World Series Game 2: The Music

Another night of the World Series in Fenway, another professorial guy steps up to perform the national anthem.

No wonder Boston has a reputation of being a college town.

But Thursday it was James Taylor, who had sung at game 2 in the last World Series at Fenway in 2004, returning to do Game 2 2007 (turns out Steven Tyler was asked to sing the anthem on Game 1 Wednesday, just as he had in 2004, too, but he reportedly wasn’t available, hence John Williams conducting his own arrangement of “The Stars Spangled Banner" last night.

Taylor’s take was sweet and downhome with a touch of Americana that came I suppose from his melodic and distinctive acoustic guitar picking. Simple and plaintive, like the guitar intro to "You Can Close Your Eyes," his honeyed voice sounded nice on the anthem, giving it a tempo that wasn’t mournful or excessively slow, as many performers sing it (to extend their stay in the spotlight?).

He wavered a little bit at the lowest note (“whose broad stripes”) and did he sing proof through the “might”? But it was a fine little performance making way for another long game.

In the seventh inning stretch came Boyz II Men, all clearly men by now, in their mid-30s as a matter of fact. Once a quintet, the group has been a trio for some years. One member left four years ago, another left 17 years ago.

They had an ambitious a capella plan for "God Bless America," but it went awry like an errant Schilling slider. Ouch!

The group has no particular ties to Boston – they’re from Philly – but they continue the preferred Fenway World Series mix – professors to start, R&B by the seventh, round about 11:30.