Woodstock was a social experiment – a cultural response to a decade of protest and fear.
On one side, there was America’s youth, outraged by racial injustice and war in Vietnam. On the other side, there was an establishment terrified by the social revolution taking place: new attitudes about sex, drugs, spirituality, racial equality and communal living.
This generational collision came to a head on the wooden stage built at Max Yasgur’s farm.
Hendrix was an unlikely countercultural hero. He was a mixed-race, rock icon who had served in the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne, earning his “Screaming Eagles” patch as a paratrooper. While he escaped the military to pursue his musical career, he still had friends in Vietnam.
In his Woodstock anthem, Hendrix seems to mimics explosions, machine gunfire and a wailing emergency siren – musical images of horror.
But these departures from the traditional melody don’t dismantle the anthem. Instead, he plays notes that intone the words “bombs bursting in air” and “rockets red glare.” He depicts, rather than destroys, the song.
Hendrix then plays the “Taps” melody, a tune traditionally performed at military funerals to honor the sacrifice of service.
Finally, he returns to the traditional anthem melody, offering a full and faithful conclusion to the song. He lingers on several words, extending the note sounding the word “free” for six full seconds. His musical conclusion seems to echo the optimistic, if not triumphant, themes of the festival.
When 400,000 arrived for a concert designed for, at most, half that number, a public health disaster loomed. Shortages of food, water, gas, and medical supplies, compounded by an impassable traffic jam foretold of suffering if not violence. Yet the community pulled together and a temporary city appeared. Rivers of mud made utopia impossible, but attendees persevered. Extra food was donated, volunteer doctors from the U.S. Army and Red Cross were flown in by helicopter, patience and peace reigned. Music held the world together.
Hendrix used Key’s anthem to reflect the America he experienced at Woodstock that weekend. It was a nation mired in contradiction, but also a community capable of pulling together.
It was a cry of anguish and a vision of “peace, yeah, and happiness.”