Turfway Owes An Apology

[cosmo96]

On Saturday January 30 Turfway Park played Jimi Hendrix's version of the National Anthem. Jimi Hendrix may be a hall of fame rock star, but his version of the Anthem is a disgrace and an insult to our great nation. I do not consider myself a super patriot, but this so called National Anthem was beyond disrespect. It lasted over five minutes and sounded like a screeching owl. If you have ever been in the Everglades at night is more what it sounded like. Imagine owls, insects, bull gators bellowing and wildcats all going at once. The noise that Hendrix made did not come close to our Anthem. The Anthem like the flag is a symbol of the United States. On Saturday January 30 Turfway Park violated the dignity and respect of our country. It was a terrible insult to all those who have served and fought for her. Turfway Park owes the United States of America an apology.

[illinoisbred]

Wholeheartily agree with you.

[Stillriledup]

Anthem's shouldn't be played at racetracks, there's no need for it.

[Grits]

Cosmo, I understand what you're saying, but EVEN in his worst hour, and those were few by the way, Hendrix couldn't have been worse than Roseanne Barr. No one ever masquered the Anthem as did she. EVER.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FhndWwWt8I

[turfnsport]

Something coming out of the Turfway speakers worse than Battaglia?

Never would have thunk it.

[cosmo96]

This is not really something to joke about, but Battagula sounds like Sinatra compared to Hendrix's version of the Nation Anthem.

[johnhannibalsmith]

Originally Posted by turfnsport

Something coming out of the Turfway speakers worse than Battaglia?

Never would have thunk it.

Now that was indeed a timely, fresh Battaglia joke!

[OTM Al]

Jimi actually served in the Army, airbourne if I remember right. He did an interpretation of the anthem, one far less worse than most I have heard at sporting events. It was a poem that was later turned into a song by the suggestion of Key's brother in law, who realised it fit with the melody of an English drinking song (though many other songs had adapted the melody as well) which begins

To ANACREON in Heav'n, where he sat in full Glee,
A few Sons of Harmony sent a Petition,
That He their Inspirer and Patron wou'd be;
When this Answer arriv'd from the JOLLY OLD GRECIAN
"Voice, Fiddle, and Flute,
"No longer be mute,
"I'll lend you my Name and inspire you to boot,
"And, besides, I'll instruct you like me, to intwine
"The Myrtle of VENUS with BACCHUS's Vine.

Just a bit randy that. It did not become the national anthem until 1931, probably because of the support Sousa gave for it as there were other contenders for the title, when one day someone realised we didn't have one. The tradition of playing it at sporting event comes from baseball, where it has regularly been done since the 40's.

To be honest, I never cared for it much. The melody is difficult, which is why it is more often done badly than well. The content is about a war that shouldn't have happened. Prefer songs like "America the Beautiful" or "This Land is Your Land". Think they say a lot more bout the country and what's worth protecting.

[Grits]

From the standpoint of live feed--if one were complimenting music--it'd go to NYRA hands down. I don't know who is choosing the music leading into the prerace discussion, but they're doing one fine job! And have been, since the first day the new format was created.

Where else can you rock before watching the next race, or prior to following the commentary? One can liken it to driving down the highway hearing favorites on your radio or cd player.

With Gulfstream, you get ads for Frank's Adena Springs stallion roster. No surprise there.

[illinoisbred]

Originally Posted by Grits

From the standpoint of live feed--if one were complimenting music--it'd go to NYRA hands down. I don't know who is choosing the music leading into the prerace discussion, but they're doing one fine job! And have been, since the first day the new format was created.

Where else can you rock before watching the next race, or prior to following the commentary? One can liken it to driving down the highway hearing favorites on your radio or cd player.

With Gulfstream, you get ads for Frank's Adena Springs stallion roster. No surprise there.

I thought I heard some Robin Trower at Aqueduct last week.God, I can't believe I even remember them.

[QuarterCrack]

Originally Posted by cosmo96

On Saturday January 30 Turfway Park played Jimi Hendrix's version of the National Anthem. Jimi Hendrix may be a hall of fame rock star, but his version of the Anthem is a disgrace and an insult to our great nation. I do not consider myself a super patriot, but this so called National Anthem was beyond disrespect. It lasted over five minutes and sounded like a screeching owl. If you have ever been in the Everglades at night is more what it sounded like. Imagine owls, insects, bull gators bellowing and wildcats all going at once. The noise that Hendrix made did not come close to our Anthem. The Anthem like the flag is a symbol of the United States. On Saturday January 30 Turfway Park violated the dignity and respect of our country. It was a terrible insult to all those who have served and fought for her. Turfway Park owes the United States of America an apology.

Are you really THIS sensitive and insecure?

It's one thing to not like the Hendrix version of the National Anthem, which is a totally legitimate stance to take. To each his own, etc. etc. But to say it violates the diginity and respect of our country is going WAY overboard and to imply that Turfway owes the USA an apology is just downright asinine.

If you don't like it, that's completely fine. But realize that it's not the end of the world. Some people like the Hendrix rendition. It's really not that bad.

[WinterTriangle]

Unorthodox is beautiful to some.

people who say they love freedom but insist on putting their own tastes on everyone else are not freedom-loving, IMHO. I'm sure there are countries where one can be dictated to, as to what they can hear, read, and see.

Jimi's rendition was *his* self-expression of a war and horror soundtrack (TET offensive, riots in the US, bombs dropping, explosions blasting, and machine guns firing ) of the time, on his Stratocaster. The Star-Spangled Banner was written by Francis Scott Key after he witnessed a battle in the War of 1812.....that was "his" expression. He did mention bombs, but obviously didn't put it in his music.

Jose Feliciano (Light my Fire) did a rendition of the anthem that was smoky, jazzy, latin beat. Some people were outraged by that, too...but it was really quite pleasant, if you like his dreamy voice and instrumentals.

I'm sure there are people who enjoyed hearing it.....it's not a personal favorite of mine, but I don't interpret tastes for everyone else.

[PaceAdvantage]

Turfway might have some things to apologize for (that AWS for one), but playing Jimi's version of the National Anthem sure isn't one of them, in my opinion.

[pdxmike]

This should be nominated for dumbest thread of the year.

[Zman179]

Originally Posted by cosmo96

On Saturday January 30 Turfway Park played Jimi Hendrix's version of the National Anthem. Jimi Hendrix may be a hall of fame rock star, but his version of the Anthem is a disgrace and an insult to our great nation. I do not consider myself a super patriot, but this so called National Anthem was beyond disrespect. It lasted over five minutes and sounded like a screeching owl. If you have ever been in the Everglades at night is more what it sounded like. Imagine owls, insects, bull gators bellowing and wildcats all going at once. The noise that Hendrix made did not come close to our Anthem. The Anthem like the flag is a symbol of the United States. On Saturday January 30 Turfway Park violated the dignity and respect of our country. It was a terrible insult to all those who have served and fought for her. Turfway Park owes the United States of America an apology.

Oh, pleeeeeeeeease.