Christina Aguilera Mangles 'Star-Spangled Banner' at Super Bowl
Feb. 6, 2011— -- What would Super Bowl entertainment be without a little malfunction?
Singer Christina Aguilera got things off on the wrong foot tonight at Super Bowl XLV, when she mangled the lyrics of "The Star-Spangled Banner," to kick off the meeting between the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers.
The pop star botched the line, "O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming," repeating an earlier line of the song, though she messed up that one, too.
She sang "What so proudly we watched at the twilight's last gleaming," but in that line, it is supposed to be "hailed," not "watched."
Aguilera issued an apology which read: ""I got so caught up in the moment of the song that I lost my place. I can only hope that everyone could feel my love for this country and that the true spirit of its anthem still came through."
"The Star-Spangled Banner" is a notoriously difficult song to sing, though the problem most performers have is with the range of the song, not the words.
At the Super Bowl in 2001, Macy Gray was booed for her off-key rendition of the national anthem.
At least Aguilera hit the notes, but she didn't seem to learn from her experience at the Pro Football Hall of Fame exhibition game in Canton, Ohio, her home state, when she also couldn't remember the words.
After that experience, she told The Associated Press: "That was definitely life's most embarrassing moment."
For football fans, though, Aguilera's flub might have looked small compared to Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's woes.
"Big Ben" threw two interceptions in the first half, both of which led to Green Bay touchdowns as the Packers took a 21-10 halftime lead, on the way to a 31-25 victory.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
