Oh! Canada?

DrTyore

Seriously..

People are po'd at Nelly Furtado doing a slightly (and I mean slightly) differing version on the national anthem? I'm not an NBA watcher, but I started hearing the pissing and moaning, so checked it out.

Furtado is an artist, and part of their whole gig is to make society look at things in different ways. Her version of the song is fine. It's not like she started another verse with some kind of political statement or something (hell, she even kept "God" in it).

It's shit like this that makes me die inside when people say "oh you left wingers make a big deal out of stupid little things" (you know, like, not calling people "retarded", or not going xenophobic for refugees). But no, if you sing the national anthem a little different, it's suddenly "disrespectful".... hell, Jimi Hendrix's start spangled banner is anthemic and rebellious, it's a message from an artist, and meant to make people question their point of view. If that got people mad at the time (I wasn't around - Compuease?), it was for a point... that the "hippies" were just as proud of their nation as the "squares", but had a different idea of what it meant to be American. Furtado isn't trying anything like that, she's just singing a song the way she thought was nice. Good for her.

Now, if having the fella accompany her on the flute was a statement... it was done with class and with beauty.... not things I'd be against Canada being known for.

Mark

Card Dead

I think people were more upset because it sucked, rather than because it was different.

Milo

Your Hendrix comparison is a bad one. He did his at a rock concert. A certain amount of "performance" is to be expected. At an event like the All-Star game, the Artist is there to sing the song . . . period. Not to adapt it, not to get people to think about a particular message the Artist wants to convey . . . sing the song. There is also the point that it is a song to celebrate this Nation, and so to bring the audience "into" the performance. You cannot do this with a non-traditional presentation of the Anthem. There is a reason folks think that Whitney Houston performed the best US Anthem at a Super Bowl. She just sang the damn song, which is a hard enough task for both the US and Canadian Anthems.

Furtado's performance was about her, rather than about the country, and that is why I hated it. they would have been better off with a tape of Roger Doucette.

Also, she altered it more than "slightly". Tempo, pitch, range . . .

Toronto Pimp

What Milo said sums it up perfectly.

Hellmuth's Mole

Conservatives gonna conservative.

Milo

Hellmuth's Mole wrote: »

Canadian gonna Canadian.

Fixed it for you.

If Nelly Furtado wants to fuck around with Amazing Grace, or Hey Jude, she should knock herself out. but the Anthem is not "hers" to mess about with, It's ours. What is one thing you always hear at sports events, when the Anthems are sung? The crowd sings along. They get involved. How many people singing along with Nelly? That should tell you all you need to know. Only way it could have been worse is if they would have asked Steven Tyler to show up.

DrTyore

Milo wrote: »

Your Hendrix comparison is a bad one. He did his at a rock concert. A certain amount of "performance" is to be expected. At an event like the All-Star game, the Artist is there to sing the song . . . period. Not to adapt it, not to get people to think about a particular message the Artist wants to convey . . . sing the song. There is also the point that it is a song to celebrate this Nation, and so to bring the audience "into" the performance. You cannot do this with a non-traditional presentation of the Anthem. There is a reason folks think that Whitney Houston performed the best US Anthem at a Super Bowl. She just sang the damn song, which is a hard enough task for both the US and Canadian Anthems.

Furtado's performance was about her, rather than about the country, and that is why I hated it. they would have been better off with a tape of Roger Doucette.

Also, she altered it more than "slightly". Tempo, pitch, range . . .

Vocal majority thought it was the best... WASPS perhaps? I don't see how NF's performance was somehow about her... I don't know if she is a Native Canadian, and if so... well, if I didn't know, I don't know how many others would have gotten that message..

There's no particular drawback to her version that is substantially demonstrated.

Mark

SteveKerr

I really don't see the big deal.

Sounded like the national anthem to me.

Milo

DrTyore wrote: »

I don't see how NF's performance was somehow about her.
Mark

Making the changes she did, as opposed to just singing it as written, speaks to a "look at me, aren't I creative?" attitude. Just sing the song, we already know she is a good performer. People are expecting the Anthem, not an "interpretation".

Sorry, it was as inappropriate as a fart in Church.

Hellmuth's Mole

I'm sure the implication is that Milo is more "Canadian" than Nelly Furtado for her "fucking around" with the national anthem, or me for that matter since I didn't hate it like I should have. I would expect nothing less from you.

The mention that the anthem is not hers to mess with is ridiculous. She's Canadian. There is no law in our Charter of Rights and Freedoms that even pretends to restrict how it is performed. It is part of the public domain and if the little bit of artistic license she took offends you, then you are the hyper sensitive twat I took you for. I'm more offended by the white guys who have to yell it full throated through the microphone at sporting events and follow it up with fist pumps as though it makes their balls a little more "Maple Leafy" than everyone else. But I never would have thought to make a big deal about how inappropriate I find that.

Milo

I didn't post the thread, I merely responded. As for your personal comments, no, I do not think I am "more" Canadian than you. You were the one making a crack at either myself or Toronto Pimp (Conservatives gonna conservative). I merely responded in kind, seeing as how being entitled to one's own opinion is a Canadian value, not a conservative one.

But feel free to have whatever opinion of me you feel justified in, if that makes you feel better about yourself. Hell, you still think I'm a Leafs fan, for Christ's sake. If that is how good a read you have on me, I should worry about the rest of your drivel?
Off to watch Better Call Saul . . . you folks have a good night.

Hellmuth's Mole

Milo wrote: »

I didn't post the thread, I merely responded. As for your personal comments, no, I do not think I am "more" Canadian than you. You were the one making a crack at either myself or Toronto Pimp (Conservatives gonna conservative). I merely responded in kind, seeing as how being entitled to one's own opinion is a Canadian value, not a conservative one.

But feel free to have whatever opinion of me you feel justified in, if that makes you feel better about yourself. Hell, you still think I'm a Leafs fan, for Christ's sake. If that is how good a read you have on me, I should worry about the rest of your drivel?
Off to watch Better Call Saul . . . you folks have a good night.

I never quoted you or Pimp in my post. I made an assumption about those most likely to be offended by her performance. You feel like you're being picked on...shocking.

I've posted a handful of times in the past couple years and often I hear your excuse as to dismiss anything I have to say is because I think you're a Leafs fan. I don't know where you get that from or what the fuck that has to do with anything but could you please come up with something new?

EDIT: I should also note that being I'm not 12 years old any more, I have NOTHING against Leaf fans. In fact fans of any team in any sport are fine to follow their hearts. Except Red Sox fans...huge douchebags.

Toronto Pimp

I have to practice my bluff face and figure out if I should save this hoodie for the $ 5000.

Also practicing fake knocking over my chips when going all in with the stone Nuts.

have to go pack my poker costumes..... bye for now


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Milo

Still think the giraffe hat wins.

TeezNutzAK

I liked that she included an aboriginal and the flute was a nice touch. The rest of it sucked (imo). Good for her for trying to stay relevant.

DrTyore

Whoa... and this one had the audacity to not refer to all people as dudes!!

[video=youtube_share;MB7MNNHGzYg]

Re-reading this thread, I think it's better that the people aren't singing along - much to HM's point - the people bellowing drunkenly along aren't quite doing our image any favours. I personally think that different renditions make us look at it again, look at what the lyrics are saying, listen to the differing "takes" makes us remember that "I" am not the only one to interpret what it means to be Canadian. In this thread we had a mellow, potentially native-influenced version, and now a down-homey, bluegrass feeling one. We've heard the original everyday in school, and you know what? They're all just fine. It's nice to be reminded that perhaps someone in Iqaluit sees Canada a little differently than someone perhaps out of Alberta, or in Ontario, but I'd bet that most still love Canada.
Now if only we'd drop the whole "British Royalty" dog and pony show

Mark

Milo

True enough . . . my personal preference would be to remove the anthems from sporting events altogether. but that is another matter entirely. The teams may play IN Canada (or the US), but the do not play FOR Canada (or the US), after all.

moose

Having just returned from Seattle for three Jays games, in some ways I feel the anthem is not for the teams but the fans. Yes, we drunkenly belted out O Canada and it was a great moment and feeling. In fact we were a bit late getting to the third game and mmoose remarked that she was disappointed to have missed the anthems.

Milo

That's just conditioning . . . if they stopped it outright beginning next season it would be "weird" for the first month or so. After that . . . people wouldn't care.

It's a "tribal thing" for the fans. In Europe they have similar things, but it is on a Club by Club basis. Liverpool and Feyenoord fans sing "You'll Never Walk Alone", West Ham supporters belt out "I'm Blowing Bubbles", etc. National anthems are a poor substitute.

roketinpoket

National anthems belong at national events. When countries collide. I'm really not in favor of anyone messing with an anthem in an international setting, which is exactly what it is when two nations are competing. I also don't understand why teams visit the president/prime minister after winning.