Born in Seattle, Washington, Hendrix began playing guitar at the age of 15. In 1961, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and trained as a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne Division; he was granted an honorable discharge the following year. Soon afterward, he moved to Clarksville, Tennessee, and began playing gigs on the Chitlin' Circuit, earning a place in the Isley Brothers' backing band and later with Little Richard, with whom he continued to work through mid-1965. He then played with Curtis Knight and the Squires before moving to England in late 1966 after being discovered by Linda Keith, who in turn interested bassist Chas Chandler of the Animals in becoming his first manager. Within months, Hendrix had earned three UK top ten hits with the Jimi Hendrix Experience: "Hey Joe", "Purple Haze", and "The Wind Cries Mary". He achieved fame in the U.S. after his performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, and in 1968 his third and final studio album, Electric Ladyland, reached number one in the U.S.; it was Hendrix's most commercially successful release and his first and only number one album. The world's highest-paid performer, he headlined the Woodstock Festival in 1969 and the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970, before his accidental death from barbiturate-related asphyxia on September 18, 1970, at the age of 27.
Hendrix was inspired musically by American rock and roll and electric blues. He favored overdriven amplifiers with high volume and gain, and was instrumental in utilizing the previously undesirable sounds caused by guitar amplifier feedback. He helped to popularize the use of a wah-wah pedal in mainstream rock, and was the first artist to use stereophonic phasing effects in music recordings. Holly George-Warren of Rolling Stone commented: "Hendrix pioneered the use of the instrument as an electronic sound source. Players before him had experimented with feedback and distortion, but Hendrix turned those effects and others into a controlled, fluid vocabulary every bit as personal as the blues with which he began."
Hendrix was the recipient of several music awards during his lifetime and posthumously. In 1967, readers of Melody Maker voted him the Pop Musician of the Year, and in 1968, Rolling Stone declared him the Performer of the Year. Disc and Music Echo honored him with the World Top Musician of 1969 and in 1970, Guitar Player named him the Rock Guitarist of the Year. The Jimi Hendrix Experience was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. Rolling Stone ranked the band's three studio albums, Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold as Love, and Electric Ladyland, among the 100 greatest albums of all time, and they ranked Hendrix as the greatest guitarist and the sixth greatest artist of all time.
-Little Wing
Jimi Hendrix Lyrics
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With a circus mind
That's running wild
Butterflies and zebras and moonbeams
And-a fairly tales
That's all she ever thinks about
When I'm sad she comes to me
With a thousand smiles
She gives to me free
"It's alright", she says
It's alright
Take anything you want from me
(Take anything)
Anything
Fly on, little wing
The lyrics of Jimi Hendrix's song "Little Wing" depict a dreamlike woman who is "walking through the clouds with a circus mind that's running wild." She is surrounded by surreal images such as "butterflies and zebras and moonbeams" and is lost in a world of fairy tales. The singer of the song finds solace in this woman when he is feeling down, as she comes to him with a "thousand smiles" that she gives to him freely. When he expresses a desire to take anything from her, she reassures him that "it's alright."
The interpretation of the lyrics of "Little Wing" can vary, but most see it as an ode to the transformative and healing power of love. The woman in the song represents a source of comfort and escape for the singer when he is feeling lost and alone. The surreal imagery used throughout the song reinforces the dreamlike quality of the woman's world and the magic that she brings to the singer's life.
Overall, Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing" is a poetic and evocative song that reflects on the nature of love and human connection.
Line by Line Meaning
Well she's walking through the clouds
She's always lost in thought, always daydreaming
With a circus mind
Her mind jumps from one wild idea to the next like a circus performer
That's running wild
Her mind is wild and uncontrollable
Butterflies and zebras and moonbeams
Her mind conjures up fantastical images and dreams
And-a fairly tales
Her thoughts revolve around imaginary stories and scenarios
That's all she ever thinks about
Her mind is consumed by her vivid imagination
Riding with the wind
She feels free and untethered like she's soaring with the wind
When I'm sad she comes to me
She's a source of comfort when he's feeling down
With a thousand smiles
She brings positivity, cheerfulness, and optimism to his life
She gives to me free
She freely shares her love, joy, and kindness with him
"It's alright", she says
She reassures him that everything will be okay
It's alright
No matter what happens, she believes he will be okay
Take anything you want from me
She's extremely giving and selfless
(Take anything)
She's willing to sacrifice anything for the people she loves
Anything
Literally anything, she'll do anything to make others happy
Fly on, little wing
An encouragement to continue being free and following one's dreams and heart
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Jimi Hendrix
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Devin Kennedy
on Spanish Castle Magic (alternate take)
Is this really the alternete take