAnotherBob: I really wish for this. Or better yet, replace that saccharine singing of America the Beautiful in seventh innings of baseball games with it.

  84. 84.

    Poopyman

    January 22, 2013 at 2:20 pm

    BREAKING! MUST CREDIT WEIGEL!

    @daveweigel I was more alarmed by “Obama’s On Fire”.
    __
    — Luke Dones (@lukedones) January 22, 2013

  85. 85.

    Cassidy

    January 22, 2013 at 2:21 pm

    @Comrade Dread: I honestly don’t like that up and down thing that modern R&B singers do with their voice. I have no idea what it’s called. I think it’s pointless filler. I’m also biased as I don’t like any R&B after Motown.

  86. 86.

    Another Halocene Human

    January 22, 2013 at 2:21 pm

    @Comrade Dread: It’s only tedious if the artist sucks, like with anything pretentious. It’s not pretense if you know what the fuck you’re doing, but heaven help you if you’re pretending to be something you’re not.

    If you did it in the antique style, though, it would sound furri’n. Not sure the baseball crowd would go for that. Plus, they need the extra time in the anthem to relieve their “pre-loaded” beer bladders without missing any crucial game moments.

  87. 87.

    gogol's wife

    January 22, 2013 at 2:23 pm

    @Another Halocene Human:

    That sounds great to me. I really like the tune. I hate “This Land Is Your Land.” What a yawn, musically.

  88. 88.

    Jim Faith

    January 22, 2013 at 2:23 pm

    @artem1s:

    In general I agree – but Marvin Gaye

  89. 89.

    Amir Khalid

    January 22, 2013 at 2:24 pm

    @Soonergrunt:
    Maybe they should have played the John Cage composition that consists of someone just sitting and staring at a piano for four and a half minutes. Guaranteed no acoustic problems.

  90. 90.

    catclub

    January 22, 2013 at 2:24 pm

    @Cassidy: “up and down thing”

    Yodeling? Who doesn’t like yodeling?

  91. 91.

    Another Halocene Human

    January 22, 2013 at 2:24 pm

    @Joshua Norton: Hm, don’t feel so bad going to high school musicals any more.

    NFW I’m paying that kind of dosh (plus travel expenses!) to watch something pre-recorded. Opera is live, you fucking fuckers, and that’s a hell of a lot harder to sing.

    No offense to musical performers… but let’s be real: a voice to fill the Met is an extremely specific and difficult to acquire skill.

  92. 92.

    Mandalay

    January 22, 2013 at 2:24 pm

    @JustAnotherBob:

    It’s a new century. Can’t we adopt a new piece of music?

    Why not the Internationale? It’s stirring lyrics opposing tyranny should appeal just as much to the NRA as the Marxist Revolutionary Party led by comrade Obama…

    And if those cannibals keep trying,
    To sacrifice us to their pride,
    They soon shall hear the bullets flying,
    We’ll shoot the generals on our own side.

    What a great way to bring Americans together!

  93. 93.

    gogol's wife

    January 22, 2013 at 2:24 pm

    @Cassidy:

    melisma

  94. 94.

    NotMax

    January 22, 2013 at 2:27 pm

    @JustAnotherBob

    t’s a new century. Can’t we adopt a new piece of music?

    The neocons/preppers/tricorn zombies, etc., being preternaturally unhip, might adopt this tune without a hint of comprehension of the irony of doing so.

  95. 95.

    Another Halocene Human

    January 22, 2013 at 2:28 pm

    @gogol’s wife: This Land Is Your land would really stand out at the Olympics, though. Especially an acoustic guitar rendition with maybe a mandolin picking in the background. So there’s that. Our anthem’s only saving grace is that it sounds nice with brass instruments, unlike “O Canada”, which sounds silly no matter how you play it.

  96. 96.

    Ed Drone

    January 22, 2013 at 2:30 pm

    @the Conster:
    Call it the “Air-bow” technique.

    Ed

  97. 97.

    gogol's wife

    January 22, 2013 at 2:31 pm

    @Another Halocene Human:

    I actually love the old Soviet hymn. I wish we could adopt that, musically speaking.

  98. 98.

    Cassidy

    January 22, 2013 at 2:31 pm

    @catclub: My coworkers are wondering what I cracked up about.

    @gogol’s wife: Gesundheit

  99. 99.

    artem1s

    January 22, 2013 at 2:33 pm

    @Another Halocene Human:

    unlike “O Canada”, which sounds silly no matter how you play it.

    I’ve always liked O Canada, but then again I don’t have to listen to it all that much

  100. 100.

    Punchy

    January 22, 2013 at 2:33 pm

    Remember, not only do guns not kill people, but guns dont kill people

  101. 101.

    Jim C

    January 22, 2013 at 2:33 pm

    @Disco:

    Why was Beyonce there to begin with?

    Here’s a guess: She was invited to sing.

    Maybe I’m wrong though. Maybe, before the President[-Elect] comes out, they call out to the crowd for a volunteer to sing – provided the volunteer has brought a backing track of vocal sweeteners, of course. Beyonce and her husband just happened to be about 100,000 people back in the crowd, decided she was capable enough, and were then ushered forth to sit among the VIPs like Morgan Freeman, I mean, Bill Russell.

    And, if you have a hard boiled egg in your purse, you can administer the Oath of Office.

  102. 102.

    gogol's wife

    January 22, 2013 at 2:34 pm

    @Cassidy:

    I was answering your question about the up-and-down thingy!

    Here’s the Soviet hymn:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yDrtNEr_5M

  103. 103.

    SatanicPanic

    January 22, 2013 at 2:35 pm

    @Comrade Dread: This. The song is awful, let’s not prolong the awfulness.

  104. 104.

    Cassidy

    January 22, 2013 at 2:36 pm

    @gogol’s wife: I know. It’s rare that I ever get to use that bit of old comedy and couldn’t pass it up.

    Thank you, though. I looked it up. Maybe it’s something about R&B singers doing it that bothers me, because I love Middle Eastern singing.

  105. 105.

    jimmy higgins

    January 22, 2013 at 2:37 pm

    no nipple, no foul…

  106. 106.

    NotMax

    January 22, 2013 at 2:39 pm

    @Another Halocene Human

    No offense to musical performers… but let’s be real: a voice to fill the Met is an extremely specific and difficult to acquire skill.

    Reminded of the time I saw Ethel Merman in a revival of Annie Get Your Gun on the Great White Way.

    This was in the earliest era of having Broadway performers mic’d. Some on the stage were, very obviously (there was a speaker on a wall behind us, which made for the disconcerting effect of just some of the voices coming from the wrong direction).

    Sitting in the next to the last row in the nosebleed section of the theater, Merman (no mic) was too loud. But glorious nonetheless.

  107. 107.

    gogol's wife

    January 22, 2013 at 2:39 pm

    @Cassidy:

    Yes, it’s just a technique, which can be very beautiful and meaningful if used correctly. But I agree with you that it’s become an overused cliche among the “American Idol/X Factor” set.

  108. 108.

    catclub

    January 22, 2013 at 2:41 pm

    @Cassidy: “Gesundheit”

    I was thinking some kind of skin cancer. [melisma]

  109. 109.

    catclub

    January 22, 2013 at 2:44 pm

    @NotMax: … and I like when Robin Williams does Ethel Merman singing ‘Silent Night’,
    in “Good Morning Vietnam”.

  110. 110.

    NotMax

    January 22, 2013 at 2:46 pm

    Speaking of the national anthem, the almost never performed third and fourth stanzas:

    And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
    That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,
    A home and a country, should leave us no more?
    Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
    No refuge could save the hireling and slave
    From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
    And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,
    O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

    O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
    Between their loved home and the war’s desolation.
    Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n rescued land
    Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
    Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
    And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.”
    And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
    O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

  111. 111.

    Soonergrunt

    January 22, 2013 at 2:47 pm

    @Amir Khalid: But then our wingers and press corpse would lead with “Obama supporter has no musical talent, and was hired under affirmative action!”
    Win-win!

  112. 112.

    Another Halocene Human

    January 22, 2013 at 2:47 pm

    @artem1s: Ever tried to sing the first line?

    It’s like “O Holy Night” or the bridge in the national anthem.

    But worse, it sounds kinda dumpy even if you pull it off without that kazoo-like vocal slide.

    Wait, comparing “O Sainte Nuit” to O Canada is doing the former a grave disservice.

  113. 113.

    Arm The Homeless

    January 22, 2013 at 2:50 pm

    @Belafon (formerly anonevent): Do you mean Hurt?

    /pedant

  114. 114.

    artem1s

    January 22, 2013 at 2:53 pm

    @Another Halocene Human:

    OK, hardly ever have to listen to it; never had to sing it! LOL.

    national anthems = great for orchestration and listening, horrible for actual singing!

    thank the FSM no one ever tries to sing the Stars and Stripes Forever, or at least not often enough to matter. Great march, horrible lyrics and impossible to sing. And you miss all that great counter melody stuff.

  115. 115.

    Another Halocene Human

    January 22, 2013 at 2:53 pm

    @NotMax: God, I’m jealous.

  116. 116.

    johnny aquitard

    January 22, 2013 at 2:58 pm

    @GregB: Maybe he did it because he only had a 1-octave range?

  117. 117.

    Mike E

    January 22, 2013 at 2:59 pm

    @catclub: You mean God Bless America at the old ballgame, which became de rigueur after 9/11. I’d much prefer “purple mountains majesty” over that overwrought schmaltz any day of the week.

  118. 118.

    Anna in PDX

    January 22, 2013 at 3:00 pm

    @artem1s: AMEN a thousand times to this comment.

  119. 119.

    LanceThruster

    January 22, 2013 at 3:01 pm

    New Rule – All lip sync performances must be done in Japanese monstor movie voiceover dub style such as in the orginal “Godzilla.”

    That is all.

  120. 120.

    johnny aquitard

    January 22, 2013 at 3:02 pm

    @johnny aquitard: His friends urged him to sing tenor. Ten or twelve miles away.

    After a few rehearsals they finally convinced him to sing solo. Solo no one can hear.

  121. 121.

    catclub

    January 22, 2013 at 3:05 pm

    @Mike E: I sit corrected.

  122. 122.

    NotMax

    January 22, 2013 at 3:06 pm

    @LanceThruster

    Corollary: Gangnam style also permitted.

  123. 123.

    Anna in PDX

    January 22, 2013 at 3:09 pm

    @Joshua Norton: Yeah our local ballet does some of its Nutcracker performance with a prerecorded orchestra instead of a live one in the pit. the horror. (Makes ticket prices cheaper – too bad though in my book because I am all for supporting musicians)

  124. 124.

    Alex S.

    January 22, 2013 at 3:17 pm

    Meh, Beyoncé, I don’t like her. Four years ago, Aretha sang live, ok, it was not perfect, but Beyoncé is too robotic for me.

  125. 125.

    Neddie Jingo

    January 22, 2013 at 3:22 pm

    @Cassidy:

    I honestly don’t like that up and down thing that modern R&B singers do with their voice. I have no idea what it’s called.

    Miasma

    Melisma

  126. 126.

    gelfling545

    January 22, 2013 at 3:25 pm

    @artem1s: The lyrics in French are quite religious of a Christian persuasion.

  127. 127.

    gelfling545

    January 22, 2013 at 3:27 pm

    I heard on our local classical music station that the US is unusual in that in most countries people aren’t actually expected to sing their national anthems.

  128. 128.

    Haydnseek

    January 22, 2013 at 3:36 pm

    @Shrillhouse: At this point, it is impossible to further cheapen the prestige of the Grammys.

  129. 129.

    Jay in Oregon

    January 22, 2013 at 3:52 pm

    How can we be worried about Beyonce or Michelle Obama’s eye-roll when our students are being indoctrinated into liberalism through algebra?

    http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/01/10/eric-bolling-schools-pushing-the-liberal-agenda-by-teaching-algebra/

    Surely there are better ways to turn oxygen into CO2, that we don’t need people like Bolling around.

  130. 130.

    Haydnseek

    January 22, 2013 at 3:55 pm

    @Jay in Oregon: Or, as Barack HUSSEIN Obama was taught at the madrassa, al-jebbra.

  131. 131.

    AA+ Bonds

    January 22, 2013 at 4:04 pm

    I would love to see a video of everyone in Congress singing the national anthem alone, in a room, one after the other

  132. 132.

    Jerzy Russian

    January 22, 2013 at 4:06 pm

    @Poopyman: OK, some of those tweets are funny.

  133. 133.

    MaxxLange

    January 22, 2013 at 4:13 pm

    The Star-Spangled Banner has a melody that spans, IIRC, an octave and a fifth, which guarantees that almost no one can sing it well. It’s a strange choice.

  134. 134.

    FlipYrWhig

    January 22, 2013 at 4:22 pm

    @gogol’s wife: @Neddie Jingo: What’s the difference between “melisma” and “coloratura”?

  135. 135.

    Jerzy Russian

    January 22, 2013 at 4:23 pm

    @Jay in Oregon: You owe me several IQ points that were lost when I clicked on your link. Not even the Onion could invent that kind of stupidity.

  136. 136.

    Maude

    January 22, 2013 at 4:35 pm

    The MSM was looking for a juicy tid bit about the inauguration. Obama and the planners cheated them.

  137. 137.

    lojasmo

    January 22, 2013 at 4:37 pm

    @MaxxLange:

    I used to be able to sing it fairly well.\\\\When I sang regularly.

  138. 138.

    gogol's wife

    January 22, 2013 at 4:41 pm

    @FlipYrWhig:

    I’m going to attempt to answer this without googling for precision, but I think the difference would be that melisma is bending a note, while coloratura involves a lot of notes sung fast, but you don’t bend them.

  139. 139.

    MattR

    January 22, 2013 at 4:47 pm

    @Jay in Oregon: @Jerzy Russian: Wow. That level of stupidity is pretty amazing. At the same time, I bet there are a ton of people who don’t know the distributive property by name and it would have been nice for Raw Story to explain what it is so all the readers can realize how much of an ado about nothing the Fox idiots are making.

    C*(A+B) = (C*A)+(C*B)

  140. 140.

    PurpleGirl

    January 22, 2013 at 4:50 pm

    @MaxxLange: It’s an English drinking song — you can only sing it when you’re blitzed. You may not be able to remember the words but you’ll hit the notes (although maybe not in the right order).

  141. 141.

    Elie

    January 22, 2013 at 4:58 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    LOL!! Great idea! What a hoot…

  142. 142.

    Origuy

    January 22, 2013 at 5:12 pm

    The “standard” version of the tune of SSB is the creation of a committee.

    By the early 20th century, there were various versions of the song in popular use. Seeking a singular, standard version, President Woodrow Wilson tasked the U.S. Bureau of Education with providing that official version. In response, the Bureau enlisted the help of five musicians to agree upon an arrangement. Those musicians were: Walter Damrosch, William Earhart, Arnold J. Gantvoort, Oscar George Sonneck and John Philip Sousa. The standardized version that was voted upon by these five musicians premiered at Carnegie Hall on December 5, 1917 in a program that included Edward Elgar’s Carillon and Gabriel Pierné’s The Children’s Crusade. The concert was put on by the Oratorio Society of New York and conducted by Walter Damrosch.[7] An official handwritten version of the final votes of these five men has been found and shows all five men’s votes tallied, measure by measure.

  143. 143.

    Comrade Nimrod Humperdink

    January 22, 2013 at 5:29 pm

    Darrell Issa, Champion of the People, answer the call! This aggression will not stand, man!

  144. 144.

    LanceThruster

    January 22, 2013 at 5:53 pm

    @AA+ Bonds:

    I tried doing it in the shower (singing, that is) and realized how unsure I was of the lyrics (but I still sounded awesome thanks to shower stall acoustics).

  145. 145.

    LanceThruster

    January 22, 2013 at 7:00 pm

    @artem1s:

    x2

  146. 146.

    Hob

    January 22, 2013 at 7:18 pm

    Unless there’s been some further update to the update to the confirmation, the news reports do not fucking say that Beyoncé was lip-syncing. She was singing along to a recorded instrumental track— in other words, the Marine Band was basically playing air guitar.

  147. 147.

    LanceThruster

    January 22, 2013 at 7:19 pm

    @Hob:

    OMG – Even more grounds for impeachment!

  148. 148.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 22, 2013 at 8:37 pm

    @MaxxLange:

    It’s a drinking song, it’s supposed to be that way!

  149. 149.

    Patricia Kayden

    January 22, 2013 at 9:12 pm

    @GregB: LOL. Say that loudly enough and the Rightwingers will believe it.

Comments are closed.

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