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.
05. Ain`t No Telling
Jimi Hendrix Lyrics
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Ain't no telling baby
When you will see me again, but I pray
It will be tomorrow
Well the sunrise (sunrise)
Is burning my eyes baby
Well now I must leave now
Well my house is oh such a sad mile away
The feeling there always hangs up my day
Oh Cleopatra she's driving me insane
She's trying to put my body in her brain
So just kiss me goodbye just to ease the pain
Ain't no
Ain't no
Ain't no telling baby
Ain't no telling babe
Ain't no telling baby when you're gonna see me
I really hope it'll be, it'll be tomorrow
You know what I'm talking 'bout (ain't no telling)
Oh oh yeah hope it'll be, hope it'll be tomorrow
Ain't no telling baby (ain't no telling baby)
Yeah you know what I'm talkin' about
Anyway, I must leave now
In "Ain't No Telling," Jimi Hendrix speaks about the unpredictability of life and love. The verses present the singer's desperate desire to see his loved one tomorrow, but the uncertainty of where his fate would take him takes precedence. The sunrise - a symbol of hope, regeneration and renewal - is an overpowering force in the singer's life, making it hard for him to leave his beloved. While Cleopatra, a reference to history's most notorious seductress, attempts to win his love, the singer acknowledges her unfortunate attachment to him, saying she's driving him insane.
The chorus of "Ain't No Telling" sets the central un-answerability of the song's central question: When will the singer see his love again? Although he fervently prays that tomorrow would be the day, he can't be certain of his and Cleopatra's respective futures, so there ain't no telling. The lyrics are simple in their expression but complicated in their emotion, making them relatable to anyone who's ever yearned for someone they couldn't be with.
Line by Line Meaning
Well, there ain't no (ain't no)
There is no certainty or guarantee
Ain't no telling baby
I cannot predict when we will meet again
When you will see me again, but I pray
I hope and pray to meet you again, but I don't know when it will happen
It will be tomorrow
I wish it could happen tomorrow
Well the sunrise (sunrise)
The morning sun is rising
Is burning my eyes baby
The bright light of the sun is hurting my eyes
Well now I must leave now
I have to leave soon
But I really hope to see you tomorrow
I wish and hope to meet you tomorrow
Well my house is oh such a sad mile away
My home is far away and going back there makes me unhappy
The feeling there always hangs up my day
The emotions and memories associated with my home weigh down my mood
Oh Cleopatra she's driving me insane
A woman named Cleopatra is causing me to go crazy
She's trying to put my body in her brain
She is trying to control and possess me completely
So just kiss me goodbye just to ease the pain
Please give me a goodbye kiss to make my departure less painful
You know what I'm talking 'bout (ain't no telling)
You understand my uncertainty
Oh oh yeah hope it'll be, hope it'll be tomorrow
I have a strong desire to meet you tomorrow
Ain't no telling baby (ain't no telling baby)
There is absolutely no way to know when we will meet again
Yeah you know what I'm talkin' about
You understand my meaning
Anyway, I must leave now
In any case, I have to go now
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