On today’s date in 1973, Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in a celebrated “battle of the sexes” tennis match. Riggs, who was 55, claimed that men were superior to women and that even at his age he could beat the 29-year-old King. Although he had won a match against top-ranked Margaret Court earlier in the year, he was wrong about King, as she beat him in straight sets 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. At the time, King’s win was seen as a victory for women’s tennis, women’s sports, and women’s rights in general.
King had an outstanding tennis career, but I suspect that many like me know her primarily from her match against the showman Riggs. Both Riggs and King had a sense of humor, which made the promotions and the match fun to watch. And King’s professionalism and skill made it it easy for us to root for her as a great champion.
After King’s match with Riggs, she started a professional tennis league and became coach of the Philadelphia Freedoms team. Not long after that, her friend Elton John and his lyricist Bernie Taupin worked to write a song about King, called “Philadelphia Freedom.” Taupin realized that a song about tennis probably would not work, so the song’s lyrics have little to do with tennis: “Shine a light won’t you shine a light / Philadelphia freedom I love you, yes I do.”
After the song was released in 1975 as a single, it became a big hit. I remember hearing the song on the radio constantly. At the time, I did not know it was about King, and like most people I associated the tune with the upcoming bicentennial. During that year leading up the bicentennial, anything red, white & blue was big, along with things like Bicentennial Minutes. So it was not much of a surprise that a catchy song that sounded patriotic would be a hit. Little did many people know, though, that the song was inspired by the great American Billie Jean King.
On September 13 in 1814, a 35-year-old American lawyer wrote down a poem aboard a ship. He had just watched Fort McHenry in Maryland being bombarded by the British all night long during the War of 1812. British troops had already attacked Washington, D.C. and were now looking to take Baltimore.
The lawyer had come to Baltimore to successfully negotiate the release of a prisoner who was his friend. Now, he became inspired when during dawn’s early light, he saw the U.S. flag still flying over Fort McHenry.
The Song
And so, immediately, the lawyer began writing a poem called “The Defense of Fort McHenry.” Francis Scott Key’s poem began invoking his sight of the flag, “Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light, / What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?.”
After the poem was published in newspapers, the words were linked to the music of an English drinking song by John Stafford Smith, “To Anacreon in Heaven.” The union of the American poem and the British music took on a life of its own as “The Star-Spangled Banner.” And eventually it was adopted as the U.S.’s official anthem in 1931.
Criticisms of “The Star Spangled Banner”
There are many critics of the national anthem. Some critics note that the song is difficult to sing. Thus, we get various poor performances ranging from Cyndi Lauper’s minor lyrics flub at the 2011 U.S. Open to more disastrous results.
Others criticize the song because it celebrates war over the nation’s other accomplishments. Personally, I love “America the Beautiful,” which many advocate as a replacement anthem. But there is something inspirational in the old drinking song tune put to Key’s words.
As a pre-Civil War song, the reference to the “land of the free” is about a land where American slaves were excluded from that freedom. In fact, Francis Scott Key had owned slaves, worked against abolitionists in his law career, and generally held a number of racist principles.
Thus, it is fascinating that the greatest versions of the song were performed by African-American singers and a man born in Puerto Rico. These singers instilled the song with different meanings.
Whitney Houston’s 1991 Super Bowl Performance
The most recent of these versions is the rousing and patriotic Super Bowl version by Whitney Houston at the Super Bowl in January 1991. She performed the song while the nation was involved in the Gulf War.
People immediately recognized her version was something special. I remember seeing the single CD of the beautiful performance for sale in record stores, and Houston made the national anthem a best-seller.
The fact that Houston pre-recorded the vocals and sang into a dead microphone does nothing to take away from how amazing her rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” is — or how much she gave to the performance. Her voice rose over a full band.
On a day when the nation was on high alert and Americans were unsure of the future, Houston altered the 3/4 waltz of the national anthem by changing it to 4/4 time. She thus elongated the notes, steeping the song in the time signature of the blues.
Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock in 1969
Maybe the single most famous public performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” is the Jimi Hendrix guitar version from Woodstock in 1969. His instrumental version instills new meaning into the song and captures the turbulent time.
Although Hendrix had been scheduled to close the Woodstock Music and Art Fair on Sunday night, various delays resulted in him taking the stage around 8 a.m. on Monday morning, August 18, 1969. Thus, the closing act appeared before a crowd that had thinned out since the beginning of the weekend.
Hendrix first performed many of his most popular songs. Next, as the band began improvising, Hendrix told the crowd, “You can leave if you want to. We’re just jammin’, that’s all.” And then in the midst of the jam, he launched into “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Even though Hendrix had played the tune on stage in the past, this performance was one for the ages. Hendrix took a song written about two nations fighting a battle, and he turned it into an elegy to a nation battling itself.
Marvin Gaye at the 1983 NBA All-Star Game
The third example is one of my favorites, which is Marvin Gaye’s performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the 1983 NBA All-Star game. In what could have been just another pre-game performance, Marvin Gaye surprised us all.
At the time, Gaye was fighting a serious drug addiction problem, and within a little more than a year, he would be killed by his own father. On the night of this performance, he must have wondered how the crowd would react. He was running behind schedule on his way to the game after his only rehearsal of the song had not gone well.
That night, I remember watching the All-Star game. After Gaye began, at first, I wondered what was going on. Then, like the crowd, I began to realize that something incredibly special was taking place.
Gaye, like Hendrix before him, was reclaiming the national anthem, transcending the original warrior lyrics, capturing the pain and celebrating the joy of a troubled country, and giving it a little bit of soul.
José Feliciano at the 1968 World Series
Before any of the above versions, José Feliciano, another person who would have been excluded from Francis Scott Key’s country, reinterpreted the national anthem during an afternoon game of the 1968 World Series.
Feliciano performed in Detroit before Game 5 of the series between the Tigers and St. Louis Cardinals. The Tigers and NBC received angry calls and letters following the unconventional performance.
But one may find an attempt to heal a divided nation in Feliciano’s voice. The year had already seen the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. Riots erupted in August at the Democratic National Convention. As the Viet Nam conflict continued, the nation seemed to be coming apart.
You may hear Feliciano’s amazing version below. Also, check out his discussion of the controversy caused by his October 7, 1968 performance.
In less than a month, the country elected Richard M. Nixon as president. The war continued and the nation remained divided. But Feliciano — like Gaye, Hendrix, and Houston — had reminded us that the national anthem and the nation still could be saved.
What is your favorite version of “The Star Spangled Banner”? Leave a comment.
I recently discovered Jason Heath and the Greedy Souls through their Twitter account and checked out their website to discover some wonderful rootsy rocking music. Check out their video for “California Wine,” and I guarantee you will be singing the catchy song the rest of the day.
Their website describes their music: “Firmly entrenched in organically American music, the band mines elements of rock, country and folk coupled with rich storytelling and the poking and prodding of emotional contexts both personal and worldly.” Those are some fancy words, but the music speaks for itself. You may hear more of their songs on their music page. Also, on their website you will find downloads and a sampler EP of Packed for Exile as well as their debut album, The Vain Hope of Horse (2008), which includes some help from Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Nels Cline of Wilco.
Our readers who are Springsteen fans may be interested to know that the Greedy Souls include Jason Federici, the son of the E Street Band’s late Danny Federici, playing accordian and organ, of course. Along those lines, Jason Heath and the Greedy Souls recorded a version of Springsteen’s “4th of July, Asbury Park” available for free download at Backstreets.com if you click on the song title here. Other members of the Greedy Souls along with Jason Heath include Ben Perdue, Abe Etz, Jonathan Chi, Aaron Gitnick, Chris Joyner, and Ysanne Spevack.
The band is located in California, where Heath grew up and met drummer Abe Etz when they both were in sixth grade. They planned to create a band even before they could play instruments, and, unlike usual childhood dreams, they worked to make this one come true.
If you enjoy the music, check out their website and support the band. Also, for all of the fans of Springsteen, the Greedy Souls, and the Federici’s, do not forget to check out the DannyFund to help fight melanoma, which took Danny Federici away from us way too soon.
Charles Hardin Holley was born on September 7, 1936, meaning that this Wednesday, the man we came to know as Buddy Holly would have been 75 years old. I like to think there is some universe where Buddy is still making music. But in this universe, we will have to make due with the great music he left us when he died in 1959 at the young age of 22 on a flight from Mason City, Iowa to Moorhead, Minnesota.
Around the web there are a number of stories celebrating the 75th birthday of the rock pioneer from Lubbock, Texas. Check out the links below (if you want an image of Buddy to guide you while you read this website, click this link).
– Tribute CDs: Because it is all about the music, the best place to start may be this Rolling Stone link that is offering a free stream of the forthcoming tribute CD, Listen to Me: Buddy Holly (2011). The free steam is only up for a limited time, so now is the time to check out the CD, featuring Stevie Nicks, The Fray, Ringo Starr, and others. Chris Isaak’s version of “Crying Waiting Hoping” is a highlight, but I do not get the point of Eric Idle’s Monty Python-esque reading of “Raining in My Heart.” USA Today has a review of the CD. While the CD has some nice covers, nothing comes close to the originals, of course. Another tribute CD, Rave On Buddy Holly, was out earlier this year, and is reviewed by The Aquarian Weekly. I am a fan of a previous tribute CD, Not Fade Away (1996), featuring The Band, Nanci Griffith, Joe Ely, and the Mavericks. That CD features a haunting “Learning the Game” from Holly’s bassist Waylon Jennings.
– Walk of Fame: KCBD notes that the birthday celebration includes a new star on the Walk of Fame. Lubbock Online explains how the star event has turned into an overdue celebration.
– Buddy Holly’s Widow: Holly’s widow, Maria Elena Santiago-Holly, talks to Rolling Stone about the tributes. But Amarillo.com explains why Holly’s widow is trying to stop a tribute concert by a Buddy Holly impersonator.
– Holly’s Relevance: In Holly’s hometown, Lubbock Online ponders why Holly is still relevant more than fifty years after his death. Similarly, the Houston Chronicle lists several reasons Buddy Holly still has a hold on us at 75.
– Gary Busey as Holly: TMZ posted a video of Gary Busey, who was nominated for an Academy Award for his outstanding portrayal of Holly in The Buddy Holly Story (1978). In the video, Busey made a recent karaoke attempt to reprise his Holly-style singing on “Maybe Baby” (not for the faint of heart).
– Odd Tributes to Holly’s Glasses: Finally, for two odd Holly-related photos that were recently posted: First, the Silver Lining Opticians Blog features a photo of Holly to promote a style of spectacles (or you may see how you would look in Holly’s glasses at buddyholly.me). Second, NewMexicoBoxing.com has a photo of boxer Eric Henson, who is nicknamed “Buddy Holly.” You will be able to guess why from the photo.
Somewhat surprisingly, as the day approaches, there is not as much written about Buddy Holly’s 75th birthday on the web as one might expect. Much of of the news about Holly is related to the new tribute CD. Perhaps because he died so long ago, fewer people connect to him the way we connect to anniversaries regarding John Lennon or Elvis Presley. Oh well, maybe there is not much new to say as long as we have the music.
“Now, no matter what you think about rock and roll,” check out this clip of Holly singing “Peggy Sue” on The Arthur Murray Dance Party from December 29, 1957, with an introduction that reminds us that Buddy Holly and rock music was on the cutting edge of the times. Thus, he rightfully was among the initial class of ten performer inductees when the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame began in 1986. Buddy, hope you are having a great birthday in your universe.
As a pre-Civil War song, the reference to the “land of the free” is about a land where American slaves were excluded from that freedom. In fact,
, was out earlier this year, and is reviewed by 
(1996), featuring The Band, Nanci Griffith, Joe Ely, and the Mavericks. That CD features a haunting “Learning the Game” from Holly’s bassist Waylon Jennings.
(1978). In the video, Busey made a 