"I was entirely in new territory," Jim Chaps says about recording the 2nd, 3rd and 4th verses of Acoustic National Anthem 4-Verses (released April 14, 2012.) "It's history, it's trying to keep it relevant, like restoring treasure that time had faded away."
"I'd played the chords when I sang the song before a Detroit Tigers - Cincinnati Reds spring training game in Sarasota, FL in 2005. So that's when the idea really began that the Star-Spangled Banner could sound pretty cool presented as a modern pop folksong." "It was pure fun, a lot of emotion when I was singing the verses. The 'oh, oh say can you see' part is easy, because we've all heard the phrasing and know where to match words with the notes. But then you get into new verses and it's like 'Oh, oh crap this don't fit' It was tricky. I had to try and try, and sing and re-sing a lot to get the words to smooth out and fit the melody. Plus, this is more acoustic, flamenco and a bit more uptempo. The low low, boom sounds should make it fun for the younger people that listen, I'm sure I'll catch grief from some prudes that say it's glorifying war."
The National Anthem was written near the end of the war of 1812, thus the song nears it's 200th birthday. "Id love to sing it during the Olympic Track and Field Trials in Eugene, OR this summer too. It's an Olympic year and that brings out some flag-waving in every country." Jim thinks that the song will gain momentum into the summer holidays, like Memorial Day, Flag Day, the 4th of July and Labor Day. "I hope it sparks interest to have more people singing the other verses too."
"The market for music is becoming more like books and literature, there is a lot of room, a lot of opportunity in all genres." Jim Chaps began writing songs in the 70's, at age 18 and played them at a college coffeehouse called The Hinge in Dearborn, Michigan. Jim plays mainly a nylon-stringed, flamenco-style guitar, writes original songs and composes music to fit historic poetry. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.