1969 - The height of the Vietnam War. The peak of the Civil Rights Movement. The counterculture was in full swing. Chaos and death is everywhere.
And then there was Woodstock.
Jimi Hendrix was one of the highest paid rockstars at Woodstock, but even so, people were starting to leave before he even began his “Star-Spangled Banner” performance. So Hendrix poured his heart and soul into the Anthem. He made the crown feel the Vietnam War. And feel it intensely.
Those who stray from how the National Anthem is performed are considered disrespecful, unAmerican, radical.
Well to hell with you all. It’s my National Anthem too.
When Hendrix appeared on the Dick Cavett show some months after his performance he was asked why he played it that way?
Jimi said-
“I don’t know man,” said Hendrix. “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, you know.”
When Cavett accused Jimi of being unorthodox.
“Well, when you mention the national anthem and talk about playing it in an unorthodox way,” Cavett explained, “you immediately get a guaranteed percentage of hate mail from people — “
“That’s not unorthodox,” Hendrix interrupted. “That’s not unorthodox.”
“It isn’t unorthodox?”
“No. No, no. I thought it was beautiful. But there you go.”
I think it is beautiful as well.
It’s my National Anthem Too!
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