After all jacks are in their boxes
And the clowns have all gone to bed
You can hear happiness staggering on down the street
Footprints dressed in red
And the wind whispers Mary
Little Richard felt nothing should distract from his star power, and Hendrix was just so distracting with his eccentric style and unearthly guitar skills.
During the show, Hendrix gave an especially dynamic performance before setting his guitar on fire at the end of a 45-minute set. In the wake of the stunt, members of London's press labeled Hendrix the "Black Elvis" and the "Wild Man of Borneo".
Hendrix's performance included a rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner", with copious feedback, distortion, and sustain to imitate the sounds made by rockets and bombs. Contemporary political pundits described his interpretation as a statement against the Vietnam War. Three weeks later Hendrix said: "We're all Americans ... it was like 'Go America!'... We play it the way the air is in America today. The air is slightly static, see."
Well, I'm standing here freezing, inside your golden garden
I got my ladder leaned up against your wall
Tonight's the night we planned to run away together
Come on Dolly Mae, there's no time to stall
But now you're telling me...
I think we better wait till tomorrow
Yeah, yeah, hey
Architect and acoustician John Storyk designed Electric Lady Studios for Hendrix, who requested that he avoid right angles where possible. With round windows, an ambient lighting machine, and a psychedelic mural, Storyk wanted the studio to have a relaxing environment that would encourage Hendrix's creativity.
Shortly after Woodstock, while searching for drugs in New York City, Hendrix was kidnapped by two young Italians kids looking for a quick ransom. When Jon Roberts, the mobster behind the Medellin Cartel heard about this, he "reached out" to the kids and made it clear, "You let Jimi go, or you are dead. Do not harm a hair of his Afro."
The Jim Hendrix Experience's third and final studio album, Electric Ladyland, included a cover of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower", which became Hendrix's highest-selling single and his only U.S. top 40 hit, peaking at number 20. Dylan has described his reaction to hearing Hendrix's version: "It overwhelmed me, really. He had such talent, he could find things inside a song and vigorously develop them. He found things that other people wouldn't think of finding in there. He probably improved upon it by the spaces he was using. I took license with the song from his version, actually, and continue to do it to this day."
You tell me it's alright, you don't mind a little pain.
You say you just want me to take you for a ride.
You're just like crosstown traffic, so hard to get through to you.
Crosstown traffic, I don't need to run over you.
Jimi Hendrix's grave was originally marked by a simple headstone with an etching of a Fender Stratocaster, his instrument of choice (though the guitar pictured is right-handed, and Jimi adapted his to play left-handed). It has since been replaced by a larger monument, with the original gravestone embedded on a pedestal.
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