Annie Clark, a diehard Dallas Cowboys fan? You better believe it. In a new ad for the upcoming NFL season, the artist otherwise known as St. Vincent rips through a fireworks-worthy rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" while reminiscing about her childhood dream to join America's Team.
"My parents bought me a Dallas Cowboys uniform," Clark recalls in the video. Troy Aikman led Dem Boys to three Super Bowl titles in four seasons in the early '90s, when Clark was growing up in Dallas. "And I had this vision I would go to a Dallas Cowboys game, fully clad, and they would be scouring the stands going, 'Who can we get to win this football game?' And I'd be like, 'Me!'"
As things turned out, Clark was destined to be a guitar hero rather than a football hero, much to the benefit of music fans everywhere. With the dearly departed Prince no longer with us, Clark has a legit claim to being the most inventive, if not the best, guitarist on the planet. Her shredding through the national anthem is worthy of the most famous of them all, Jimi Hendrix, who recorded his iconic "Star-Spangled Banner" at Woodstock 47 years ago yesterday.
"I decided to do a version that was kind of bendy or a little bit manic or off-kilter just to represent what it means to be an American," Clark says in the video. That may be a little deeper than Roger Goodell was expecting her to go, but we'd expect nothing less.
The Cowboys' home opener against the New York Giants takes place on Sunday, Sept. 11. Check out the commercial, and Clark's interview, below.