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Originally Posted by epchick
According to Wikipedia, the person who wrote the lyrics to "My Country, Tis of Thee" didn't know that the melody was the same as the British National Anthem.
I loved watching Jackie Chan singing a song!! Ahahaha. And that Beijing song is stuck in my head.
Was it just me or was the whole Leona Lewis performance off beat?
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Re: the song, I'm not sure I buy that Wikipedia fact. I'm normally pretty forgiving of Wikipedia, but that statement is marked as unsourced. The American lyrics are from 1831, and the song was popularized in England by 1745. It's all in the "God Save the Queen" article, which is far better IMO than the My Country 'Tis of Thee article, notes that it's a traditional tune which has been adopted by many composers into symphonies and used by many countries:
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"God Save the King" was the first song to be used as a national anthem, although the Netherlands' national anthem, the Wilhelmus, is older. Its success prompted a number of imitations, notably in France and, later, Germany. Both commissioned their own songs to help construct a concrete national(ist) identity. The first German national anthem used the melody of "God Save the King" with the words changed to Heil dir im Siegerkranz, and sung to the same tune as the UK version. The tune was either used or officially adopted as the national anthem for several other countries, including those of Russia (until 1833) and Switzerland (Rufst Du, mein Vaterland or O monts indépendants, until 1961). Molitva russkikh, considered to be the first Russian anthem, was also sung to the same music.
It is also the melody to the United States patriotic hymn "America" (also known by its first line, "My Country, 'Tis of Thee"), and was played during the Presidential Inauguration parade of President George W. Bush on 20 January, 2001. In Iceland it is sung to the poem of Eldgamla Ísafold. The tune is also used as Norway's royal anthem entitled Kongesangen, and was used for the Swedish royal anthem between 1805 and 1893, entitled Bevare gud vår kung.
The tune is still used as the national anthem of Liechtenstein, Oben am jungen Rhein. When England played Liechtenstein in a Euro 2004 qualifier, the same tune was therefore played twice, causing some minor confusion.
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Re: Leona Lewis, I don't think she was off beat exactly. Just when you're in a venue that large, it's hard to get the vocal reverb to match the person's lips, which is pretty disconcerting in a television broadcast.
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Originally Posted by DreamfulSpirit
There were some parts during the closing ceremony that I wasn't all that impressed with, honestly.
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Same for me. The London 2012 segment was especially pitiful. I think the London games are going to be great in some respects, but I don't think they'll top the Chinese opening ceremonies.