O say! James Taylor mashes national anthem, ‘America the Beautiful’

James Taylor tried something new before Game 2 of the World Series on Thursday night: a sort of mash-up of the real national anthem and the unofficial one, “America the Beautiful.” Alas, not on purpose, it appears.

The folk-pop icon took to the mike before the game between the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals at Boston’s Fenway Park and opened his mouth to sing “Oh beautiful ... “ before suavely switching to “O, say, can you see ...” (Watch the flub in the video above.)

In doing so, he joined the ranks of stars to mess up “The Star-Spangled Banner” before sporting events in recent years, including “American Idol’s” Lauren Alaina, Cyndi Lauper and Christina Aguilera, that last of whom infamously botched the tune before the 2011 Super Bowl. No worries, Xtina, hardly anyone was watching, right? Yes, she was mortified.

But back to Taylor — can you really blame him? After all, he was also being called upon to sing “America the Beautiful” on purpose for the seventh-inning stretch. And those innings, they all look alike.

Apparently the songs sound alike too.

Taylor also performed “America the Beautiful” at President Obama’s second inauguration, though for a Boston Strong charity concert in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings he did a couple of his own tunes.

The Cardinals won, 4-2, evening up the series at 1-1.

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