On Thursday night, Team Canada defeated Team Europe to win the World Cup of Hockey. While there was impressive hockey played throughout the tournament, it’s this bizarre, gawdawful rendition of O Canada before Thursday’s game that’s having people talking.
Watch:
Hey Canada, what the hell is this? pic.twitter.com/x65C2RoAT3
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) September 30, 2016
To borrow a line from the criminally-underrated movie “Goon,” well, that was borderline treasonous.
Not only did the band Walk Off The Earth tweak with the melody of the song, performing a variation that seemed more apt for a luau than a hockey game, they also changed the lyrics of the anthem to the gender-neutral “in all of us command.” (Oddly enough, they kept the line [albeit in French] about fighting with a sword and carrying the cross, which seems like it’d be slightly more controversial in modern Canada, but that’s just me.)
While the melody of the song was a bit unorthodox and this would be funny enough on its own, the shots of the crowd and players all wearing the same “what is happening right now?” expression cemented this as viral video gold.
Same, Carey Price. Same.
Ed: What’s the problem? Maybe the swing-folk groove is a tribute to Gordon Lightfoot. Frankly, after decades of hearing wildly divergent interpretations of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at sporting events, this sounds almost quaintly reverent. In a Jewel-esque fashion, sorta. At least no one was kneeling.
Christine: See, O Canada has always been one of those weird examples where I’m 100% okay admitting that our neighbors to the north do something better than the United States does. Their anthem is, to use a rather millennial patois, straight fire. Even me, your incredibly tone-deaf author, is able to belt out a passable rendition of O Canada if pressed. This is not the case with The Star-Spangled Banner, which is a song approximately four people are capable of singing properly.
The national anthem–of any country–isn’t a time to bust out a weird new interpretation. It’s O Canada, not You’ve Got A Friend in Me. Basically, we’re all these two kids right now:
Ed: Yo, Christine, I’m really happy for you and I’ll let you finish, but the Americans have ten of the worst performances of all time. Ten of the worst of all time!
Christine: This just proves my point that The Star-Spangled Banner is a song that only roughly four people are capable of singing properly and therefore O Canada is a superior anthem.
Also, thisis the worst anthem fail of all time:
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