Interesting Fact of the Day: Anthem in 4/4 Time

Rickey Minor, Whitney Houston's musical director in the 1990s (now band leader on "The Tonight Show") discussing Whitney Houston's performance singing the national anthem at the 1991 Superbowl:

“The original version [of the national anthem] is in 3/4 time, which is more like a waltz.  What we tried to do was to put it in 4/4 meter… We wanted to give her a chance to phrase it in such a way that she would be able to take her time and really express the meaning.”

MP: Besides the great vocals, that change to 4/4 time is probably another reason that Whitney Houston's version of the national anthem was so memorable.