Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-ws8qp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T03:26:17.318Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

“This Is America”: Jimi Hendrix's Star Spangled Banner Journey as Psychedelic Citizenship

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2014

Abstract

Jimi Hendrix's 18 August 1969 performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair has been characterized as an expression of transcendent political resistance as well as crude anti-U.S. drivel. Drawing on Hendrix's own archive of recordings, writings, interviews, stage banter, and especially live performances, this article analyzes Hendrix's artistic engagement with the United States national anthem by locating his Woodstock Banner as a central moment in a two-year fascination with the song, brought to a close only by Hendrix's untimely death. It presents the anthem as an artistic vehicle for Hendrix's political musings, a thoughtful engagement with current events, and as commentary responsive to Hendrix's immediate environment and expressive of his aspirations for the nation of his birth. Insights offered here include the roots of Hendrix's Banner performances as ornaments to the Civil War eulogy “Taps,” the plural construction of the Hendrix Banner and an account of the aesthetic development of his anthem arrangement, the value of his recorded stage banter for understanding Hendrix's Banner politics, the impact of the film Woodstock on Hendrix's renditions, and the use of the Banner during Hendrix's final 1970 “The Cry of Love Tour” as part of a closing anti-war set and call to action for the psychedelic citizen.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Music 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

Bass, Amy. Not the Triumph But the Struggle: The 1968 Olympics and the Making of the Black Athlete. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2002.Google Scholar
Black, Johnny. Jimi Hendrix: The Ultimate Experience. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 1999.Google Scholar
Cross, Charles R. Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix. New York: Hyperion, 2005.Google Scholar
Dannemann, Monika. The Inner World of Jimi Hendrix. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 1995.Google Scholar
Farrell, William. “19-Hour Concert Ends Bethel Fair.” New York Times, 19 August 1969.Google Scholar
FloydSamuel A., Jr. Samuel A., Jr.The Power of Black Music: Interpreting Its History from Africa to the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.Google Scholar
Frisch, Michael. “Woodstock and Altamont.” In True Stories from the American Past. Vol. 1, ed. Graebner, William, 217–39. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1993.Google Scholar
Gilroy, Paul. “Bold as Love? Jimi's Afrocyberdelia and the Challenge of the Not-Yet.” In Rip It Up: The Black Experience in Rock ’n’ Roll, ed. Horse, Kandia Crazy, 2538. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2004.Google Scholar
Gilroy, Paul. Darker than Blue: On the Moral Economies of Black Atlantic Culture. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 2010.Google Scholar
Gosse, Van. Rethinking the New Left: An Interpretive History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013.Google Scholar
Grunenberg, Christoph, and Harris, Jonathan, eds., Summer of Love: Psychedelic Art, Social Crisis and Counterculture in the 1960s. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2005.Google Scholar
Hickey, Dave. Air Guitar: Essays in Art and Democracy. Los Angeles: Art Issues Press, 1997.Google Scholar
Johnson, Pete. “Jimi Hendrix at Inglewood Forum.” Los Angeles Times, 29 April 1969.Google Scholar
Johnson, Pete. “Jimi Hendrix in Concert at Bowl.” Los Angeles Times, 16 September 1968.Google Scholar
Jones, Robert E.History of the 101st Airborne Division: Screaming Eagles: The First 50 Years. New York: Turner, 2010.Google Scholar
Karnow, Stanley. Vietnam: A History. New York: Penguin Books, 1997.Google Scholar
Kramer, Michael J. “The Psychedelic Public and Its Problems: Rock Music Festivals and Civil Society in the Sixties Counterculture.” In Media and Public Spheres, ed. Butsch, Richard, 149–61. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.Google Scholar
Kramer, Michael J. The Republic of Rock: Music and Citizenship in the Sixties Counterculture. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013.Google Scholar
Lawrence, Sharon. Jimi Hendrix: The Intimate Story of a Betrayed Musical Legend. New York: Harper Collins, 2006.Google Scholar
Leary, Timothy. Flashbacks: A Personal and Cultural History of an Era. Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher, 1983.Google Scholar
Marchese, John. “Thing; Hendrix On Wheels.” New York Times, 21 November 1993.Google Scholar
McDermott, John, with Kramer, Eddie. Hendrix: Setting the Record Straight. New York: Warner Books, 1992.Google Scholar
McDermott, John, with Cox, Billy and Kramer, Eddie. Jimi Hendrix Sessions: The Complete Studio Recording Sessions, 1963–1970. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1995.Google Scholar
McDermott, John, with Kramer, Eddie and Cox, Billy. Ultimate Hendrix: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Live Concerts and Sessions. New York: Backbeat Books, 2009.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Mitch, with Platt, John. Jimi Hendrix: Inside the Experience. New York: Harmony Books, 1990.Google Scholar
Moore, Allan F.Looking for the Kingdom Come: Questioning Spirituality in U2.” Popular Musicology Online 1 (2002): http://www.popular-musicology-online.com/issues/01/moore.html.Google Scholar
Moskowitz, David. The Words and Music of Jimi Hendrix. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2010.Google Scholar
Murray, Charles Shaar. Crosstown Traffic: Jimi Hendrix and the Rock ’n’ Roll Revolution. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989.Google Scholar
Nitopi, Bill, ed. Cherokee Mist: Jimi Hendrix—The Lost Writings. New York: Harper Collins, 1993.Google Scholar
Onkey, Lauren. “Voodoo Child: Jimi Hendrix and the Politics of Race in the Sixties.” In Imagine Nation: The American Counterculture in the 1960s and ’70s, ed. Braunstein, Peter and Doyle, Michael William, 189214. New York: Routledge, 2002.Google Scholar
Schmitz, David F.The Tet Offensive: Politics, War, and Public Opinion. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2005.Google Scholar
Schwartz, Susan. “Blues Show Goes On With Hendrix.” Seattle Times, 7 September 1968. Reprinted in Experience Hendrix 4/2 (Summer 2000): 43.Google Scholar
Shadwick, Keith. Jimi Hendrix: Musician. San Francisco: Backbeat Books, 2003.Google Scholar
Shapiro, Harry, and Glebbeek, Caesar. Jimi Hendrix: Electric Gypsy. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995.Google Scholar
Shelton, Robert. “Rock Fete With Jimi Hendrix Draws 18,000 to Singer Bowl.” New York Times, 25 August 1968.Google Scholar
The Birth of Rock: Blues Based Rock 1963–1970. http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/sevenages.Google Scholar
Waksman, Steve. “Black Sound, Black Body: Jimi Hendrix, the Electric Guitar, and the Meanings of Blackness.” Popular Music and Society 23/1 (Spring 1999): 75113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waksman, Steve. Instruments of Desire: The Electric Guitar and the Shaping of Musical Experience. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Welch, Chris. Hendrix: A Biography. London: Omnibus, 1982.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, Paul and Dixon, Chris. Just Ask the Axis. http://www.digitalhighway.co.uk/axis/index.asp.Google Scholar
Willix, Mary. Jimi Hendrix: Voices From Home. San Diego, CA: Creative Forces Publishing, 1995.Google Scholar
The Jimi Hendrix Experience: 3 Nights at Winterland. Reclamation RECD1013, 2006, 6 CDs.Google Scholar
Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Music. Experience Hendrix. Dagger Records CATF-05153-2, 2004, CD.Google Scholar
The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Live at Berkeley, 2nd Show. MCA Records B0001102-02, 2003, CD.Google Scholar
The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Live at the Oakland Coliseum. Experience Hendrix. Dagger Records DBRD2-11743, 1998, 2 CDs.Google Scholar
Jimi Hendrix: Live at Woodstock. Experience Hendrix. MCA Records MCAD2-11987, 1999, 2 CDs.Google Scholar
Rainbow Bridge (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack). Reprise REP 54-004, 1970, LP.Google Scholar
“The L.A. Forum Concert” (Disc IV). Lifelines: The Jimi Hendrix Story. Reprise REP 9-26435-2, 1990, 4 CDs.Google Scholar
Hendrix, Jimi. United Block Association Television Interview. 3 September 1969. http://youtu.be/LIyMxYaaRx0.Google Scholar
Jimi Hendrix: The Dick Cavett Show. Santa Monica, CA.: Experience Hendrix, LLC 088-112-888-9, 2002, DVD.Google Scholar
Jimi Hendrix: Rainbow Bridge—The Original, Restored, Full-Length Theatrical Release. Los Angeles: Rhino Home Video R2-976656, 1996, DVD.Google Scholar
Jimi Plays Berkeley: Berkeley Community Theatre—Saturday, May 30, 1970. Santa Monica, CA: Experience Hendrix, LLC B0001172-09, 2003, DVD.Google Scholar
Pennebaker, D. A., dir. Jimi Plays Monterey. The Monterey International Pop Festival Foundation, 1986. The Criterion Collection CC1624D, 2006, DVD.Google Scholar
Wadleigh (also Wadley), Michael, dir. Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music. Warner Bros., 1970. Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video 1000026403, 2009, 2 DVDs.Google Scholar
The Jimi Hendrix Experience: 3 Nights at Winterland. Reclamation RECD1013, 2006, 6 CDs.Google Scholar
Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Music. Experience Hendrix. Dagger Records CATF-05153-2, 2004, CD.Google Scholar
The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Live at Berkeley, 2nd Show. MCA Records B0001102-02, 2003, CD.Google Scholar
The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Live at the Oakland Coliseum. Experience Hendrix. Dagger Records DBRD2-11743, 1998, 2 CDs.Google Scholar
Jimi Hendrix: Live at Woodstock. Experience Hendrix. MCA Records MCAD2-11987, 1999, 2 CDs.Google Scholar
Rainbow Bridge (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack). Reprise REP 54-004, 1970, LP.Google Scholar
“The L.A. Forum Concert” (Disc IV). Lifelines: The Jimi Hendrix Story. Reprise REP 9-26435-2, 1990, 4 CDs.Google Scholar
Hendrix, Jimi. United Block Association Television Interview. 3 September 1969. http://youtu.be/LIyMxYaaRx0.Google Scholar
Jimi Hendrix: The Dick Cavett Show. Santa Monica, CA.: Experience Hendrix, LLC 088-112-888-9, 2002, DVD.Google Scholar
Jimi Hendrix: Rainbow Bridge—The Original, Restored, Full-Length Theatrical Release. Los Angeles: Rhino Home Video R2-976656, 1996, DVD.Google Scholar
Jimi Plays Berkeley: Berkeley Community Theatre—Saturday, May 30, 1970. Santa Monica, CA: Experience Hendrix, LLC B0001172-09, 2003, DVD.Google Scholar
Pennebaker, D. A., dir. Jimi Plays Monterey. The Monterey International Pop Festival Foundation, 1986. The Criterion Collection CC1624D, 2006, DVD.Google Scholar
Wadleigh (also Wadley), Michael, dir. Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music. Warner Bros., 1970. Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video 1000026403, 2009, 2 DVDs.Google Scholar