On March 9th of this year Dave at A Sound Day published this post I wrote for his Turntable Talk series. Dave stated:Let’s look at an artist whose debut really impressed you. It can be one that just knocked you out first time you heard it when it was brand new, or one you went back & discovered later.
I went through some debut albums before I came to this. I already wrote up Big Star’s debut for another blogger but the other that came to mind was The Cars. For me, that was their best album although they had some great albums later. I then thought of Jimi’s debut…and that was that. There is more than one version of Jimi Hendrix’s debut album released. I will go by the one I first owned when I was around 11…the US version.
I think about 1967 and what people must have thought when they heard this strange new artist. It must have sounded like an alien coming down from another planet. Being at the ripe old age of 4 months old…I don’t quite remember it. His guitar playing was first felt by other guitarists. Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Pete Townshend, and the other huge guitarists back at that time. They were shocked when they saw him perform on stage. He was “found” by Animals bassist turned manager Chas Chandler in New York. He took Jimi to England and formed a band around him…it didn’t take long after that.
Jimi’s debut album was released on May 12, 1967. The tracklist is incredible. A lineup of songs that still get played over 50 years later on the radio. To make it even stronger…Hendrix wrote all of the songs but one…Hey Joe, his breakout hit in the UK.
The album had many now-rock classics. They were not rock songs easily accessible to the audience as other performers. He mixed experimental technics along with well-written and performed songs. Before Zeppelin came along, Hendrix gave rock its sonic boom. The album peaked at #5 on The Billboard Album Charts, #15 in Canada, and #2 on the UK Charts in 1967.
I’ve never heard a guitar player take the guitar to a far-off place like Hendrix. It wasn’t just his playing which was some of the best…it was his vision and the sounds he got out of the guitar that was so amazing. Every guitar player that came after him would get unfairly compared. He wasn’t just a guitar player though…he was a singer/songwriter who created 3 classic rock albums that still are revered. He was the complete package…not a traditional voice, but he got his point across and wrote his songs to fit him…and it worked.
He also evidently had a huge backlog of recordings and live concerts that keep being released. The man must have recorded in his sleep.
The “new” Jimi Hendrix tag has been unfairly placed on many guitar players. From Stevie Ray Vaughn to Eddie Van Halen, many more faded out. Hendrix would mess with this guitar…changing pickups and recording techniques. He had a sound all his own…when you hear a Hendrix record you know it’s him by just his guitar playing. Now when I listen to him…I hear the guitar players that followed…from the finger tap from Eddie to the straight-in-your-face riffs of Stevie Ray Vaughn…Jimi had done it all before.
Like Janis Joplin and Bruce Springsteen…they would let themselves go on stage. They would take it as far as they could and if they messed up…they messed up but the fans got to see an electrifying performance. When Joplin and Hendrix left us…they left a huge hole in rock performers and when both were peaking in making albums. Both Hendrix and Joplin left and their last studio albums peaked at #1. Jimi’s came two years before his death and Janis just a few days after she passed.
My son had never visited Graceland and his girlfriend is visiting so I thought it would be time to go. I’ve been 2 times before…once in the 80s and again in the mid-nineties. We stayed in the Exchange Building in Memphis…a building that is 112 years old. If you are looking for a place in Memphis, it’s listed under Air B&Bs…I would recommend this place…love the architecture.
We got to Graceland on Saturday and it was crowded of course…and the price has more than doubled in the past 10 years from what I read. It’s now $77 (80 with tax) dollars per person for a house visit plus the planes and different exhibits. Compared to the 90s…it’s enough items to keep you busy at least 2 1/2 to 3 hours easy…still that is steep when you have a few people.
You get through the house in 30 minutes or so…at least we did. It’s the huge new complex they built to house most of his items that takes a lot of time.
I’m going to show as many pictures as possible but two exhibits surprised this Beatles fan. They had a section called “Icons” and the artists that were influenced by Elvis. They had many things on loan from The Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. I got to see the piano that John Lennon wrote a lot of Double Fantasy on and a vest and Marshall amp from no other than Jimi Hendrix. Also a James Brown outfit, KISS items, Joe Perry, Buddy Holly, and a leather jacket from Bruce Springsteen.
You can google Graceland and get most of the pics inside the house but here are a few…I like the yellow man cave. After this, we took a walk on Beale Street which was really cool. Next time I’m allowing more time. Sun Studios and Buford Pusser’s place in McNairy country are places I wanted to see also.
You should be able to click on the pictures and see all of them one at a time if you want.
Here are some of the exhibits
Last but not least…Elvis’s outfits…it looked like a giant doll’s house.
It’s gone past simple holograms…they are now avatars (the ABBA reunion). For the sake of this post… I’ll call them holograms. This post is basically me arguing with myself and wanting some input.
I’ve thought about the subject of the dead rock star hologram tours off and on. I apologize for putting it so bluntly but that is what it is. Something in me just tells me there is something inherently wrong about this. So I hate to ask myself this…but would I want to go to a Jimi Hendrix show playing near me? Uh…yes I would and I feel bad about saying that. I would probably go and then hate the decision later. How could they capture Jimi Hendrix? I don’t see how someone could capture a performer like him…who was different every time he played.
I was surprised at my answer that I would even go. On the other hand, we have laser shows with bands’ music…so what is the big difference? We also have duets with Paul McCartney singing with John Lennon right now on Paul’s tour. When I saw The Who, there was Keith Moon singing “Bell Boy” in a film from a concert in the 70s while the current Who was playing. I also got to see Beatlemania with artists dressed up as The Beatles…somewhat different than this but is it really?
It’s something that I think will happen in the near future for different stars no matter if we like it or not. Holograms have been around for a while. In 1977 The Who presented a promotional event just for their fans with this Keith Moon hologram (with the real Keith Moon in attendance) and in another event in 2009…obviously without the real Keith in attendance.
Keith is near the end of his life in this version…you can tell it’s older with the greenwash all around. The big difference is now …the holograms sing, move, and play their instruments or rather they appear to do that. There have been shows now built around Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, Elvis, Ronnie James Dio, ABBA (who are very much alive), Whitney Houston, Tupac, Billie Holiday, Wilson Pickett, and more.
The families are in control now and will decide. I’ll ask myself again…would I want to see the Hamburg or Cavern Beatles? The 1972 Rolling Stones? the 1969 Who? The 1950’s Elvis? AC/DC with Bon Scott? 1970 Janis Joplin? The Doors?
Yes to all the questions I asked but…I’m not sure how I would feel.
What do you think? Would it be unsettling to see a long-gone performer in their prime again a few feet from you? Would you go see a show (not really a concert) of your favorite deceased performer?
Now, on the other hand, there is another angle. If Bob Dylan, who is very much alive, would announce tomorrow that a 1966 version of himself was going on tour…would I go? Oh yes, I would and I would not feel bad at all. ABBA just did this also. So why do I think I would feel different about seeing Jimi, Lennon, Janis, or someone else that has long been gone?
Before you answer…now, current bands can play in Washington and be projected as holograms in London simultaneously…so it’s taken a huge jump. See the bottom video. No traveling in stuffy vans….just play at your local pizza joint and be somewhere else also. So our band could play in my garage and be on stage at Carnegie Hall and interact with the audience. I have to wonder how far it will go?
Damn…this is such a great song. Duane Allman came into the Derek and the Dominos sessions and made a suggestion to record a Jimi Hendrix song, Little Wing. This is what he did in the Wilson Pickett sessions with the song Hey Jude.
After the Layla sessions were completed, Clapton returned to England with a rare left-handed Fender Stratocaster, a gift for Jimi Hendrix. He wanted him to hear the Dominos’ recording of Hendrix’s Little Wing, a tribute he and Duane had recorded for him. They both greatly admired Hendrix and Duane planned to meet him when Jimi came back from Europe. On the morning of September 18, 1970, Jimi Hendrix was found unconscious in a Notting Hill apartment in London. He died that afternoon at the hospital, having apparently suffocated while under the heavy sedation of sleeping pills.
The album peaked at #16 in 1970 on the Billboard 100. Although Derek and the Dominos were poised to record a follow-up album in 1971… tensions and drug abuse among the band members, along with the tragic death of Duane Allman ended that idea.
Jimi wrote this song and it was inspired by the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, a concert held for 3 days in 1967. It was attended by around 200,000 music fans, it happened 2 years before Woodstock. Jimi wrote about the atmosphere at the festival as if it was a girl. He described the feeling as “Everybody really flying and in a nice mood.” He named it “Little Wing” because he thought it could just fly away.
The song was on Axis: Bold as Love released in 1967. The album peaked at #3 on the Billboard 100 in 1968.
Bobby Whitlock keyboard player: We had two leaders then. We had Eric and Duane. Eric backed up and gave Duane a lot of latitude, a lot of room, so he could contribute up to his full potentiality, and Duane was full of fire and ideas. He’d just go, “Hey, how about we try ‘Little Wing’?”—that was completely his idea and he came up with the intro by himself. He just started playing it.
Duane was very, very good in the studio. Working with the finest musicians and engineers on the planet really paid off for him. When he had the opportunity to be thrust into that environment, he absorbed what was right and righteous and then used it to killer advantage.
Little Wing
Well, she’s walking through the clouds
With a circus mind that’s running around
Butterflies and zebras and fairy tales
That’s all she ever thinks about
And when I’m sad, she comes to me
A thousand smiles she gives to me free
Said it’s all right, take anything you want from me
(Anything you want, babe) (Anything)
Well, she’s walking through the clouds
With a circus mind that’s running around
Butterflies and zebras and fairy tales
That’s all she ever thinks about
And when I’m sad, she comes to me
With a thousand smiles she gives to me free
Said it’s all right, take anything you want from me, baby
(Anything you want) (Anything)
I just posted a song by Howlin’ Wolf a week or so ago but I’ve been listening to him lately so here is another. This song comes with an interesting story between Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton.
When Jimi Hendrix came to England he made a huge impression right away. At a Cream gig he requested a chance to jam with the band. No one in those days asked to do this because Clapton was “God” on guitar to many people…plus Cream as a unit were super talented. Jack Bruce later said that Jimi was a brave person to do that because Cream were all top notch musicans.
Jimi plugged into Jack Bruce’s amp and broke into Killing Floor. Clapton was blown away by it because he never mastered the song. Jimi was ripping right through it at breakneck speed. According to Chas Chandler…Clapton just dropped his hands and was shocked.
Wolf released his version in 1964 and it was written by him.
Hubert Sumlin played guitar on the original version. He said that Wolf played the field, with several ladies in his stable. One of them, a woman named Helen, was so fed up with his philandering that she got a shotgun filled with buckshot and fired at him from a second-floor window.
So, the killing floor is a metaphor for depression, in Wolf’s case triggered by a woman who was so mad she was literally trying to kill him.
Led Zeppelin later used this song as the basis for The Lemon Song.
Eric Clapton:
“I remember thinking that here was a force to be reckoned with. It scared me, because he was clearly going to be a huge star, and just as we are finding our own speed, here was the real thing.”
“It was amazing,”“and it was musically great, too, not just pyrotechnics.”
From Songfacts
In this song, Howlin’ Wolf sings about how he should have left his woman a long time ago, imagining how much better he would have it if he went to Mexico when he had the chance. Now, he’s down here on the killing floor.
Wolf wasn’t the first to use the phrase “killing floor” in a song; the Mississippi blues musician Skip James recorded “Hard Time Killing Floor Blues” in 1931. James’ version was re-released in 1964, a year before Wolf recorded his “Killing Floor.”
Artists to cover this song include Albert King, Jimi Hendrix and Otis Rush.
Killing Floor
I should have quit you, a long time ago I should have quit you, babe, long time ago I should have quit you, and went on to Mexico If I had-a followed my first mind If I had-a followed my first mind I’d been gone, since my second time
I shoulda went on, when my friend come from Mexico at me I shoulda went on, when my friend come from Mexico at me But no, I was foolin’ with ya, baby, I let ya put me on the killin’ floor Lord knows, I shoulda been gone Lord knows, I shoulda been gone And I wouldn’t have been here, down on the killin’ floor Yeah
I have a confession…every time I look at this song my mind wants to read “Morman” not Merman. It’s an interesting song by Hendrix. Anything he did I will listen to…even songs still coming out to this day. The guy must have lived permanently hooked up to a recording console.
This song is basically a scifi story. A merman is a male version of a mermaid. In this song, Hendrix sings about how he wants to escape the war-torn world and all the horrible things going on.
This song was recorded in 1968 for the Electric Ladyland album and it featured Chris Wood of the band Traffic.
Sometimes Hendrix would play bass himself and he had many guests such as drummer Buddy Miles of The Electric Flag, Traffic’s Dave Mason, Steve Winwood, Al Kooper and Jefferson Airplane bassist Jack Casady amongst others into the mix.
The went into the studio in February 1968 and the album was released on October 16th of that year. The final complete studio album ever recorded by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, and their only one to top the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. Electric Ladyland is Hendrix’s most experimental album and most musically varied.
Jimi Hendrix on going into the studio for Electric Ladyland:“We’ve been doing new tracks that are really fantastic and we’ve just been getting into them…“You have these songs in your mind. You want to hurry up and get back to the things you were doing in the studio, because that’s the way you gear your mind….We wanted to play [the Fillmore], quite naturally, but you’re thinking about all these tracks, which is completely different from what you’re doing now.”
Jimi Hendrix – 1983… (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)
Hurrah i awake from yesterday alive but the war is here to stay so my love catherina and me decide to take our last walk through the noise to the sea not to die but to be re-born away from a life so battered and torn…. forever… oh say can you see its really such a mess every inch of earth is a fighting nest giant pencil and lip-stick tube shaped things continue to rain and cause screaming pain and the arctic stains from silver blue to bloody red as our feet find the sand and the sea is strait ahead.. strait ahead….. well its too bad that our friends cant be with us today well thats too bad “the machine that we built would never save us” thats what they say (thats why they aint coming with us today) and they also said “its impossible for man to live and breath underwater.. forever” was their main complaint (yeah) and they also threw this in my face: they said anyway you know good well it would be beyond the will of God and the grace of the King (grace of the King yeah yeah)
so my darling and I make love in the sand to salute the last moment ever on dry land our machine has done its work played its part well without a scratch on our bodies and we bid it farewell
starfish and giant foams greet us with a smile before our heads go under we take a last look at the killing noise of the out of style… the out of style, out of style
In Jimi’s short life he must have stayed hooked up to a recording console 24/7. So many albums have been released posthumously.
The only Jimi Hendrix Experience studio recording of this song crops up on the 2010 Valleys of Neptune album. The documentary film Experience (1968) features the only version released during Hendrix’s lifetime.
The song was inspired by earlier American spirituals and blues songs which use a train metaphor to represent salvation. Hendrix recorded the song in live, studio, and impromptu settings several times between 1967 and 1970, but never completed it to his satisfaction.
It was also known as “Getting My Heart Back Together Again,” Hendrix often played this song live.
Hendrix first played it in studio on December 19, 1967. During a photo shoot session, he was given a guitar and asked to play something for the camera. The original tape was re-discovered in 1993 only and remastered by Eddie Kramer.
Hendrix producer/engineer Eddie Kramer: “It shows a complete at-oneness with his instrument. Jimi had a thought in his mind, and in a nanosecond it gets through his body, through his heart, through his arms, through the fingers, onto the guitar.”
From Songfacts
The version on Hendrix’s posthumous album, People, Hell & Angels, was drawn from Jimi’s first ever recording session with his old army pal, Billy Cox, and drummer Buddy Miles. He would later record the groundbreaking album Band Of Gypsys with the powerhouse rhythm duo. Co-producer John McDermott commented to Digital Spy: “Billy and Buddy understood how to set the tempo. If you listen to this recording, they play it the same way as they did on the Live At The Fillmore East album. They knew intuitively that the song should have a great, menacing groove; it shouldn’t be old-school, old-tempo, four-bar stuff. They wanted it to have a totally different feel, and that’s what makes it exciting.”
Hear My Train A Comin’
Hear my train a comin’ Hey Wait around the train station Waitin’ for that train Take me Take me away From this lonesome time A whole lot of people put me through a lot of changes And my girl done put me down
Tears burnin’ me Burnin’ me Way down in my soul Way down in my heart It’s too bad you don’t love no more, child Too bad you and me have to part, have to part baby Have to part
Hear my train is coming Hear my train is coming Hear my train is coming Hear my train is coming
Gonna make it bigger With all that’s still in my heart Gonna be a magic boy ooh child Gonna come back and buy this town An’ put it all in my shoe In my shoe baby You make love to me one more time girl So I give a piece to you baby Hey hey hey
Hear my train is coming Hear my train is coming Here come the rest of my soul Movin’ through the washer baby Hear my train a comin’ yeah yeah
This is the conclusion of the famous guitar series. I want to thank everyone who read these and the response was much more than I ever expected. I hope you enjoyed it.
This is the last edition of this series. We covered:
This guitar is a 1968 Olympic White Fender Stratocaster, with the serial number #240981, that he bought from Manny’s Music music store in New York. Its body was made of alder and has a maple neck/fretboard setup.
Hendrix played the Strat at the Woodstock Festival in 1969, including on his famous rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner”. Hendrix purchased the guitar in 1968.
Jimi Hendrix gave the guitar his drummer Mitch Mitchell who had been with Jimi since he broke through with the Experience.
Mitch Mitchell:‘I had given him a drum kit as a present some time before and I said to him “I’ll have that guitar before you break it up” (I do not think that he would in fact have broken this particular guitar). He said, as was his way “You got it” and he then gave me the guitar. In retrospect I think it was by way of a gift as my daughter had just been born a few days previously’
Mitchell decided to auction the guitar off in 1990. Mitch had kept the guitar in the case and it never left his possession. The guitar needed to be cleaned up. Neville Marten who worked for Fender at the time did the job. This is what he said:
Taking the guitar to my workbench I checked the neck for straightness and it needed a slight tweak of the truss rod. That done, I cut off the strings and threw them in the bin. Isn’t hindsight a wonderful thing? Today they alone would probably be worth £50,000 (with Jimi’s DNA all over them)!
At an auction in 1990, it was bought by Gabriele Ansaloni for the sum of around $300,000. Ansoloni kept it for two years before selling it on to Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen for a sum believed to be north of 2 million dollars (some sources also say $1.3 million and $2 million).
Paul Allen housed it at The Experience Music Project in Seattle, Washington, the museum he founded to showcase the history of rock n roll music. And it’s on display there to this day…see below…
below that is Kenny Wayne Shepherd playing it.
Kenny Wayne Shepherd got to play the guitar on the Jimmy Fallon Show.
Fender made an exact re-production of Izabella…it can be yours for around $6000 dollars.
Remember Build-A-Bear? Well this is the rock edition. I think this post may go under…”looked great on paper but…” but lets give it a try. Have you ever thought about if you could have a pick of any musicians living or dead and bring them together in their prime…what combinations would you come up with?
Who would you pick if you could pick anyone? We have a time machine so don’t worry…Jimi Hendrix is just a trip away. This is a discussion my friends and I have once in a while. I always wondered what a band with Keith Richards and John Lennon together would have sounded like…probably as raw as you could have sounded…a band with Big Star’s Alex Chilton and the Beatles Paul McCartney? It would be interesting.
There are many musicians I have left out…most likely they were here in previous editions that I’ve went through in the past few weeks.
Now… I would want to make at least two or three different bands…a rock, hard rock, and a pop/rock band. Now I could go on and on…Soul, Blues, Funk, Country/Rock, and even Heavy Metal. Who would you pick? What would your “dream” band be? If I had time I would have listed around 10 different kind of bands…but these 3 will do for now.
Rock band.
John Lennon – Rhythm Guitar/vocals
Keith Richards – Rhythm guitar/vocals
Duane Allman – Lead guitar
John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) – Bass
Charlie Watts – Drums
Leon Russell – Keyboards
Rod Stewart (early seventies version) – Lead Vocals
Hard Rock Band
Jimi Hendrix – Lead guitar and vocals
Eric Clapton – Lead guitar and vocals
John Entwistle – Bass
Keith Moon – Drums
Steve Marriott (Small Faces and Humble Pie) – Lead Vocals
This one is on Jimi’s last and third studio album released while he was alive. So many albums have some out with Hendrix after he died. You get the feeling the man was constantly plugged into an amp in a studio while the record button was pushed.
This song to me, features some of his best singing…the mood of the song is a little different than his previous work. More mature and loose. I hear a little Curtis Mayfield influence in his singing.
The song was featured on his 1968 album Electric Ladyland. Written and produced by Jimi Hendrix, the song acts as the title track of the album. The album was on Rolling Stone‘s 2020 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, on which it was ranked 53rd… And I’m surprised it was that high since everything old plummeted in their new rankings.
Jimi Hendrix played the guitar, bass and lead vocal tracks, and Mitch Mitchell played the drums and tambourine.
The album peaked at #1 in the Billboard Album Charts, #1 in Canada, and #6 in the UK.
Have You Ever Been To Electric Ladyland
Have you ever been, have you ever been To Electric Ladyland? The magic carpet waits for you, so don’t you be late Oh, (I want to show you) the different emotions (I want to run to) the sounds and motions Electric woman waits for you and me So it’s time we take a ride We can cast all of your hang-ups over the seaside While we fly right over the love-filled sea Look up ahead, I see the loveland, soon you’ll understand
[Bridge] Make love, make love Make love, make love
[Outro] (I want to show you) The angels will spread their wings, spread their wings (I want to show you) Good and evil lay side by side While electric love penetrates the sky (I want to show you) Lord, Lord Lord I want to show you (I want to show you) Hmm, hmm, hmm (I want to show you) Show you (I want to show you) Yeah, yeah, yeah
This is one of the most remembered songs from Jimi. According to Hendrix biographer Harry Shapiro, the song was probably inspired by Heather Taylor, who eventually married Roger Daltrey, the lead singer for The Who.
Kathy Etchingham, Jimi’s girlfriend at the time, also claimed to be one of many inspirations for “Foxy Lady.” I’m sure there are/were a lot of claims.
Hendrix recorded this on December 13, 1966. That same day, he made his first TV appearance on the British show Ready Steady Go. The Jimi Hendrix Experience had been together only 2 months at that point, but things moved very quickly. Three days later, their first single, “Hey Joe” was released.
Rolling Stone magazine placed the song at number 153 on its list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.”
The song was on the Are You Experienced album released in 1967. It peaked at #5 in the Billboard Album Charts, #15 in Canada and #2 in the UK
Foxy Lady peaked at #67 in the Billboard 100.
From Songfacts
Hendrix opened for The Monkees on their 1967 tour. When he played this, the young girls who came for The Monkees and had no interest in Hendrix shouted “Davy!” when Hendrix sang “Lady,” resulting in “Foxy Davy,” and turning it into a tribute to their idol, Monkees lead singer Davy Jones.
This was featured in the movie Wayne’s World. It is used in a scene where Garth (Dana Carvey), sings it while thinking about his dream woman, played by Donna Dixon.
In the booklet for the Experience Hendrix CD, Hendrix was quoted as saying this was the only happy song he had ever written. He said that he usually just doesn’t feel happy when writing songs.
The title of this song has two alternate spellings: “Foxey Lady” (for release in America) and “Foxy Lady” (for release in the UK).
Foxy Lady
Foxey, foxey You know you’re a cute little heart breaker, ha Foxey, yeah And you know you’re a sweet little love maker, ha Foxey
I want to take you home, haha yeah I won’t do you no harm no, ha You got to be all mine, all mine Ooh foxey lady, yeah Foxey, foxey
Now-a I see you come down on the scene Oh foxey You make me want to get up and a scream Foxey, oh baby listen now I’ve made up my mind Yeah, I’m tired of wasting all my precious time You got to be all mine, all mine Foxey lady Here I come Foxey
Yeah I’m gonna take you home I won’t do you no harm no You got to be all mine, all mine Foxey lady Here I come baby, I’m commin’ to get ya
Ooh foxey lady yeah yeah You look so good foxey Oh yeah foxey Yeah give us some foxey Foxey foxey lady Foxey lady
From the opening odd riff of his second single you knew it was going to be different. When the recording was sent to Hendrix’s American label, a note was attached that said, “deliberate distortion, do not correct.”
When manager Chas Chandler heard Hendrix tinkering with the song’s opening riff, he said, “That’s the next single!” Hendrix wrote as many as 10 verses to the song but Chas Chandler helped him edit it down to a radio-friendly length.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience recorded the song two weeks later, on January 11th, 1967. After some overdubs and producing, the song was released as a single on March 17th. The Experience’s debut album, Are You Experienced? would be released a couple of months later.
In March of 1967, “Purple Haze,” the single, was released in England and shot up the charts. Three months later, the Experience gave its first U.S. performance at the Monterey Pop Festival. After that show, Jimi Hendrix became a star in America.
The song has become a symbol of the ’60s counterculture and has since lent its name to a strain of cannabis and acid.
This contains one of the most misheard lyrics ever, with “Scuse me while I kiss the sky” interpreted as “Scuse me while I kiss this guy.” Hendrix added to the confusion by sometimes singing it that way and pointing to one of his band members.
The song peaked at #65 in the Billboard 100 and #3 in the UK in 1967.
Jimi Hendrix:“I dream a lot and I put my dreams down as songs,” “I wrote one called ‘First Look Around the Corner’ and another called ‘The Purple Haze,’ which was about a dream I had that I was walking under the sea.”
From Songfacts
At one point, Hendrix wrote the chorus as “purple haze, Jesus saves,” but decided against it.
Part of the lyrics were formed from some of Jimi’s free verse ramblings that he jotted down from time to time.
This song was written under the guidance of Hendrix’ manager, ex-Animals bassist Chas Chandler. They had just released Hendrix’ first single, a cover of Tim Rose’s “Hey Joe” and were looking for a follow up. Chandler was impressed when he first heard the riff, and inspired Jimi to finish writing the song.
On the original recording, you hear the line up of the Experience with Noel Redding on bass and Mitch Mitchell on drums.
The opening chord of two riffs then an interval of flattened fifth is the d5 or “tritone,” which has long been regarded as the “Most imperfect of dissonances” and was generally avoided in composition for that reason.
Hendrix claimed this had nothing to do with drugs, but it’s hard to believe they weren’t an influence. The lyrics seem to vividly portray an acid trip, and Hendrix was doing plenty of drugs at the time.
Jimi and producer Chas Chandler used some unusual studio tricks to get the unique sound. To create the background track that sounds distant, they put a pair of headphones around a microphone and recorded it that way to get an echo effect.
Hendrix wrote the lyrics on the day after Christmas in 1966. He wrote a lot more than what made it to the song. The track was developed at a press function that he attended at East London’s Upper Cut Club, run by the former boxer Billy Walker. Hendrix launched into the scorching riff in the club’s compact dressing room and every head turned. “I said, write the rest of that,” said Chandler. “That’s the next single!” It was premiered live on 8 January 1967, in Sheffield in the north of England.
For one of the guitar tracks, Hendrix used a device called an Octavia, which could raise or lower the guitar by a full octave.
A month before Hendrix died, he opened a recording studio in Greenwich Village called Electric Lady. One of the studios is known as “Purple Haze” and contains a purple mixing board. The studios have remained active with The Clash, Weezer, Patti Smith and Alicia Keys all recording there at some point.
This song is apparently referenced in an episode of The Simpsons. Homer is shopping (for useless garbage, of course) and finds a back massaging chair called the Spinemelter 2000. Homer sits in the chair and orders the store clerk to put it on full power. As the chair begins to massage Homer, he tells his family, “Excuse me while I kiss the sky…”
The track was the penultimate song Hendrix played in concert, on September 6, 1970, days before his death.
James Ford, who is a member of the production duo Simian Mobile Disco tells in the NME column “My first record”: “The first record I remember really connecting with was ‘Purple Haze.’ I remember being blown away by its wild and unhinged energy. It was also the first thing I ever tried to work out on a guitar. Needless to say, I didn’t get very far at that age.”
Bob Rivers did a parody of this song called “Holidaze,” which is all about the mad rush of the holiday season (“S’cuse me, I got gifts to buy…”). Playing Hendrix in the parody is Randy Hansen, a renowned Jimi Hendrix tribute artist. On drums is Alan White of the band Yes.
Purple Haze
Purple haze, all in my brain Lately things they don’t seem the same Actin’ funny, but I don’t know why Excuse me while I kiss the sky
Purple haze, all around Don’t know if I’m comin’ up or down Am I happy or in misery? What ever it is, that girl put a spell on me
Help me Help me Oh, no, no
Ooh, ah Ooh, ah Ooh, ah Ooh, ah, yeah!
Purple haze all in my eyes Don’t know if it’s day or night You got me blowin’, blowin’ my mind Is it tomorrow, or just the end of time?
Ooh Help me Ahh, yeah, yeah, purple haze Oh, no, oh Oh, help me Tell me, tell me, purple haze I can’t go on like this (Purple haze) you’re makin’ me blow my mind Purple haze, n-no, no (Purple haze)
This song was on Jimi Hendrix’s debut album Are You Experienced released in 1967. The song was written by Hendrix shortly before it was recorded. The guitar and the drum sound is incredible on this one.
The main lyrics in this song (“let me stand next to your fire”) came from a time when the band had just finished a gig in the cold around Christmas, 1966. They went to bass player Noel Redding’s mother’s house in Folkestone, England, and when they got there, Jimi asked Redding’s mother Margaret if he could “stand next to her fire” to warm up. The family dog, a German Shepherd, lay by the fire, which inspired the line, “Move over Rover, and let Jimi take over.”
The song was remixed in stereo for the American release of the album. In 1969, it was released as a stereo single in the UK with the title “Let Me Light Your Fire”
From Songfacts
This lyrical lightning bolt was a breakthrough for Hendrix, who had just started writing songs at the request of his manager Chas Chandler. Writing riffs was easy for him, and it turned out he had a talent for crafting lyrics as well, as he was able to turn a simple line into a fiery tale of lustful passion. (This story is verified in Mat Snow’s Mojo story on Hendrix that ran in the October 2006 issue.)
Hendrix is legendary for theatrics like setting his guitar on fire and playing it with his teeth (not at the same time). This was the song he was (appropriately) playing when he set it on fire for the first time. It happened at a concert in London in March 1967, two months before the Are You Experienced? the album was released. Hendrix was low on the bill (below Engelbert Humperdinck), and looking to garner some media attention. When he ignited his guitar, he created a buzz that grew to a roar as his career took off.
Hendrix set fire to his guitar once again at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. At that show, he didn’t do the bit during “Fire,” he did it after playing “Wild Thing.”
The Red Hot Chili Peppers often covered this song in their early years. They decided to play it again at Woodstock ’99 in Rome, New York, but this was a very different festival than the one where Jimi Hendrix performed the song in 1969. The ’99 crowd was violent and unruly; when RHCP launched into this song, they increased their level of mayhem, tearing the place up and setting fires (yes, Rome was burning). >>
Gary Moore covered this on his 1999 release A Different Beat. >>
In the movie Wayne’s World, Wayne falls in love with the bassist from an all-girl band (Tia Carrere) after seeing them cover this song at Gasworks
Fire
Alright, now listen, baby
You don’t care for me I don’-a care about that Gotta new fool, ha! I like it like that I have only one burning desire Let me stand next to your fire Let me stand next to your fire [Repeat 4 times]
Listen here, baby and stop acting so crazy You say your mum ain’t home, it ain’t my concern, Just play with me and you won’t get burned
I have only one itching desire Let me stand next to your fire Let me stand next to your fire [Repeat 4 times]
Oh! Move over, Rover and let Jimi take over Yeah, you know what I’m talking ’bout Yeah, get on with it, baby That’s what I’m talking ’bout Now dig this! Ha! Now listen, baby
You try to gimme your money you better save it, babe Save it for your rainy day
I have only one burning desire Let me stand next to your fire Let me stand next to your fire
“Hey Joe” was written by a singer named Billy Roberts, who was part of the Greenwich Village folk scene in the early ’60s. This was Billy’s most well-known song.
This is the song that started it all for Hendrix. After being discharged from the US Army in 1962, he worked as a backing musician for The Isley Brothers and Little Richard, and in 1966 performed under the name Jimmy James in the group Jimmy James and the Blue Flames. Hendrix introduced “Hey Joe” to the band and added it to their setlist. During a show at the Greenwich Village club Cafe Wha?, Chas Chandler of The Animals was in the audience, and he knew instantly that Hendrix was the man to record the song.
This is one of the few Hendrix tracks with female backing vocals. They were performed by a popular trio called the Breakaways (Jean Hawker, Margot Newman, and Vicki Brown), who were brought in by producer Chas Chandler.
The song peaked at #6 in the UK Charts in 1966.
From Songfacts
The song is structured as a conversation between two men, with “Joe” explaining to the other that he caught his woman cheating and plans to kill her. They talk again, and Joe explains that he did indeed shoot her, and is headed to Mexico.
Billy Roberts copyrighted this song in 1962, but never released it (he issued just one album, Thoughts Of California in 1975). In 1966, several artists covered the song, including a Los Angeles band called The Leaves (their lead singer was bassist Jim Pons, who joined The Turtles just before they recorded their Happy Together album), whose version was a minor hit, reaching #31 in the US. Arthur Lee’s group Love also recorded it that year, as did The Byrds, whose singer David Crosby had been performing the song since 1965. These were all uptempo renditions.
The slow version that inspired Hendrix to record this came from a folk singer named Tim Rose, who played it in a slow arrangement on his 1967 debut album and issued it as a single late in 1966. Rose was a popular singer/songwriter for a short time in the Greenwich Village scene, but quickly faded into obscurity before a small comeback in the ’90s. He died in 2002 at age 62.
Chandler convinced Hendrix to join him in London, and he became Jimi’s producer and manager. Teaming Hendrix with Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell, Chandler had the group – known as The Jimi Hendrix Experience – record “Hey Joe,” and released it as a single in the UK in December 1966. It climbed to #6 in February 1967, as Hendrix developed a reputation as an electrifying performer and wildly innovative guitarist.
America was a tougher nut to crack – when the song was released there in April, it went nowhere.
The song incorporates many elements of blues music, including a F-C-G-D-A chord progression and a story about infidelity and murder. This led many to believe it was a much older (possibly traditional) song, but it was an original composition.
Hendrix played this live for the first time at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. It was the first time the group performed in America.
This was released in Britain with the flip side “Stone Free,” which was the first song Hendrix wrote for The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
The song was released in the UK on the Polydor label in a one-single deal. Hendrix then signed to the Track label, which was set up by Kit Lambert, producer for The Who.
Dick Rowe of Decca Records turned down Hendrix for a deal, unimpressed with both “Hey Joe” and “Stone Free.” Rowe also turned away the Beatles four years earlier.
The Hendrix version omits the first verse, where Joe buys the gun:
Hey Joe, where you goin’ with that money in your hand?
Chasin’ my woman, she run off with another man
Goin downtown, buy me a .44
In the original (and most versions pre-Hendrix), Joe also kills his wife’s lover when he catches them in bed together.
This was the last song performed at Woodstock in 1969. The festival was scheduled to end at midnight on Sunday, August 17 (the third day), but it ran long and Hendrix didn’t go on until Monday around 9 a.m. There weren’t many attendees left, but Hendrix delivered a legendary performance.
While Jimi’s version is by far the most famous, “Hey Joe” has been recorded by over 1000 artists. In America, three versions charted:
The Leaves (#31, 1966) Cher (#94, 1967) Wilson Pickett (#59, 1969)
Hendrix is the only artist to chart with the song in the UK, although a completely different song called “Hey Joe” was a #1 hit there for Frankie Laine in 1963.
Some of the notable covers include: Shadows of Knight (1966) Music Machine (1966) The Mothers Of Invention (1967) Deep Purple (1967) King Curtis (1968) Roy Buchanan (1973) Patti Smith (1974) Soft Cell (1983) Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (1986) The Offspring (1991) Eddie Murphy (1993 – yes, the comedian) Walter Trout (2000) Popa Chubby (2001) Robert Plant (2002) Brad Mehldau Trio (2012)
The liner notes for Are You Experienced? say this song is “A blues arrangement of an old cowboy song that’s about 100 years old.” >>
The phrase “Hey Joe” is something men in the Philippines often shout when they see an American. Ted Lerner wrote a book about his experiences there called Hey, Joe: A Slice Of The City-An American In Manilla.
In an early demo version, Hendrix is caught off guard by the sound of his voice in the headphones, and can be heard on the recording saying, “Oh, Goddamn!” Then telling Chas Chandler in the booth, “Hey, make the voice a little lower and the band a little louder.” Hendrix was always insecure about his vocal talents, but thought if Dylan could swing it, so could he.
6,346 guitarists played “Hey Joe” simultaneously in the town of Wroclaw, Poland on May 1, 2009, breaking a world record for most guitarists playing a single song.
The BBC apologized after “Hey Joe” was played following a report on the Oscar Pistorius trial, following the disabled athlete’s shooting of his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. (The song includes the lines: “Hey Joe, where you going with that gun in your hand? I’m going out to shoot my old lady, you know I caught her messing around with another man.”)
This was one of five bonus tracks added to the album Are You Experienced? when it was re-released in 1997. The only song on the album not written by Hendrix, it is credited to Billy Roberts.
Not much is known about the song’s writer Billy Roberts, who apparently got in a car accident in the ’90s that left him impaired. Royalties from this song go to him through the publisher Third Palm Music.
This was used in the 1994 movie Forrest Gump when Forrest starts a fight at a Black Panthers gathering, but the song wasn’t included on the official soundtrack.
Hey Joe
Hey Joe, where you goin’ with that gun in your hand? Hey Joe, I said where you goin’ with that gun in your hand? Alright. I’m goin down to shoot my old lady
You know I caught her messin’ ’round with another man. I’m goin’ down to shoot my old lady You know I caught her messin’ ’round with another man.
And that ain’t too cool. (Ah-backing vocal on each line) Uh, hey Joe, I heard you shot your woman down You shot her down now.
Uh, hey Joe, I heard you shot you old lady down You shot her down to the ground. Yeah! Yes, I did, I shot her
You know I caught her messin’ ’round Messin’ ’round town. Uh, yes I did, I shot her You know I caught my old lady messin’ ’round town.
And I gave her the gun and I shot her! Alright (Ah! Hey Joe) Shoot her one more time again, baby!
Yeah. (Hey Joe!) Ah, dig it!
Ah! Ah! (Joe where you gonna go?) Oh, alright. Hey Joe, said now (Hey) uh, where you gonna run to now, where you gonna run to? Yeah. (where you gonna go?) Hey Joe, I said (Hey) where you goin’ to run to now, where you, where you gonna go? (Joe!) Well, dig it! I’m goin’ way down south, way down south (Hey) way down south to Mexico way! Alright! (Joe) I’m goin’ way down south (Hey, Joe) way down where I can be free! (where you gonna…) Ain’t no one gonna find me babe! (…go?) Ain’t no hangman gonna (Hey, Joe) he ain’t gonna put a rope around me! (Joe where you gonna.) You better belive it right now! (…go?) I gotta go now! Hey, hey, hey Joe (Hey Joe) you better run on down! (where you gonna…) Goodbye everybody. Ow! (…go?) Hey, hey Joe, what’d I say (Hey… Joe) run on down. (where you gonna go?
“Crosstown Trafic” was recorded at the Record Plant in 1968. Traffic’s Dave Mason was a guest vocalist on this song. This song includes a famous kazoo riff, which Hendrix originally performed using a comb and a piece of cellophane.
This song peaked at #52 on the Billboard 100 in 1968. The album was Electric Ladyland and it was Jimi’s only number 1 album in Billboard.
Hendrix wanted a Linda Eastman photo for the album cover… A photo of the band and some kids at Central Park on an Alice In Wonderland Statue… he wrote “Please use color picture with us and the kids on the statue for front or back cover — OUTSIDE COVER,” but Reprise ignored his request…this is the photo he wanted.
Instead, they used this one
The UK cover was of 19 nude women which again…Jimi didn’t want or ask for… The public opinion was that the cover was tasteless. Hendrix agreed. He distanced himself from the photo in interviews and proclaimed disdain for the photo.
From Songfacts
This song is about a girl who is hard to get rid of. Getting through to her that she’s not wanted is like getting through crosstown traffic.
The lyrics are similar to many Blues songs in that they are filled with sexual references in clever metaphors: “I’m not the only soul, who’s accused of hit and run, tire tracks all across your back, I can see you’ve had your fun.”
Dave Mason from the group Traffic sang on this. That’s him singing the high part on the word “Traffic.”
Chas Chandler produced the original tracks, but Hendrix remixed them when he started producing his own music in 1968.
Crosstown Traffic
You jump in front of my car when you you know all the time Ninety miles an hour, girl, is the speed I drive You tell me it’s alright, you don’t mind a little pain You say you just want me to take you for a drive
You’re just like crosstown traffic So hard to get through to you Crosstown traffic I don’t need to run over you Crosstown traffic All you do is slow me down And I’m tryin’ to get on the other side of town
I’m not the only soul who’s accused of hit and run Tire tracks all across your back I can, I can see you had your fun But, darlin’ can’t you see my signals turn from green to red And with you I can see a traffic jam straight up ahead
You’re just like crosstown traffic So hard to get through to you Crosstown traffic I don’t need to run over you Crosstown traffic All you do is slow me down And I got better things on the other side of town
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