in which ben gibbard sings the national anthem well

so, when i heard that ben gibbard was going to sing the national anthem at the start of the giants/phillies game 3 of the NLCS (yes, i know this was awhile ago now), i sort of did a double take. ben gibbard? really?



now, friends, any loyal reader of this blog knows how much i adore death cab for cutie (who constantly dukes it out with frightened rabbit over who holds the title of most beloved band). but...there was some trepidation over whether he could carry the star spangled banner or not.

the truth is, while the poem is wonderful, the star spangled banner tends to bring out the worst in singers. i cringe nearly every time i hear it - most singers do this horrible warbling in it that would make mariah carey proud. to me? it's like nails on a chalkboard. each time someone is trotted out at the beginning of a game to sing it, i cross my fingers and hope for the best. sometimes i get it. more often than not, i'm left thinking: you are butchering our national anthem.
ben gibbard has an amazing voice, but it's more suited to soft songs. he is no heavy metal screamer or shrill crooner. so imagine my intense surprise and utter delight when i heard his version. there was no warbling. there was no screeching, band standing, or chewing of the scenery. there was ben, his even, mellow voice, and a song that documents a great moment in american history. oh ben, thankyouthankyouthankyou.

check out MLB's official video HERE for a high quality showing. below is, admittedly, a far less-than-stellar copy, considering it's a video of a tv broadcast. but alas, MLB doesn't hand out embedding codes.