The Star-Spangled Banner:

MHM 408/508 Listening Guide
Listening Tape #1: Side A (LRC 8099)
Length: approx. 35 mins.

Mark Clague
12/97, rev. 9/98

#1 "The Star-Spangled Banner" 1:19   Leonard Slatkin conducting the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (1991)   Victor 60778-2-RC A traditional performance by an orchestra that markets itself as a champion of American music. Note the opening drum roll, the majestic and regular tempo, the polish of the ensemble, Slatkin's dynamic shaping, and the slowing of the tempo to add drama and grandeur to the ending. For many Americans, this rendition would represent the definitive performance type for the national anthem. But what's missing? What does this music mean to you? Does it bring certain images to mind?

#2 "The Star-Spangled Banner" 3:11   Marvin Gaye (1984)   Motown 3746362552 This is the other typical performance format: a professional singer leading a crowd at a sporting event &endash; here the 1984 NBA All-Star Game. Yet, Gaye's performance is anything but typical: using a drum machine and synthesizer, Gaye freely reinterprets the traditional harmonic setting and melodic contour. Listen closely to the crowd. How do they respond to Gaye's arrangement? Why do you think that they respond in this way?

TEXT

The Star-Spangled Banner

Oh, say can you see
By the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hail
at the twilight's last gleaming.

Whose proud stripes and bright stars
Through the perilous hours
O'er the ramparts we watched
were so gallantly streaming.

And the rocket's red glare
The bombs bursting in air
Gave proof through the night
that our flag was still there.

Oh say does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave?
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

#3 "The Star-Spangled Banner" 2:28   Red House Painters (1993)   4AD 961441 With the exception of the title, this performance by the Red House Painters has nothing (NOTHING) in common with example #1. What has changed? In your opinion, can this version be considered the national anthem of the U.S? What do you think this band is trying to say through this particular performance?

#4 "The Star-Spangled Banner" 3:42   Jimi Hendrix (performming at Woodstock), August 1969   MCA 11063 Even when compared to Roseanne Arnold's crotch-grabbing performance and Abdul Raouf's refusal to stand during NBA pre-game performances, Jimi Hendrix's performance of the SSB at Woodstock in 1969 still ranks as the most controversial rendition. Even today, commentators still disagree over what Hendrix may have meant by this signature interpretation. Is it revolutionary? Is it patriotic? Is it offensive? Certainly the place and time of the performance, (that is, a mass counter-cultural ritual during the height of the Vietnam War), have greatly influenced the reception of Hendrix's SSB. Listen to this performance a couple of times. Trying saying the words softly to yourself as the tune progresses (see ex. 2 above). What do you notice about the location and meaning of Hendrix's improvisations? Do you hear any melodies other than the SSB? Who is playing? Writing a memorial essay after Hendrix's sudden death in 1970, Bob Hicks wrote: "Hendrix' interpretation of "The Star Spangled Banner"&endash; is a slimy, rotting ooze seeping obliviously on through a madman's maze of snarling unleashed demonia. It is the vast underbelly of a culture sinking, in Hendrix' mind, smugly into its death pit. Self-destruction: the mouth tears great chunks of flesh from the bowel. "The bombs burst, the rockets flash. The mother weeps over her dead child; the child wanders wailing from the brutalized body that had been its mother; the bayonet gorges; the cities flame; the armies crust; hollowed men stumble from starvation; children betray their parents, betray their brothers; crowds crush each other, gasp for breath; and always, always the song drones on, through the laaand of the freeee, and the hooooome of the braaave!&endash;and then crash the song is over, the power failure has come America, it was falling down all around you and you didn't even look and chaos/struggle and suddenly a new raw driving orderly force and listen there's a melody, a vibrant honest melody." (Hick's last remark refers to the way Hendrix segues into "Voodoo Chile" at the Woodstock performance.) Do you agree with Hick's reading of the Woodstock performance? What political aspects does Hick's emphasize? Hendrix, himself, said little to clarify his intentions: "I don't know man, all I did was play it. I'm American so I played it. I used to have to sing it in school, they made me sing it in school, so, it's a flashback." (September 1969) "Oh, because we're all Americans, you know, we're all Americans, aren't we? When it was written then, it was played in a very, very beautiful... what they call beautiful state, you know. Nice and inspiring, you know, your heart throbs and you say 'Great, I'm American!' But nowadays when we play it we don't play it to take away all this greatness that America is supposed to have. But we play it the way the air is in America today. The air is slightly static, isn't it? You know what I mean? So therefore we played it." (September, 1969).

#5 "The Star-Spangled Banner" ca. 5 mins.   Jimi Hendrix (Guitars), from Rainbow Bridge (Reprise K44159)   Recorded Record Plant (studios) March 18, 1969. Recorded exactly six months before Hendrix's first live public performance of the SSB version used at Woodstock, this arrangement for the Rainbow Bridge soundtrack uses overdubbing to produce a choir of guitars. Hendrix is the only performer. What do you think of this performance? Does it change the way you think about the Woodstock rendition? Is it more or less patriotic? Does this version say something different from the Woodstock version or do the two performances work together?

#6 "The Star-Spangled Banner" 2:35   Belá Fleck and the Flecktones: Flight of the Cosmic Hippo (1991)   Warner Bros. #26562 This performance also reflects wartime. While recording their album, Flight of the Cosmic Hippo, in January of 1991, the United States went to war with Iraq. According to the liner notes, the band recorded the SSB the night fighting broke out: "We watched a lot of CNN in between taping songs. We can only hope for peace." Listen for the melody. How has the band divided up the phrases. Do they improvise additional melodic lines with more or less frequently than Hendrix did at Woodstock?

#7 "The Star-Spangled Banner" 2:59   Randy Coven (1989)   Guitar Recordings #88561-5011-2 Hendrix has inspired myriad imitators. An electric guitarist cannot play even a few notes from the SSB without invoking Hendrix for her or his listeners. Tributes by Kiss and U2 have been recorded, while guitar jocks, such as Randy Coven, use the tune as a virtuoso showpiece to prove their mettle against the reputation of the master. What do you think of Coven's performance. Is he a great player? Do you think he is American? Has the meaning of the song changed from Hendrix to Coven?

#8 "The Star-Spangled Banner" 1:08   Duke Ellington Orchestra   Cornell University Concert December 10, 1948   Music Masters #65114 Following the World War II patriotism was still in fashion and Duke Ellington's big band began each of its concerts with the SSB. While there is more variety to the timbres and tempi in Ellington's performance, to my ears the same values of beauty and polish that governed example #1 on this tape seem to be in effect. Do you agree? Has anything new been added to the performance.

#9 "The Star-Spangled Banner" 1:37   Igor Stravinsky: arranged for male chorus (1941)   Music Masters 67113 Born in Russia but known for a series of revolutionary ballets composed for the Ballet Russe in Paris, Igor Stravinsky emigrated to the United States ca. 1939 to escape the turmoil of World War II and settled in Hollywood. Possibly intended to show his gratitude to his new homeland, Stravinsky composed this arrangement of the SSB on its tenth anniversary as the US national anthem. While exploring modern extended harmonies, Stravinsky's version carries the same solemn affect as more traditional versions, particularly because of the smoothness of the counterpoint. Authorities in Boston, however, did not agree and had the composer imprisioned (briefly) for desecrating a national treasure. Does this version sound offensive to your ears? Why might Stravinsky's version created a controversy? Click here to see Stravinsky's police file photo from the time of his Boston arrest.

#10 "To Anacreon in Heaven" ca. 7 mins.   Text by Ralph Tomlinson (1770); Music by John Stafford Smith (1771)   Musical Heritage Society #512415X Believe it or not &endash; this is the original version of the national anthem of the United States. Basically it is a drinking song written for a British social club. Apparently, the melody was well-know in the colonies and was often given new sets of words, such as the poem written by Francis Scott Key during the Battle of Baltimore (1814) &endash; i.e., the version the U. S. now recognizes as its national anthem. It iss also surprising for many to find out that the SSB did not become the official anthem of the U. S. until March 3, 1931. Criticized as a violent song of war by pacifists, as a drinking tune by prohibitionists, and as too difficult to sing, the SSB faced stiff competition from "America," "Yankee Doodle," "Hail Columbia," "My Country, 'Tis of Thee," "Columbia, Gem of the Ocean," and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Inspired by the U. S. bicentennial in 1976, a scholar named William Lichtenwanger traced the roots of the song. His research is summarized by Kenneth Cooper in the liner notes to MHS 512415X: "The song To Anacreon in Heaven was written for the Anacreontic Society founded in 1766 by a 'sprightly class of citizens' who met once a fortnight at the London Coffee-House on Ludgate Hill, eventually moving to the Strand. The society's legendary patron was the Greek lyric poet Anacreon (ca. 570&emdash;478 BC), whose love and drinking songs, according to [traveler] Dr. [Charles] Burney, 'were distinguished by their... voluptuous gaiety.' The club's motto was: 'Here sadness were a sin.' "The text of To Anacreon in Heaven was submitted in 1770 by the club's president, Ralph Tomlinson, and set to music in 1771 by John Stafford Smith (1750&emdash;1836), an organist, composer, and tenor. Plot Summary "In the text, the 'sons of harmony' (a.k.a.. society members) appeal to Anacreon for inspiration, and he agrees to help them enjoy the mingling of love (the "myrtle of Venus") and drink (the fruit of "Bacchus' vine"). Up on Mount Olympus, old thunderous Jove objects, arguing that if these mortals have so much fun, the goddesses will not be able to resist them, and, in fact, they are already abandoning Parnassus for Rowley's (the liquor merchant on Ludgate Hill), as are Apollo (the "yellow-hair'd god") and his nine muses. Apparently the gods too are succumbing, because Idalia (Venus' temple) and the "bi-forked hill' (Olympus) are nearly deserted. Apollo pleads with Jove in Latin not to bother with his thunder, saying 'these thunderclaps are avoidable, you know' and offering to protect the club and its members from his 'crackers.' Momus, the god of mockery and ridicule, then threatens to join Apollo, imploring Jove not to be 'jealous of these honest fellows'; Jove relents, and swears by the river Styx that the club shall long entwine love and drink." (Paraphrased from liner notes of Musical Heritage Society 512415X written by Kenneth Cooper.) TEXT:

The news through Olympus immediately flew;
When old Thunder pretended to give himself airs&endash;
If these mortals are suffer'd their scheme to pursue,
The devil a goddess will stay above stairs.

Hark! already they cry,
In transports of joy,
A fig for Parnassus! To Rowley's we'll fly;
And there, my good fellows, we'll learn to intwine
The myrtle of Venus with Bachus's vine.

The yellow-hair'd god, and his nine fusty maids,
To the hill of old Lud will incontinent flee,
Idalia will boast but of tenantless shades,
And the biforked hill a mere desert will be.

My thunder, no fear on't,
Will soon do its errand,
And dam'met I'll swinge the ringleadsers, I warrant.
I'll trim the young dogs, for thus daring to twine
The myrtle of Venus with Bachus's vine.

Apollo rose up: and said, Pr'ythee ne'er quarrel.
Good king of the gods, with my vot'ries below!
Your thunder is useless-then, shewing his laurel,
Cry'd, Sic evitabile fulmen, you know!

Then over each head
My laurels I'll spread;
So my sons from your crackers no mischief shall dread,
Whilst snug in their club-room they jovially twine
The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine.

Next Momus got up, with his risible phiz,
And swore with Apollo he'd cheerfully join-
The full tide of harmony still shall be his.
But the song, and the catch, and the laugh shall be mine:

Then, jove, be not jealous
Of these honest fellows.
Cry'd jove, We relent, since the truth you now tell us;
And swear, by Old Styx, that they long shall entwine
The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine.

Ye sons of Anacreon, then, join hand in hand;
Preserve unanimity, friendship, and love.
'Tis your's to support what's so happily plan'd ;
You've the sanction of gods, and the fiat of love.

While thus we agree,
Our toast let it be.
May our club flourish happy, united, and free!
And long may the sons of Anacreon intwine
The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine.