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Long before protests, Jose Feliciano's performance of national anthem polarized

 
Jose Feliciano was 23 when his anthem performance at the World Series drew outrage.
Jose Feliciano was 23 when his anthem performance at the World Series drew outrage.
Published Oct. 9, 2017

If you listen to a recording of Jose Feliciano singing the national anthem at the 1968 World Series, you probably won't consider it particularly notable. Maybe you like his soulful rendition; maybe it's not your cup of tea.

It's unlikely you'll be outraged.

In an era in which pop stars try lots of different styles with the anthem, it's hard to fathom that Feliciano, the blind Puerto Rican singer and guitarist known for Feliz Navidad at Christmas, could stir anger with his.

And at a time when the nation is divided over athletes' body language during the anthem, it's a reminder that the song has an unusual ability to provoke.

In 1968, the nation was divided, too, over the Vietnam War, race, and even over how long men's hair should be. Baseball fans often fell on the more conservative side.

Feliciano's performance came Oct. 7, before Game 5 in Detroit, which the year before had been the site of race riots that killed dozens.

Feliciano, then 23, was suggested for the anthem by Ernie Harwell, the broadcaster who was a pop songwriter himself. Feliciano had a hit that year with Light My Fire, a reinterpretation of the Doors song.

But taking liberties with Jim Morrison is one thing. Taking liberties with Francis Scott Key proved more contentious.

Feliciano went on the field with his guide dog and an acoustic guitar. He was quite free with the melody, giving it a slower folk tempo and adding extra syllables and different stresses. The result was an anthem that to today's ears is mellow and expressive.

Many ears in '68 heard it differently.

"It was a disgrace, an insult," a baseball fan, Arlene Raicevich of Detroit, told the Associated Press. "I'm going to write my senator about it."

"It sounded like a hippie was singing it," said another Detroiter, Bernie Gray.

The players at the game were divided on the performance.

"I don't think it was the proper place for that kind of treatment," Cardinals outfielder Roger Maris told the Boston Globe. "Maybe I'm a conservative."

Pitcher Dick Hughes said: "Thumbs down all the way. That's a conformist's song and should be sung the way it was written." (We should add, there is no official version.)

But their teammate, catcher Tim McCarver, said: "Why not that way? People go through a routine when they play the anthem. They stand up and yawn and almost fall asleep. This way, at least they listened."

"I know one thing," Tigers catcher Bill Freehan said. "He made Marvin Gaye, who sang the anthem Sunday, sound like a square."

Perhaps Gaye took note. His soulful, groovy version at the 1983 NBA All-Star Game, now considered one of the best ever, is the antithesis of square.

All sides were represented in the media, too. Donal Henahan of the New York Times took the benign view: "Our national anthem has been put through 1,001 transfigurations and disfigurations. The nation will no doubt survive the latest controversial version too."

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Feliciano told AP: "I just do my thing, what I feel. I was afraid people would misconstrue it and say I'm making fun of it. But I'm not. It's the way I feel."

RCA Records reacted in the most American way possible: It looked to make a buck. The label released the anthem as a single.

"We're already getting reorders from our New York distributors," a spokesman said 10 days after the disputed anthem, and WNEW radio said it played the disc four or five times a day.

It eventually hit No. 50.

Time has cooled passions. Feliciano has been invited back for anthems, including in Detroit and at Game 1 of the 2012 NL Championship Series in San Francisco. Performing a similar version, he got cheers. A YouTube video of the original performance has 40 thumbs-up for every thumbs-down.

"I felt bad about the controversy because they stopped playing my songs on American radio stations," Feliciano, now 72, told USA Today in 2012. "But there was nothing wrong with what I did. Now everybody sings the national anthem the way they want."