Star-Spangled Sadness

So, I was really kind of irritated when our class guffawed at Jimi Hendrix’s Woodstock rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” I mean, I’m a passionate lover of classic rock, and I like to pretend that I’m the artsiest of the artsy. So when people begin to laugh at one of the most raw, genuine pieces of art to spew from the heart of an American, I get somewhat POed.

            Hendrix’s cover of the American national anthem was obviously met with a lot of controversy at the time; his streaking slides and heavy use of distortion gave the impression of un-American sentiment. But these impassioned, classic Hendrix techniques perfectly summed up his feelings as a lover of America and a lover of peace.

            The intense, raunchy use of feedback from the amps (which I hope to one day perfect on the Les Paul I got for Christmas) thundered like bombs and the cries of the injured. In fact, the entire performance captured the hopeless aura of a Vietnam warzone. The muddy slop seeping through the earth the audience sat on recalled the “shit field” described in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried. A frightening, deathly silence enveloped Hendrix’s single notes that shone through the light rain that Monday morning. This, coupled with the way he interrupted the anthem to play “Taps,” honored the men eaten by Vietnam, who in ethereal silence were folded into the belly of the land.

            Hendrix’s rendition was pure patriotism. As he played something that at times didn’t even sound like music, he gazed out with hollow eyes for love of his country and pain that its sons were being slaughtered.

            And that’s why Alexie’s father says that even Indians need a lead guitar. This people of “born soldiers” needs someone like a Hendrix to sing its despair. And what  better way to do it than rock n’ roll?