First time listening to Jimi Hendrix's Star Spangled Banner 

This was during the height of Vietnam and his entire audience was against that war... He was simulating battle and the chaos of war, and what it meant to be a young American in 1969

Jimmy was in the military for a while. Stunning guitar player. He made his guitar sing.

"Sounds like a war" This guy gets it.

Francis Scott Key was actually witnessing a battle when he wrote the Star Spangled Banner.

Hendrix was ahead of his time. He's not for everyone but I think he was a genius on guitar.

He WAS depicting war, bombs. Viet Nam era.

It's sort of hard to explain since at no other time in history was the American soldier spat upon even though the young men had NO choice in going to war. This version says that. War is ugly and Jimi is playing that with the heart of a man who'd been to Nam; had seen the damage of the war. Today the star spangled banner is supposed to be uplifting and a rousing anthem but during Nam the general public was more anti-war than ever before. The Iraq war was unpopular but the soldiers were not reviled like they were during Vietnam. This song is a reminder not to glorify war; that war leaves a lasting scar on the men and women who fight it and Jimi is portraying that with all the heart, sadness and even madness that war can bring. I'm glad you're listening to this stuff as it is so important to remember our history and those that sacrificed for what we take for granted. Kids today don't understand what the draft was - imagine being ripped from your life just as it's beginning and sent to a foreign land to fight in a war you knew was wrong and to watch daily your friends dying; these kids had NO choice and that's just not understood today.

This was Woodstock at 6 am also during the Vietnam war

omg I LOVE that you decided to listen to this....its amazing how much you feel from him playing his guitar

Jimi Hendrix was absolutely brilliant and often misunderstood. My mother told us that she once attended a Mamas and the Papas concert where Jimi Hendrix was the opening act, and the crowd booed him off the stage. If they only knew...

58,290 Americans plus 3 million Vietnamese died. We hated that fucking war ☮️

When I listen to Jimmy Hendrix perform his version of the Star Bangled Banner I see a PERFECT collage of the tumultuous times of the Viet Nam Era, 68-69 (Viet Nam protests, Kent State, we landed on the moon, MLK assasinated, RFK Jr assasinated etc, etc). It was the most volatile time in America that I have ever experienced! I was only 11 years old and was heavily imprinted from that era. great reaction, TY.

You hit it exactly with the anger and sadness of the time coming from not living up to the beauty and the potential of our higher purpose.

The 4th of July is a celebration but also a memorial to what it cost, so if you feel something more than “Woohoo beer and brats and fireworks and let’s be stupid!” then you are getting a true sense of why we celebrate July 4, Memorial Day, etc. when this was going down, it was Nam. The kids who didn’t want to go were sent over anyway to be shot at. The veterans were being spat on or attacked when they escorted their dead friends home. The rockets blaring, the screams and cries? He was not only putting a spotlight on things that were being broadcast into our homes as we watched the kids and their dads dying in another country. It is considered by many to be controversial bc of the addition, but remember… those screams and firing explosive sounds are true all the way up to when it was written as prisoners heard the fort firing. The Brits (it was the Revolution, please remember) said as soon as the fort dropped the American flag they’d be free to go. When it didn’t immediately go down, the fort was under siege All Night. The next day, they saw it was the bodies that kept that flag up. Their blood and bodies kept that flag flying. (There’s a video about The Star Spangled Banner as you never heard it. HIGHLY recommend it if you haven’t seen it.) Sorry about the thesis paperish response. I freakin love music and history and was raised on military history specifically and can tell military jokes even when health issues keep me from being an otherwise functioning adult.

This is a legendary performance, But I hope you will continue to listen to more by this amazing innovator.

Love it!!~ Never listened to it like this!!! The Star Spangled Banner in action!!!! He brought it to life!!! Thank you!!!! I'm 81!!!!!

DEFINATELY during the start of Vietnam..... He was one of the BEST 🎸 PLAYER'S OF ALL TIME.... HE'S HIGHLIGHTING THE EMOTION LOVED YOUR REACTION 🤘🎶🎵🇺🇸💯🎶🎵

Hendrix's song "All Along the Watchtower" was the centerpiece of the most epic of 2nd-gen "Battlestar Galactica" episodes. Unbelievable!

Our friends, brothers, family were dying for a losing 😊war

And he goes right from that into "Purple Haze". A talent never to be repeated.

Jimi produced one of the greatest pieces of art of the 20th century; up there with Picasso, Dali etc. He brilliantly expressed the great paradox that is America - beautiful on the surface yet distorted and corrupt underneath. He painted the pain and the horror that is America's compulsion to war. That performance will forever live in history. Like any great piece of art, it forces you to view life from a different perspective with the blinkers off. The slow learners were shattered because they could not confront the reality of America that Jimi exposed.

Purple Haze follows...and then THE MOST AMAZING "Villanova Junction"--aka "instrumental solo." That is my favorite Hendrix tune.

Yes the sounds of the Viet Nam War

Jimmie was a Vet and he did this as the battle song it was. We were in awe

A couple of things. At that time, we had the Vietnam War on the news, every day. Between the video of battles and protest marches at home, it was everywhere. What we also had was a new style of music. Cream, Zeppelin and Hendrix. It was awesome. What we didn't have was any video of these guys playing guitar. We had no idea how they were making those sounds until we either saw them live or watched movies like Woodstock. Seeing Hendrix play the guitar for the first time, was magical. For me, it still is. Voodoo Child slight return, and Machine gun from new year's eve in New York are still two of my favorite pieces of music. At 71, I fell blessed to have grown up with this music and to have been the first generation to have equipment to listen to it properly.

if you listen to his live version of "Machine Gun", you will hear the war (Band of Gypsies)

My first concert, when I was completely clueless, was Jimi Hendrix. Wish I could have appreciated it more.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="535">8:55</a> Francis Scott Key wrote those lyrics after seeing the American Flag still flying in the morning after a huge bombardment, so the song was born in conflict. Jimi translated the music to reflect the conflict of the Vietnam War

If you ever get the chance watch the full story of that performance. In my mind he was playing the war the military action at both Kent State and Jefferson State Universities. There was just so much going on back then it is hard to remember it all at once. Just like the song American Pie, it covered so many different topics. Jimi just let his guitar speak for him, and I for one think he did an amazing job.

He was a paratrooper in Vietnam, broke his ankle, and the rest is history!

When we lost him, we said "Jimi's not dead. He's teaching God how to play guitar."

The fact that Jimi was able to do this (to express himself) doing that to the National anthem is what the U.S.A. represents... being allowed to have free speech. And this brother is a great example of that.

Might have been doing that myself at that time.Thank you very much

Wish I could have been there at Woodstock , I was in RVN 69-70 with 82nd AB and the 11th ACR , I did manage to make it home when so many around me did not ... ken in NEMO

Great reaction! Way ahead of his time. Ironic that he used music to depict the horrible sounds of war, when the original anthem was based on the rocket flares and guns in an earlier American war. One much more justified, in my opinion. Lucky I got to see Hendrix play live at the Fillmore. When we were in the antiwar demonstrations, this was genius in expressing our feelings at the times. Friends of mine got drafted to Vietnam and never came back. More Hendrix, please!

Another aspect is, the poem that turned into the Star Spangled Banner was written during a battle during the infancy of the United States.

After the Supreme Court rulings the last few days, I don't feel like I can listen to this. However, I've heard Jimi's version many times. I remember, as a child, when he played this. It was very cool.

My son played this at my Navy retirement ceremony. Had to get him to lighten it up some as he carried it on too much! It was awesome!

They played this on the news cast the Day Hendrix died. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and hearing. He was combining heavy rock and science fiction both of which I had an interest in. I was a fan from then on.

Guitars... OMG... guitars... Hendrix, Page, Bonamassa, Stevie, Gilmor, Frampton... and of course Clark... OMG Clark.

An iconic version - Hendrix channelled all the zeitgeist about the Vietnam War and America's role in it into his playing - the track's respectfully played, but also contains the sounds of an air attack, all on guitar. You need to check out his playing "Hey Joe" live - he doesn't play the guitar in that, he makes love to it and leaves it gasping for more. Yes, Hendrix was a pioneer of using the guitar to make interesting sounds. If you like that sort of innovation, you also need to check Adrian Belew - an astonishing musician who can make his guitar talk.

He's playing the Star Spangled Banner,!!❤❤

Only man in the world that can make an out of tune sound this good and with so much emotion coming out.

Hendrix was from Seattle the musical city everyone forgets about. Robert Cray, Heart, Pearl Jam, etc. Cray was born in Tacoma, but did most of his gigs at the Rainbow Tavern in Seattle where I saw him and danced the blues all night.

“sounds like war…” the words are “The rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air..” I’m 70 been to a LOT of concerts WITHOUT question the best I’ve seen 05/07/69 Jimi. Edit: Check this out. Johnny Carson was The King of Late Night. But Dick Cavett had a very special niche, an excellent interviewer. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VGf9PTYyJ4A.htmlsi=v6exy4r_3ffE9GTR

All Along The Watchtower

During the Vietnam war I had a boyfriend who was not drafted but signed up to go to war. Not many guys did that. I met him in college after he came back from overseas. He was never sent to Vietnam. He served his time in Thailand. Strange how life goes sometimes. He never saw any action there. But I was a staunch Democrat and he was a republican. He actually liked Nixon! I despised Nixon. Yet we loved each other for four years.

Full body chills every time I hear this ❤

1969. Vietnam war. The soundtrack was the dark stuff. Hendrix, the Doors. Jimi channeled the horror and violence and created a surrealistic beauty.

Jimi was left handed and was playing a right handed guitar. Jimi was an amazing guitarist

Jimi made 18 jumps during his time with the 101st Airborne

I agree that it is unsettling and astonishing. Also reading the words of The Star Spangled Banner is unsettling.

The chaos of it all. I guess it was how Jimi saw this country's entanglement in war. But he sure was a vision to behold, in red, white and blue. ☮️

The young folks also need to remember this was before effects pedals and digital manipulation of sound. Jimmy did all of this with his fingers and his Strat.

He did the English national anthem a year later at the Isle of White festival in 1970

My girlfriend from a few years ago said she was convinced that Jimi's guitar was saying "no war" and Jimi was mouthing the words while he played it. I don't know it for sure but I always think of it when I watch this.

There is an alternate clip of this performance that actually shows him playing rather than just his face. It's worth checking out.

Used to play this on campus radio in '71, '72. Good one for sign on.

The "Star Spangled Banner" was not written about the Fourth of July, it was written in September of 1814, as the U.S. was under attack from England. The original poem was written literally in the middle of a battle. In 1969, in the middle of the Vietnam War, war was once again on everyone's mind, and Hendrix's performance reminded everyone there of the immediacy and importance of those lyrics.

One of the renditions you might want to check out was/is by "Madison Rising"....An awesome rock version...That celebrates the USA.

The world was chaotic at the time, America was in Chaos due to the Vietnam war .. Everything about this made sense at the time.. Its amazing that he created this feeling with just his guitar, everyone understood exactly what this was about.. Its genius..

That was his statement. You got what he was playin' Vietnam had this Country in a roar. Really good reaction.

this was at woodstock, the first one. it was at sunrise ish at the last morning of the fest

He also briefly quoted Over There, an American war anthem from WW1...

Right hand guitar strung for a left hand player. Strung in the normal order. He often wraps his thumb over the top of the neck to fret the low E string in some type of modified bar chord fingering.

This is his interpretation of the WORDS! I sing the words as he plays the notes. Read the lyrics as he plays & you'll see it!

For playng at woodstok , Jimi was dressed as a Native American He was black and cherokee We are all brothers and sisters PEACE

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="304">5:04</a> Yes, he played a right hand strung guitar left handed.

That's a very hard piece to do on a guitar!🎉🎉🎉

When I saw him perform, he called the song: "Wave on Flag"

Send, Johnny B Goode Hendrix Live is a mind blower

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="410">6:50</a> you have a confused look; Jimi is playing the military bugle call 'Taps', which is also played at every military funeral.

I saw John Popper,(Blues traveler) do this same thing on a harmonica as the first act and song I saw at Woodstock 1994 (25th anniversary).

The only thing upside down was his guitar. The low E string was at the top and the high E at the bottom. You have to watch : Hendrix Live At The Monterey Pop Festival . By the way , you sipping Mate ?

Check out the next song he goes into: "Voodoo Child" at Woodstock. It'll blow you away.

Rory Gallagher was also among the greatest 🎸 and most beloved 🇨🇮🇺🇸. RIP Jimi & Rory

Immediately after this ie the nest note he goes straight into Purple Haze

One reason why Hendrix is the God of Guitar.

Jimmi was in the army!

ICONIC

Tou have to listen to Jimi's hey Joe, this was something else.

'ey Sebs. :-) To be honest, I cannot remember my reaction or thoughts the very first time I heard Jimi do this performance. But, I appreciate the position you are in, where you, being such a young man (I'm 62) you do not have the first-hand knowledge of the Vietnam War and how devastating it was and still is for our veterans. Most of the warriors in that conflict were under 20 years old. And they were not at all prepared for the disgusting, selfish, misguided, pathetically stupid reactions and un-welcome homecomings they received as their planes landed all across the U.S. to bring them back "home". If I were one of those veteran's I would disowned America. I would have gotten back on a plane and left everything and everyone behind and flipped my finger to the statue of liberty as I made my way to lands where people had more sense and more compassion. And look at us today. We have people who are literally living out the description of 'moron': lazy, selfish, violent, foolish, and lacking any credible critical-thinkng skills whatsoever. In short, millions of U.S. citizens are no smarter or capable than a five-year-old. So, then, nothing has changed since the 60s, and I dare say, it is worse now than it ever has been in the history of this nation. BUT, it has all been designed for that/this specific outcome. Individual human beings can AND DO get along well with others. But, when greed and power and 'leadership' and 'governance' become involved in the 'RELATIONSHIPS' of people, then Satan comes in and ruins everything. I have nothing against individuals. But, against groups of people, I have no patience for their stupidity, their self-centeredness, and/or their greed and lust for power. If you look up the most controversial and 'ridiculous' figures in world history, you'll find that many, if not most, all shared a disdain for the status quo. Of fitting-in. Of conforming. But, that is what corporations and the elite desire most: for us to fall into line and never question their motives or their 'truths'. Facts are not to be considered. And sadly, as in the Vietnam shame, and in today's Trumpism shame, the mob follows along blindly never seriously questioning or THINKING deeply about life. That's why the Jews murdered Christ on the cross. Not that all Jews hated Jesus. I expect that if we were to have sat down with each family individually and had empathetic and coherent and compassionate conversations, these Jews would never have followed the corrupt 'politicans' known then as "Pharisees and Sadduccees". Even today, it is not the Jewish families who are murdering the folks in Gaza. Nor I believe would they wish harm on any of the Palestianians. True followers of God, The Father, would never be so hasty as to murder an enemy if the folks did in fact read the entire Old Testament and taken its message to heart. So, people like Jimi and Jim (Morrison) and Ernie (Kovacs) and George (Carlin) and so many controversial voices of olde and today, would be carefully considered and learned from through dialogue - that thing these rebels expressly desired from their fans and critics alike. But a moron alone at the top of the world only sees Satan as an equal to converse with and learn from. he/she is afraid to consider God or Jesus or the Holy Spirit because He (the one Triune God) merely holds up a mirror as He asks you to follow Him and learn from Him. Satan, on the other hand, only gives you promises of wealth and fame and fortune never fulling revealing the cost. God said, You CANNOT serve both God and Mammon. You will either love the one and hate the other, or, you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. Ask any American if they DESPISE money. They will answer with a deflection - they will say they hate having to sacrifice so much to earn it. They will lay the blame on the leaders. Never taking accountability for themselves. And, they excuse themselves from the responsibility by saying, "What can I do, I am only one person?" Each Jew in the crowd that day was 'only one person' but together their voices convinced Pilate to murder the Son of God. If there is any blame to go around, blame yourselves for the state of our lives and the destruction of our planet. Your excuses only serve to amplify your guilt. Are you (we) morons or professors? Professors of Christ. Are you are protector or a projector? Do you hide Christ in your heart and keep Him to yourself? Or, do you let Christ live THROUGH you and thereby project HIS LIGHT onto your path so that others may come to the light and gain knowledge of Christ and the hope of salvation? Jimi was an alarm. He was sounding the alarm but too many morons were in the audience 'not thinking' and only tripping. Don't be a moron. Trip on Christ, not lust. Not greed. Not entertainment. Not fame or fortune or notoriety or awareds or the pat-on-the-back. Sacrifice your life so that others may live. So that Christ may live through you and in you and for you.

I very much appreciated your review. Any American-any human-should be comfortable expressing their rational opinion, and this country and your listeners include a wide variety of welcoming opinions. (I would say this is the only version I choose to hear, but Marvin Gaye deserves mention). This was a live improvisation by one of the world's great artists, and regardless of the subject matter, we are reacting to art. We should never forget that an enormous part of what made America great is our musical contribution, and this is an important example, in a lineage of American artists. (An interesting discussion can be had about Jimi's art predecessors). As art, it did its job, causing us to feel, to think, perhaps to say. I feel much of the criticism understood/focused on this as a sociopolitical gesture, but a) it was within a work of art, and b) if true, that's a conversation a healthy society should have, and resolve. Much cheers!

Check out Roy Clark comedically performance of Folsom Prison Blues. Real guitar art. Microwave Dave and the Nukes cover of Roadrunner is pretty awesome as well.

He was the opening of Woodstock!! Welcome to Woodstock!! Check out as many of the love performers as you can. You will be blown away!

the whole Blues album is well worth a sit down. Electric Church Red House and the electric version of Hear my train comin' are the ones you should analyze (It's all Freedom)

The sounds represent war.

Wish I could've seen him but before my time. Kurt Cobain, Chester Bennington & Hank Williams sr were also amazing musicians. Tupac & Biggie as well

There’s a movie called “Jimi Hendrix: Electric Church”. It’s about the 1970 Atlanta Pop Festival they took place July 3-5. Hendrix played The Star Spangled Banner right at midnight with fireworks going off behind the stage.

Uh. . . it WAS a war! "...the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air..." That's exactly what he was doing.

And remember Hendrix was a paratrooper

The Lesley speakers singing out

Painting images with sound.

He did a studio version too, much more straight, on the Rainbow Bridge album. It's quite nice and makes an interesting contrast. He was a very good songwriter and musician. His fans can be a bit OTT, but that's fans for you.

And he did it all left handed

This is about the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens. Buddy had a song called ‘That’ll be the Day’ and one of the lyrics is _That’ll be the Day When I Die_ .

After this listen to Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s “Ohio”. Same era, same war, only on the home front.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="273">4:33</a> That's the point.

So many that came after Jimi credit him for inspiring them. He was way ahead of his time. If you notice he is playing a right handed guitar upside down. He was left handed and didn’t have a lefty guitar

I was 8yrs old and was one of the few I guess who love are soldiers...