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.
Catfish
Jimi Hendrix Lyrics
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Swimming in, lord, the deep blue sea.
I'd have a, all you pretty women,
Fishin' after me, fishin' after me,
Fishin' after me. Yeah.
Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah.
When I went down, my girlfriends house.
And she said a, come in now Jimi.
My husband just now left, just now left.
Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah.
Well there's two, two trains runnin',
But there's not one, lord, that's goin' my way.
You know there's a one train runnin' at midnight.
Other one leave just for a day,
Leave just for a day.
Ohh yeah, ohh yeah, ohh yeah, ohh yeah.
In Catfish Blues, Jimi Hendrix expresses his desire to be a catfish swimming in the deep blue sea. Jimi imagines that he would be a sought-after catch among all the pretty women who would be trying to fish him out of the water. The song conveys Hendrix's assertion of his own worth and value, where he desires to be pursued by those who would deem him desirable.
However, when Jimi visits his girlfriend's house, he's hit with the reality that not everything can go his way. While visiting his girlfriend's house, she informs him that her husband has just left for a little while, which implies that she cannot entertain Hendrix while her husband is away. The phrase "not one, lord, that's goin' my way," applies to more than trains as Jimi Hendrix experiences a growing sense of hopelessness that things may not work out in his favor.
Line by Line Meaning
Well I wish I was a catfish,
I desire to be a catfish
Swimming in, lord, the deep blue sea.
Swimming in the deep blue sea
I'd have a, all you pretty women,
I would have all the beautiful women
Fishin' after me, fishin' after me,
Chasing after me trying to win my love
Fishin' after me. Yeah.
Chasing after me trying to win my love. Yes.
Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah.
Expressing satisfaction, happiness or agreement
When I went down, my girlfriends house.
I went to my girlfriend’s house
And I sat down, lord, on her front step.
While at her house, I sat down on the front step
And she said a, come in now Jimi.
She said 'come in Jimi'
My husband just now left, just now left.
My husband recently departed
Well there's two, two trains runnin',
There are two trains running
But there's not one, lord, that's goin' my way.
However, there is no train going in my direction
You know there's a one train runnin' at midnight.
There is one train leaving at midnight
Other one leave just for a day,
The other one leaves for only one day
Leave just for a day.
The train will only be gone for a day
Ohh yeah, ohh yeah, ohh yeah, ohh yeah.
Expressing satisfaction, happiness or agreement
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: ROBERT PETWAY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Devin Kennedy
on Spanish Castle Magic (alternate take)
Is this really the alternete take