Indie rocker Jeff Tweedy of the band Wilco has trashed “The Star-Spangled Banner,” claiming the national anthem is “problematic” while also admitting that it’s “too hard” for him to play.
Jeff Tweedy spoke to Yahoo Music about his new book World Within a Song: Music that Changed My Life and Life that Changed My Music. In the book, he discusses his aversion for some popular songs, including “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
“The concept of the song is problematic, I think,” he told Yahoo Music.
“But primarily, the real story I relate in the book is about how I don’t want to have to sing it! It’s too hard. And I’m in a position in life where someone actually might ask me to sing it someday, and I’ve had to say no. But that’s not just because of a limited vocal range. I have a limited tolerance for militaristic anthems.”
Tweedy said a preferable alternative to “The Star-Spangled Banner” would be a wordless melody that people could hum.
But he added that he still has a problem with anthems in general.
“But it’s like the flag or a lot of agreed-upon fictions that people use: In a lot of ways they’re benign, but in a lot of other ways, they become loaded symbols of unfortunately what I think are worst impulses a lot of the time,” he said.
“And I don’t know what to do with that, other than to just not play along.”
Tweedy is the latest in a long line of celebrities and athletes to publicly trash the national anthem.
Last year, Bette Midler encouraged women and girls to take a knee the next time “The Star-Spangled Banner” is played, in apparent protest of the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade.
Comedian Jon Stewart has questioned why the national anthem is played before sports events, calling it a “weird ritual.” He has also questioned the American tradition of standing for the national anthem.
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