O say can you see, by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
~ Francis Scott Key
Today is Flag Day! It's not an official federal holiday, just a day designated to memorialize the adoption of our flag on June 14, 1777. I thought it would be appropriate to post a song about the flag, and what more appropriate song would there be besides this one? Originally written as a poem titled "Defence of Fort M'Henry," written on September 14, 1814, Francis Scott Key's effort was four verses long. Obviously, most of us only know the first verse.
And most of us know the Jimi Hendrix performance of the song, I would assume. It's iconic. It can be found on 1969's Live at Woodstock. Although Hendrix was supposed to perform on Sunday night of the Woodstock Festival, weather and other things got in the way, and he performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" on Monday morning, not to a crowd of half a million, but to a seriously dwindled audience. He seemed unfazed by the small crowd.
Was his version of our national anthem well-received by the population at large? Not so much. But keep in mind, we were divided by much more than our taste in music at that time. To say that his performance was controversial would be an understatement. I was 19 at the time, and I certainly know on which side of the issue I aligned myself. After Woodstock, Dick Cavett interviewed Hendrix, and of course, the song was part of the conversation. "I don't know, man. All I did was play it. I'm American, so I played it. I used to sing it in school. They made me sing it in school, so it was a flashback," Hendrix told Cavett. At one point, Cavett interrupted the interview to speak to his TV audience. "This man was in the 101st Airborne, so when you send your nasty letters in . . . " He then explained to Hendrix that he would probably get some hate mail in response to the interview.
Yep, that's right. Hendrix trained to be a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne. He didn't like the military too much, though, and only enlisted when he'd been caught riding around in too many stolen cars and the law gave him a choice. After receiving his Screaming Eagles patch, Hendrix was given an honorable discharge "on the basis of unsuitability." He appeared to his superiors to be somewhat unmotivated. Safe to say, he found his motivation elsewhere.
As to Hendrix' memorable Woodstock performance of The Star-Spangled Banner, rock critic Greil Marcus had this to say: "It's so complex, with so many different layers of disgust and celebration and alienation and engagement. There's really no way to just characterize it as a protest against the war. It's certainly that. But he's also saying, 'I'm a citizen of this country, too . . . '"
It's Flag Day! Wave that flag! Wave it wide and high! (Grateful Dead) And while you're waving that flag, remember the freedoms it represents. Like playing the national anthem on an electric guitar.
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