Marvin Gaye's 1983 NBA All-Star performance of Star Spangled Banner

Hattip to my sweetie who heard it on the radio (KGSR Austin) and got all verklempt. "Only Marvin Gaye could get away with that".. and so he did. And so they kept playing it during the recent Beijing Olympics.

Tonight though, Marvin's playin' it for Obama (shameful hook since it's Obama's night)



This is Nike's 'Just Do It' version for the Beijing Olympics, where a film montage of the Redeem team and Marvin makes for one of the more classier commercials ever made. Hearing it the second time, I realized, Marvin isn't singing to show off his high notes and musical prowwess, he's singing with feeling, narrating as it were, as if he was there. As opposed to the boastful sounding high'noters' and loud 'belters' for which people always feel they need to applaud for. This version is much more thoughtful. Enjoy