In perhaps a telling omen before a crushing Houston Astros choke job in Game 1 of the World Series, a six-time Grammy-nominated singer absolutely butchered “The Star-Spangled Banner” prior to the game.
Eric Burton is the lead singer of a group called the Black Pumas and was tapped for the singing of the national anthem before the game in Houston, the New York Post reported. The Astros were hosting the Philadelphia Phillies.
You can watch the debacle below:
MONUMENTAL interpretación del #NationalAnthem por Eric Burton en Houston ????#MLBenFOX presenta #WorldSeries, juego 1 en FOX Deportes. ⚾? pic.twitter.com/KgxbSsN1e0
— foxdeportes.eth (@FOXDeportes) October 28, 2022
How did Burton butcher the national anthem? Let us count the ways.
“What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last streaming,” he sang. It should’ve been “gleaming.” “Streaming” appears in the next line:
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
O’er the ramparts we watch’d were so gallantly streaming?
Perhaps Burton was just really upset that all five “Twilight” movies recently left Peacock.
This is where things got very weird.
Burton continued after flubbing “gleaming,” moving on to “Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight.”
After successfully getting through that portion of the anthem, Burton seemingly backtracked to fix his past mistake. Except he made the same mistake again!
“What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last streaming,” Burton sang again.
To be fair to Burton, he finished the national anthem without any further mistakes. That didn’t stop an outpouring of criticism from frustrated viewers.
One Twitter user pointed out that Burton didn’t just mess up the lyrics, but the pitch and tempo as well. He called it “pathetic” that Burton didn’t know the words to the song.
Eric Burton just sang the National Anthem in four different keys, with three different tempos, and rearranged half the words. Pathetic that he doesn’t even know the words to the NA that he is paid to sing. #WorldSeries #nationalanthem
— Mario Massillamany (@VoteMario) October 29, 2022
Another Twitter user opted for brevity by using a single word to describe the performance: “Embarrassing.”
Embarrassing
— Snoopy3250 (@Snoopy32501) October 29, 2022
Again, to be fair to Burton, this was a big performance on an even bigger stage. Mistakes happen.
But Burton’s performance in Houston was a far cry from some notable national anthems of the past. Compare the debacle that happened Friday night in Houston to this performance by Whitney Houston at Super Bowl XXV:
As for the game itself, if Houstonians were upset about the botching of the national anthem, they had to be downright apoplectic about what happened on the diamond.
The Astros jumped out to an early 5-0 lead going into the fourth inning. By all indications, it looked like the Astros were about to cruise to a 1-0 World Series lead.
And yet! That’s why we play the game. The Astros promptly gave up five runs over the next two innings before the Phillies won in extras. A 10th-inning home run from J.T. Realmuto sealed the deal and the comeback for Philadelphia.
The Astros, perhaps rightfully vilified by many for their sign-stealing scandal, will look to even the series on Saturday night as they host the Phillies for Game 2.
CORRECTION, Oct. 31, 2022: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the word “streaming” does not appear in “The Star-Spanged Banner.” It is used in the first stanza: “Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight, O’er the ramparts we watch’d were so gallantly streaming?”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
