On the third day of Woodstock, Jimi Hendrix opened the show with what would become one of his most iconic performances; an impressionistic interpretation of the Star Spangled Banner. Hendrix, who served in the Air Force, later stated in an interview on the Dick Cavett show that he didn't think the performance was unorthodox and in fact thought it was beautiful. Over time many have interpreted the performance in different ways from drug induced experimentation to an impressionistic criticism of war, the later not too far a stretch considering America's involvement in Vietnam at the time. Maybe it was a counter culture message of unity to society at large, that patriotism didn't have to fit the narrowly defined conservative definitions of the day. To me, the raw emotion of the performance is simply breath taking and even after seeing and hearing it on numerous occasions I always tend to give it a spin on Veteran's Day.
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