Cyndi Lauper’s crystal clear voice rang out with the wrong words to the always tricky to sing National Anthem at the U.S. Tennis Open over the weekend. She joined Christina Aguilera who botched the words at last year’s Super Bowl.
Lauper, 58, who has one of the best voices in pop music, got off to a beautiful start, singing A Capella after a minute of silence in remembrance of 9/11.
Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki, who were there to play their semi-final match, were among those in rapt attention.
Then, like fingernails on a chalkboard, Lauper flubbed the exact same lyrics that Aguilera did at the Super Bowl.
The correct line is: “Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight, O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming.”
Lauper sang “O’er the ramparts, we watched as our flag was still streaming.”
Lauper, ever the trouper, sang on until the end of the song without at least missing a beat. But she acknowledged the goof afterward.
“Whew, I just did the anthem for the US open. It was an awesome experience,” she wrote on Twitter.
“I got choked up in the middle remembering 9/11. The moon shone done on us and I tried to say a prayer at the same time. I hope I didn’t mess up too bad. I wanted it to be comforting.”
Check it out below.