Liam Harvey
51 years ago, Jimi Hendrix performed the United States National Anthem at the August 15-18, 1969 rock festival Woodstock on dairy farmer Max Yasgur’s land. It became billed as 3 days of Peace & Music. 32 leading bands and new emerging bands played from Joan Baez to The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Sly and the Family Stone, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, and more. Woodstock itself summed up the counter culture youth of the 1960’s that resisted conformity and protested the Vietnam War. No one had seen an outdoor rock concert like this before in upstate Woodstock, NY. The organizers did not expect such a large crowd of 400,000 young people. It became also an event that the wider society looked at and were amazed about how peaceful it was and how the crowd helped each other. The organizers ended up just making it for free as they could not manage all the tickets.
With this background, enter Jimi Hendrix playing in the morning at 9am in his bands slot for the concert. The footage of Hendrix playing on his loan electric guitar the Star-Spangled Banner is one of Rock’s important historic moments. It has been captured in footage, and it can be see in Martin Scorsese’sWoodstock documentary that is now a classic rock documentary. This is an iconic rock performance. Some think it was improvised on the spot, but actually Jimi had an obsession with the anthem, and had been working on it and preforming over seventy times before Woodstock. Hendrix was portrayed as a hippie whose motivation was drugs and rebellion. When in reality was he was not given enough credit for his political intelligence.
Hendrix’s drummer, Mitch Mitchell, said they hadn’t rehearsed it and were not planning to do it, but Hendrix launched into at the end of the set. Hendrix performed the national anthem but with a twist. He started by playing a crescendo into other notes so as not to alert the crowd of what he was about to do. The viewer could see that this performance was unexpected, and after it many people vocalized how radical it was. With some saying they did not enjoy it. The distortion was heavy, he added guitar effects that sounded and referenced army plans dropping bombs and gunfire. He makes the guitar scream and cry out as if it were a victim of war. It was political statement charged with fear and anger. The viewer could not see, but heard the atrocities of war being played through an electric guitar. Jimi bent the strings forcing the guitar to be heard differently. He used it as way to look at our country, expressing his generation’s hopes and fears for the country. Jimi allowed a window into war, showing the anti war generation why they were protesting and why they were gathering.
The stunning performance is even more effective when I learned that Hendrix had served in the army during the Vietnam War, with a life story that made him a true rebel and counter culture hero. Hendrix was also a black American, and that background also contributes to what is profound as he performs the Star Spangled banner, which comes across as a critique of the American story. Hendrix had served in the US army and he wore a “Screaming Eagles” patch as a paratrooper. He had left the military, but still had friends in Vietnam.
James Marshall “Jimi” Hendrix was an American rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter who is one of the most influential rock guitarists of the 20th century. Hendrix was born November 27, 1942 in Seattle, Washington. He later died of a drug overdose on September 18, 1970 in Notting Hill, London, United Kingdom. His mainstream career lasted only four years but in that time he created a style of electric guitar that impacted rock music. Some of his songs are enduring and have become classics recognized as influencing a whole generation of musicians. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame describes him as “the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music.
BethelWoods Center for the Arts: The site of the 1969 Woodstock Festival.
Website accessed September 28, 2020.
50 years ago, Jimi Hendrix’s Woodstock anthem expressed the hopes and fears of a nation. Conversations. August 14, 2019 8.31am. Web accessed 9/28/20
Woodstock – 40th Anniversary Limited Edition (40th anniversary revisited – the director’s cut)”. amazon.com.
Jimi Hendrix – The Star Spangled Banner [national Anthem] (live at Woodstock 1969)
Got A Million Rhymes 