the meaning of the star spangled banner song

President James Madison, who is known as the “Chief Architect of the Constitution,” had previously declared a National Day of Prayer, July 9, 1812, stating: His son, John McHenry, fought in the battle.

They were transferred to a sloop where they watched 19 British ships fire continuously for 25 hours over 1,800 cannon balls, rockets and mortar shells at the earthen Fort McHenry.įort McHenry was named for Secretary of War James McHenry, who had signed the Declaration of Independence. Beanes would be hanged so they asked attorney Francis Scott Key to sail with Colonel John Skinner under a flag of truce to the British flagship Tonnant and arrange a prisoner exchange.Ĭoncerned their plans of attacking Baltimore would be discovered, the British placed Francis Scott Key and Colonel Skinner under armed guard aboard the H.M.S. On their way, they caught an elderly physician of Upper Marlboro, Dr.

Capitol, the British attacked Baltimore, Maryland-the third largest city in America. Soak in the Woodstock moment as well as Hendrix’s appearance on The Dick Cavett Show, below or watch him perform Purple Rain on the final day of Woodstock.On SEPTEMBER 13, 1814, just weeks after they burned the U.S. They made me sing it in school, so it was a flashback.” Cavett then points out that Hendrix is likely to find himself on the receiving end of a barrage of hate mail because of his decision to cover the national anthem in an unorthodox manner, to which Hendrix proudly stated, “It’s not unorthodox, I thought it was beautiful.”Ĭavett would later reflect on the interview years later and said that he should have supported Hendrix’s version rather than opening him up for criticism: “I suppose I could have added that since we somehow acquired the most dismal, virtually unsingable dirge of a national anthem of any known nation, we should decorate Hendrix for turning it into music.”

“I don’t know, man,” Hendrix said on his decision to play the track before adding, “I’m an American, so I played it.

This was Hendrix’s way of kicking back at the idea of military power being the only thing that is great about America and, through the use of just his instrument, he managed to evoke the opposite feeling of what the anthem was intended to cause and is one of the great political statements in the music history.

The meaning of the star spangled banner song