Our National Anthem is no Fourth Of July picnic either, Skarpi. The number of celebrities who have butchered it at the beginning of major sporting events often for a National TV audience, is far too long to mention. I've seen Michael Stipe of R.E.M. and John Hiatt (someone whose recordings I actually buy) massacre it in person at Baltimore Orioles baseball games.

But the tune WAS borrowed from a drinking song sung in pubs. I guess nobody cared if you hit that damned high note toward the end or not in the tavern.