Back in January there was a bit of a flap when we found out that Beyonce didn’t
actually sing the national anthem. She lip-synched it. Some caught it. The rest of us
found out after the fact. At the time, I didn’t think it was a big deal. A recent column by
Jay Nordlinger changed my mind.

Her lip-synching performance was actually just the latest in a long line of
performers who have been faking it. Her defense was multifold. It was too cold to sing.
There hadn’t been a proper sound check. She said she didn’t feel comfortable taking a
risk. She even added that singing along with a “pre-recorded track” is “very common in
the music industry.” She is right about that.

But let’s get back to the inauguration. Those of us who are older can remember
singers (mostly classical singers) who would never have thought to lip-synch through an
inauguration event. Marian Anderson sang at President Kennedy’s inauguration. Marilyn
Horne sang at President Clinton’s first inauguration. Susan Graham sang at George W.
Bush’s second inauguration.

Think back to President Obama’s first inauguration. There was a quartet that
included Gabriela Montero on piano, Itzhak Perlman on violin, Yo-Yo Ma on cello, and
Anthony McGill on clarinet. They played (or should I say they pretended to play) a piece
by John Williams. They recorded the piece in the Marine Barracks two days before. I
guess you could say they “hand-synched” the performance. They even made the usual
faces of people performing live and pretended to coordinate with each other as an
ensemble is supposed to do. But they were just faking it. Jay Nordlinger provides a
lengthy list of other musical fakers.

As a thought experiment, imagine if a speaker was able to lip-synch a speech. We
would be outraged, and rightly so. I don’t think we should give a pass to singers and
musicians, especially at the presidential inauguration.