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Is it possible that Beyonc茅 sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" live at President Obama鈥檚 inauguration, after all? Or that she sang some of it live and let a prerecorded tape carry the rest?

This comes up because the Marine Band has backed off a statement that the ex-Destiny鈥檚 Child singer lip-synced the song all the way through. Right now the situation seems to be this: The sound of the Marine Band under the national anthem was a prerecorded track. Musicians did not have enough time to practice with Beyonc茅 before the inauguration to do otherwise.

But the Marine Band has no idea what Beyonc茅 herself did.

鈥淩egarding Ms. Knowles-Carter鈥檚 vocal performance, no one in the Marine Band is in a position to assess whether it was live or pre-recorded,鈥� said a statement from Marine Corps spokesman Capt. Gregory Wolf.

Read carefully, this does not say she didn鈥檛 lip-sync, of course. So previous reports that she did just that may be right. It simply unconfirms something that the journalists and the Twitterverse at large had been treating as established fact. Beyonc茅 herself has yet to weigh in on the matter.

Still, the debate rages on whether it matters if she did mouth 鈥淥 say can you see鈥� instead of sing it. In some ways, it鈥檚 a clash of cultures. On one side is a political world in which authenticity is seen as important and the inauguration is a ritual as important as any America has, while on the other is show business, where surface is everything and singers routinely auto-tune and/or lip-sync their performances.

Music legend Aretha Franklin expressed both sides of this equation Wednesday, saying she 鈥渓aughed鈥� when she heard about the controversy. She sang live at the 2009 Obama inaugural, despite the cold. 鈥淚 wanted to give people the real thing,鈥� .

Still, as a professional she can understand why Beyonc茅 lip-synced. If that鈥檚 what she did.

鈥淭he weather down there was about 46 or 44 degrees, and for most singers that is just not good singing weather,鈥� Ms. Franklin told ABC.

Given the historic nature of inaugurations, many people appeared outraged that Beyonc茅 had presented something as a live performance that may not have been. The New York Daily News headline may have best expressed this point of view: 鈥淪tar Spangled Scammer.鈥�

The Daily News story quoted one disappointed fan , 鈥淚t鈥檚 like when I found out that Santa Claus isn鈥檛 real.鈥�

Well, we can understand this, up to a certain point. Beyonc茅 was focusing on making herself look good on a day when she really was performing in a supporting role.

But we鈥檝e got a couple of points here. One: The inauguration itself was kind of lip-synced. Remember, Mr. Obama was sworn in privately on Sunday, since that was the day his second term legally began. Monday鈥檚 swearing-in was a reenactment.

Yes, that was announced ahead of time, so in that sense it was different. But how many people watching at home thought the moment of truth was when Obama raised his right hand in Monday鈥檚 cold? We鈥檇 bet a majority.

Here鈥檚 our second point: Congress does it, too. They have a mass swearing-in for new members at the start of each congressional session. Senators are sworn in by fours.

But all those touching pictures in local media that show the local member, surrounded by his family and friends, taking the oath from the speaker? Those are fake. It鈥檚 an official reenactment for the cameras that allows the moment to appear more personal.

Oh, and the Bibles that members place their hands upon? Those are props. There is nothing in law that requires them to swear upon anything. They are simply allowed to hold items of personal importance in their left hands while they raise their right.

鈥淪ome Senators [and Representatives] have held nothing, and nothing is required,鈥� says a Congressional Research Service guide to the first day of a new Congress.

So before we get all huffy about Beyonc茅 potentially defiling a sacred ceremony, let鈥檚 remember that artifice and politics go together like Simon and Garfunkel, Loggins and Messina, or Peaches and Herb.