Robert Goulet: The "T" is silent and, sadly, so is he...

We here at TheSharkBook.com momentarily paused with our drinks in mid-air on Tuesday, took in the news that Robert Goulet had passed away, finished what was remaining in a single gulp and, once the next round was served, raised our glasses and said “To Goulet!” (We then retired to our respective homes and shot up our television sets).

Our ties to Monsieur Goulet are shaky: one of us has a French Canadian background and the other is a fellow graduate of the University of Toronto who also studied at the Royal Conservatory of Music (and ruined more than one soprano’s sense of pitch with less than inspired noodling on the oboe – eschewing the electric guitar, following a less than reputable source’s suggestion that woodwind guys get all the chicks). Yet we thought it fitting that we mark Goulet’s passing on to that great hotel, resort and casino in the sky (the “Foxy Boxing” in Heaven is rumored to be superb) by doing what we do and paying tribute to an incident involving Goulet and alcohol, which as William James once noted has the “power to stimulate the mystical faculties of human nature, usually crushed to earth by cold facts and dry criticisms of the sober hour”.

Despite the average American citizen hearing the national anthem constantly throughout years of schooling and at every public event they attend apart from charity car washes, some of that country’s most famous citizens have managed to botch the lyrics or otherwise sully the ditty in front of thousands on numerous occasions. Roseanne’s turn at a San Diego Padres game is the first to come to mind, but there have been others including an embarrassing outing for Michael Bolton (check that out here and note the intensity of the booing when he forgets the lyrics and how it seems to go beyond mere patriotic zeal and enter into “We just don’t like Michael Bolton” territory), and even Bobby Vinton (click here for his botched version of the anthem – capped off by a Polish joke from the commentator). Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler thought he’d come up with a brilliant flourish when singing the anthem at the Indianapolis 500 by closing with “and the land of the INDIANAPOLIS 500!” The war veterans in the audience led the chorus of boos and Tyler later apologized. And for some inexplicable reason, someone figured it would be a good idea to ask gold-medal Olympian Carl Lewis to sing the anthem before an NBA game (it was not).

Surprisingly, none of these incidents involved alcohol consumption, as far as we know. However, our favorite tale in this regard, and the one in which Mr. Goulet took the central role, did.

Goulet was hired to sing the anthem prior to the Muhammad Ali-Sonny Liston fight on May 25, 1965 in Lewiston, Maine. Though born in the US, Goulet was raised mostly in Canada and had not performed the anthem publicly prior to that booking (whether or not he serenaded passengers on buses making the border run between Niagara Falls and Buffalo is not mentioned in wire reports). Still he was a big fight fan and the gig meant a pair of free tickets, so he accepted.

Goulet had dinner with the governor of Maine prior to the big fight, leaving occasionally to go out on the porch and “practice” – i.e. drink wine.

Later in the evening, all of the under-card’s talent had slugged it out and it was Mr. Goulet’s turn to fire the crowd up with a bit of nationalistic fervor to mix in with the bloodlust. He botched the opening line, singing “Oh say can you see by the dawn’s early night” (some wondered about Goulet’s powers of prophesy as it was indeed an “early night”, with the controversial main event not lasting a full round). Journalists at the time also insisted that he made a second mistake later on in the song, singing “gave proof through the fight”, though Goulet himself only owned up to the first gaffe. An eyewitness account referenced in this story, which suggests that Goulet was off-key and out of synch with the organ accompaniment, but that he “managed to slur his way through it”, suggests that the great Goulet’s powers of recall are not to be trusted on this point.

Goulet would go on to provide the silky baritone soundtrack to more than one Las Vegas evening, however this story never left him and whenever he was at ringside during a big match at Caesar’s Palace, some wag would be sure to pipe up with: “How’s about a few bars of the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ Goulet!”

To his credit though, Goulet braved this early drunken shaming and made it up to Americans by delivering dozens of note-perfect renditions of the anthem at all sorts of sporting events, as well as singing the Canadian anthem at Wrestlemania VI, a historic moment that was soon overshadowed by Rowdy Roddy Piper painting half of his body black in an attempt at racial solidarity.

“To Goulet!”

The Shark Guys