Originally Posted by
calvin
Yes I was wondering the same, that's why I posted that above. Not that Marvin would have wanted to do anything as "radical" [for the time] as Feliciano, but maybe he would have liked to add a little more soul?
Just to be clear, my impression from Harwell was not that he gave leeway to Feliciano but that Feliciano took it. Harwell, I think, was expecting a "straight" performance. After all, prior to this, everyone had done it straight at such big, nationally-televised events.
I think the controversy probably helped Feliciano. He had a hit record but was still relatively unknown, this performance changed that. The people against his performance were probably not the type that would have bought his records or gone to his concerts anyway.
Marvin, on the other hand, was an established artist and didn't need all the controversy that a "radical" performance would have brought at that time.