It’s an honor to be chosen to sing the National Anthem before a packed stadium filled with enthusiastic fans. This tradition marks the patriotic point before the start of a game when the entire stadium falls silent, people remove their hats and place their hands over their hearts.
Lauralie Mufute, 13, was selected to sing the National Anthem before an NHL game between the New Jersey Devils and the San Jose Sharks.
The young girl with the powerful voice wore her hockey jersey and stood at the opening of the ice hockey rink that leads onto the playing field.
There wasn’t a shred of fear showing on her face or her body language. She confidently embraced the opportunity that lay ahead of her.
She bravely stood before 14,000 fans standing stoicly at attention inside Newark’s Prudential Center and busted out a beautiful rendition of the anthem. But not far into the song, something terrible happened.
She forgot the lyrics!
She faltered right “whose bright stripes and bright stars…”
“I was thrown off.”
Fear, embarrassment and nervousness instantly washed over her. She can be seen clutching her stomach as she realized what was happening.
Extreme disappointment set in when she started over and tried a second time to sing the National Anthem and still blanked out.
But blessedly, the packed house felt incredibly empathetic toward the tween and swooped in to help her out. They picked up right where Lauralie left out and began singing. They willed her to sing along and finish the National Anthem.
“I’m glad the people in the stadium joined in and helped me sing and we continued to the end.”
She told Inside Edition that she felt terrible when she faltered.
“I was, like, I can do better than this. I fell and I have to keep moving. I can’t give up.”
Inside Edition invited her to their studio so she could try again and give it a second shot. This time, she nailed it!
Would you remember all of the lyrics if you were standing in front of thousands of people, all eyes on you? Did you know that there are additional verses that aren’t routinely sung?
“Oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?”“On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
‘Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!”
“And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!”“Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!”
Listen to the awesome crowd assisting Lauralie during her performance, then give her a second chance and hear her sing again in the television show’s studio. She’s awesome!
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