OK,
Beyonce LipSync’d the National Anthem and she sang her medley of perishable non-memorable hits “LIVE.”
Anyone hardly even know what LIVE means anymore??? Yes, she cranked up the mains and left her full-on backing track pumping loudly in her monitors so you mostly heard her, and faintly heard everything she prepared. She really could have just skyped the entire show in but she had something to prove. Back when she was young, she sang a capella on late night shows. She was one of the few artists who didn’t put a rider in their contract refusing all a capella songs, even Happy Birthday. Many artists resented her that. She was very talented. She can sing like a bird, and she often does, but she isn’t very courageous and she most likely never wrote a real song in her life.
Flash forward to the present. She has been singing more and more with the Backing Track dialed in and cranked up to… well to 11. Yupper, she can’t dance OR sing live as well as Madonna. (and that’s not saying much.) Should we compare/contrast her voice with Odetta’s? Aretha? Mario Lanza? Nina Simone. South Park’s Chef even… OK I’ll stop there. As for dancing, right! She’s no madonna, she’s not even a Paula Abdul or a Janet Jackson. In fact can I complain about something as far as dance moves go? Janet and Paula already did all that. I rarely see anything done by anyone that hasn’t already been regimented 15 times already the past 50 years! (except maybe Pink but that’s different)
Who’s going to be the next James Brown, Little Richard, Madonna or MJ? It’s not Nicky Minaj and it’s not Lady Gaga and it darned sure isn’t Ms. Knowles.
So OK, she admitted publicly she lip sync’d the National Anthem, and then belted it out a capella to show the world that she can carry a tune if asked. And then she proceeded to lip sync a medley of potent soundbytes during the Superbowl’s halftime that was so stunningly flawless that she can now forever say she did it “live.” Yup, virtually live. What’s the truth-in-advertising quotient on that one, does it have to be 26% live to call it “live?” Well she nailed it at something like 66% or more. Yay. Happy for her.
Songs that are “not worth lip-syncing!” as many of my friends keep suggesting, I’m serious people. We’re going to remember “Yesterday,” and “Summertime,” “Johnny B Goode” and “Follow The Drinking Gourd” forever, trust me. “Wipe Out,” yes, and the “Hawaii 5-0 Theme song;” but “put a ring on it?” “If I were a boy?” “Me myself and I???” Oh come on. I already attribute “If I were a boy” to little Mimi Sledge of the Sledge Grits band because she does it with just vocals and an acoustic guitar better than Beyonce EVER could.
Well, Pete Seeger, his Grandson Tao and Bruce Springsteen led a civic choir of hundreds in This Land is Your Land. 100% live with a very meaningful song. All the verses to boot! Not a backing track to be found for miles. I would challenge people like Beyonce to write a real song for once or get out of the way so people like Beyonce’s little sister Solange, Frank Waln, Kinnie Starr, Crystal Crow Dog, Wab Kinew and I can make our way up there where we belong.
Idle No More.
That’s all I can say for now.
Pete Seeger sings “This Land Is Your Land” for President Obama’s Inauguration
follow the drinking gourd: (Audio)
Immortalized song Summertime from Porgy and Bess.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_db7zHR7cc
Same for Johnny B Goode