“The Star-Spangled Banner” had been the national anthem of the United States for only 23 years on the day I was born.

Before 1931, there was no national anthem. “America the Beautiful” and “Hail, Columbia” were performed as anthems throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries.

But Herbert Hoover, whose presidency was a general disaster, signed the legislation that made Francis Scott Key’s ode to the Battle of Fort McHenry the representative song of the nation.

The song is notoriously hard to sing (although, bragging here, my daughter knocked it out of the park in the fourth grade). And, around the time I was born, it was performed in a very straightforward way.

Usually, it was some sort of band or orchestra that performed it. Occasionally, there was a singer, a pop or opera star who sang the words as though they were afraid of messing it up.

Then came the fifth game of the 1968 World Series.

Recruited for performing the anthem that day was Jose Feliciano, a folk singer and guitarist. He sat on a stool and played the song in a different key, changing the inflections of the tune from the traditional melody.

.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQkY2UFBUb4

It was the Vietnam War era and baseball crowds – especially the ones who attended World Series games in Detroit – didn’t particularly care for Feliciano’s rendition. The blowback was tremendous – my father was among those annoyed about the performance. I, age 14, thought it was cool.

Feliciano single-handedly changed the way the anthem is performed. Famously soulful and emotional versions of the song came from Marvin Gaye, Whitney Houston and Aretha Franklin.

The anthem is played before every Met game I see at Citi Field. And in this day and age, singers seem to compete for the most stirring and hip way of performing it. If he, she or they strike a chord with the crowd, it’s a powerful minute-plus.

I think it would have surprised my parents to tell them that in 1954, as the anthem played on TV as a station’s broadcasting day ended.