Unforgettable Anthems

Edited by Alexander Wolff and Richard O'Brien

December 12, 1994

Most pregame renditions of The Star-Spangled Banner fade from memory even before the action starts, but now and then a performance comes along either so good or so bad that it becomes a part of history. Super Bowl XXIX, scheduled for Jan. 29, has already generated its bit of anthem lore. It seems that plans were in the works to have Barbra Streisand sing. But according to a report in the Miami Herald, which the NFL calls "apocryphal," commissioner Paul Tagliabue said he had already "told Frank his wife could do it." That would be Frank as in Gifford, whose wife is the preternaturally perky morning-show host Kathie Lee Gifford. Thus one of the most coveted gigs of the year went from Babs to worse. Here are some other notes—both high and low—in anthem history.