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A perfect way to wind down the 4th….enjoy this repost of the story of how the most sexy of the anthem versions came to be.
At the 1983 NBA All-Star Game, that Marvin Gaye stole the show with his singular rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
At the time, singing the anthem was for the most part a straightforward job — shoulders square, sing it straight like the hymn that it is. But for this game, Gaye took the anthem to a new level.
Few people realized that Gaye’s growing cocaine addiction was causing his life to spiral completely out of control. But no matter how bad things got offstage, he always managed to pull himself together when the spotlight hit. He looked like he didn’t have a care in the world when he walked onto the floor at The Forum in Inglewood, California, and delivered a spine-tingling rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” He completely stripped it down, using little but his voice and a drum machine. but he managed to deliver one of the most beloved renditions of the song ever recorded.
Lon Rosen remembers it well — he was the director of promotions for the Los Angeles Lakers, the team hosting the All-Star game that year. He says Gaye’s one rehearsal was extremely shaky and organizers worried he’d blow it on the broadcast, by this point in his life, Gaye was battling a serious drug addiction. And on game day, the singer was running perilously late. But when he arrived, he looked like he didn’t have a care in the world when he walked onto the floor at The Forum in Inglewood, California, and delivered a spine-tingling rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” He completely stripped it down, using little but his voice and a drum machine. but he managed to deliver one of the most beloved renditions of the song ever recorded. The lights dimmed, and Gaye made history. (continue)
As one blogger remembered the performance decades later:
I can remember watching Marvin walk by me out of the entrance tunnel onto the court. Being 15, I certainly was aware that he was a famous singer and I had heard “Sexual Healing” (not thinking much of the song). At the time, I didn’t and couldn’t appreciate his musical mastery.
After he walked on the court and as he prepared to sing, all of a sudden, time got really really slow. And now, so many years after the fact, I can describe in precise detail what actually transpired.
“Surrealism is a movement stating that the liberation of our mind…can be achieved by exercising the imaginative faculties of the ´unconscious mind´ to the attainment of a dream-like state different from, or ultimately ‘truer’ than, everyday reality.”
As Marvin stood at center court, a syncopated beat machine was turned on. For several minutes, all I could hear was that funky beat.
Suddenly, loud shrieks began to emanate from the rafters. Marvin typically got this type of response when he walked onstage. Now however, the noise sounded like primal screams of the doomed as they descended into hell. I laughed uncontrollably out of sheer nervousness. What was going on (pun intended) I wondered?
He still hadn’t started the song.
Then he started to sing… and he sang very slowly, drawing out every syllable of every word. Marvin took a full minute to sing the first line of the Anthem.
As Marvin was delivering that very first line, I felt like I was struck by lightning. I knew with certainty that I was witnessing something very special—a watershed cultural event that would be talked about many decades into the future.
Between the second and third lines of the Anthem, our entire section arose en masse and began clapping to the beat which we continued to do for the rest of the song. For what seemed like hours, we weren’t in the Fabulous Forum…we were in the pews of Marvin’s church…a church none of us white suburbanites would likely ever visit in person. Through the most unlikely of musical vehicles, Marvin gave us the essence of Soul, personal and collective.
As I remember this event, I think of the emotion expressed by one of Ralph Ellison’s characters:
“He watched the wheel whirling past the numbers and experienced a burst of exaltation: This is God! This is the really truly God! He said it aloud, “This is God!” He said it with such absolute conviction that he feared he would fall fainting into the footlights.”– King of the Bingo Game
Did others see what I saw and feel what I felt? I knew others dug the Anthem and were groovin’ to it. But did they participate in the groove or just passively partake? Were they tripping like me? Did they trip at all? I didn’t know, couldn’t know.
Finally, Marvin delivered us safely back to our seats…just in time for the game to begin. The applause shook the building.
The rest of the game was a mere afterthought. I remember Kareem blocking Larry Bird and Dr J. on (not quite) consecutive trips down the court and I also recall a terrific gymnastics halftime show. I also distinctly remember not having the vocabulary or maturity to communicate my experience to anyone until now.