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That's because you rarely hear it played properly. It's a march, and written of course in march time, and should be played as one. Perhaps the definitive version of 'O Canada' used to be performed by the late Roget Doucette (sp?), who sang it -- beautifully and rousingly -- at the old Montreal Forum before Canadiens' hockey games for years and years.

A far better tune than 'To Anacreon in Heaven', with its note stretch of 13 (13?!? Less than 1 person in 10 has such a range!).

It isn't 13 whole notes, it's only 12. An octave and a perfect fourth. The "thirteen notes" (unlucky?) and the "octave and a half" have been bandied about the internet for several weeks, since a couple of ill-informed columnists wrote columns on "Get Rid of the Star Spangled Banner".

And the tune is not outside most people's vocal range. Even garden-variety mezzos and contraltos have almost two octaves, and a soprano is expected to have over two. I'm just an old church choir singer with zero formal training and I have two octaves and a sixth (C3-A5) when I'm not even warmed up (I just went and checked). Anybody who can sing at all can cover an octave and a fourth with no trouble. Borrow a piano and try it yourself.

The whole trick with the SSB is where you start. People tend to set the first note in the middle of their range, but the tune starts low. If you hum the third note to yourself at the absolute bottom of your range and back up a third to begin, you'll find you don't run out of room at the top.

As for the merit of the tune, jettisoning almost 200 years of history and heroism because we think we could find a better tune is just silly.

My thanks to SOLTC for the following:

Here are my reasons why it should stay.
1. Go to Fort McHenry and hear the NPS guides tell the story. It’s about a free people defending their home.
2. If you are at a ceremony where several anthems are played, you will realize how majestic ours is.
3. Those words are a challenge to us from all who created, built, and defended the country. Does it still wave?
4. Have you ever heard of Capt. Humbert Roque “Rocky” Versace, 5th SFGA? He was awarded the MOH on 12/21/01. He was executed by the Viet Cong in 1965. He sang the Anthem when ever he could, even when they beat him into the ground.
Our Anthem is special!

As a Boston Bruins fan for many years, I always thought Rene Rancourt did a rousing job with O Canada!

That said, I enjoy the Soviet National Anthem musically, though I detest what it stood for. But it is a very emotional piece of music.

But to me, nothing beats a well played Star Spangled Banner. One of my favorite versions is the one from the movie “Poltergeist”.

Funny story about that one...”Poltergeist” came out in 1982, and I went to see it in a theater with a bunch of friends. Now, the movie starts out with a completely black screen, so the theater is pitch black. And long before anything shows up on the screen when the movie starts, this beautiful version of the national anthem begins at a pretty good volume.

Now, I grew up as a military brat, and had just got out of the navy a couple of years before, and my muscles started twitching.

On the bases I lived and served at, they began every movie by playing the national anthem and everyone in the theater would stand up. So here I was, completely baffled, having never done this in a civilian theater, and my knees kept trying to involuntarily straighten out and bring me to my feet!

I was halfway up when the screen lit up, and I could see nobody else was rising, and at that point I realized it was part of the movie...:) I am certain people would have looked at me like I was some kind of weirdo...