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Lot Essay
This unfinished composition represents Hendrix's initial impressions and observations of Woodstock and was probably composed during the historic festival.
Reports of growing numbers of attendees at Woodstock and emerging logistical problems reached Hendrix and began to give him cause for concern. Hendrix was one of the headliners at Woodstock and as the scheduled time slot of Sunday night at midnight drew closer, Hendrix indicated that he would rather wait and close the show. A substantial rainstorm that day had delayed the schedule of performers, so when Hendrix insisted on being the closing headliner, it pushed back the time when they finally hit the stage which ended up being 8:30 am Monday morning. By the time of his performance, Hendrix had been up for three days, and his band was short on sleep.
Hendrix's rendition of the U.S. national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner occurred about 3/4 into their set. Although pundits quickly branded the song as a political manifesto against the Vietnam War, Hendrix himself never explained its meaning other than to say at a press conference three weeks later, We're all Americans ... it was like 'Go America!'... We play it the way the air is in America today. The air is slightly static, see. The song was captured in the Woodstock film and the image of Hendrix performing this song wearing a fringed white leather jacket and a red headscarf has since been regarded as a defining moment of the 1960s.
Reports of growing numbers of attendees at Woodstock and emerging logistical problems reached Hendrix and began to give him cause for concern. Hendrix was one of the headliners at Woodstock and as the scheduled time slot of Sunday night at midnight drew closer, Hendrix indicated that he would rather wait and close the show. A substantial rainstorm that day had delayed the schedule of performers, so when Hendrix insisted on being the closing headliner, it pushed back the time when they finally hit the stage which ended up being 8:30 am Monday morning. By the time of his performance, Hendrix had been up for three days, and his band was short on sleep.
Hendrix's rendition of the U.S. national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner occurred about 3/4 into their set. Although pundits quickly branded the song as a political manifesto against the Vietnam War, Hendrix himself never explained its meaning other than to say at a press conference three weeks later, We're all Americans ... it was like 'Go America!'... We play it the way the air is in America today. The air is slightly static, see. The song was captured in the Woodstock film and the image of Hendrix performing this song wearing a fringed white leather jacket and a red headscarf has since been regarded as a defining moment of the 1960s.