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.
Hear My Train a Comin'
Jimi Hendrix Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
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
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
The lyrics of Jimi Hendrix's "Hear My Train a Comin'" speaks about a man longing to escape his present situation, expressing his sadness over his girl leaving him and the pressure he's been put through by others. He sings about waiting at the train station, waiting for a train that would take him far away from his lonesome time. The lyrics describe the pain he feels as his tears keep burning him deep in his soul and heart.
As the song progresses, he becomes more determined to make something of himself, leaving his past behind. He sings, "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." The line "An' put it all in my shoe" implies that he wants to possess everything he possibly can. Towards the end, he desires to experience the intimacy of being in love with his girl one more time before moving on and eventually declares, "Here come the rest of my soul/Movin' through the washer, baby/Hear my train a comin' yeah yeah."
Overall, the song expresses the pain, the emotional draining, and hardship that life can bring at times, but also talks about the hope for a better future and the will to move forward.
Line by Line Meaning
Hear my train a comin'
The singer is urging the listener to listen as he anticipates the arrival of a train.
Hey
A casual greeting or call for attention to the listener.
Wait around the train station
The singer is asking the listener to wait with him at the station for the arrival of the train.
Waitin' for that train
The artist is expressing his eagerness to leave and his anticipation for the train's arrival.
Take me
The artist is requesting to be taken away by the train.
Take me away
The singer is emphasizing his desire for an escape from his present situation.
From this lonesome time
The singer is expressing his feelings of loneliness and sadness in his current state.
A whole lot of people put me through a lot of changes
The artist has experienced many changes and hardships caused by other people.
And my girl done put me down
The artist's girlfriend has left him, causing him emotional pain.
Tears burnin' me
The artist is experiencing intense emotional pain and distress.
Burnin' me
The emotional pain is causing immense discomfort.
Way down in my soul
The emotional pain is affecting the artist's very being, his soul.
Way down in my heart
The emotional pain is affecting the singer's heart, causing him sadness and pain.
It's too bad you don't love no more, child
The singer is addressing his ex-girlfriend, expressing sadness and disappointment that she no longer loves him.
Too bad you and me have to part, have to part baby
The singer is expressing his sadness and regret that he and his ex-girlfriend had to end their relationship.
Hear my train is coming
The artist is reminding the listener to prepare for the train's arrival.
Gonna make it bigger
The artist is determined to make his life better, despite the difficulties he has experienced.
With all that's still in my heart
The singer's heart is still full of hope and determination to improve his life.
Gonna be a magic boy ooh child
The singer is expressing his intention to be successful and have a better life.
Gonna come back and buy this town
The artist is expressing his ambition to be successful and wealthy enough to own the town he is from.
An' put it all in my shoe
The artist is expressing his intention to carry his wealth with him everywhere, symbolized by putting it in his shoe.
In my shoe baby
The artist is emphasizing his intention to carry his wealth with him at all times in a symbolic way.
You make love to me one more time girl
The singer is expressing his desire to have one more intimate moment with his ex-girlfriend before leaving.
So I give a piece to you baby
The artist is offering a part of himself to his ex-girlfriend in a final gesture of love and affection.
Here come the rest of my soul
The singer is expressing his desire to be free from his emotional pain and find peace.
Movin' through the washer baby
The singer is expressing his desire to cleanse himself of his emotional pain, like clothes being washed in water.
Hear my train a comin' yeah yeah
The singer is reminding the listener once again to listen for the train's arrival.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Jimi Hendrix
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@prespos
Jimi was 1 of the top 100 musicians of the 20th century.
That said, he was less than 1% of the potential of music.
Jimi is one of the greatest teachers of music.
He plays with a true love of music in his heart, in his soul.
"God bless your heart, and keep living'" - Chuck D
I believe that soul-power is a Truth of the human imagination.
John
(Prespos)
@sabata414
"When the power of love overcomes the love for power, the world will know peace." - Jimi Hendrix
@thelonewolf1894
gotta steal this my man
@swaggypanda1808
Damn beautiful
@jarisaarenpaa9910
Like that saying is a "new" thing???? But thank you for the reminder for the youngsters! Keep On Rocking Sabata14...
@alrivers2297
I believe i read somewhere that Jimi didn't actually create this saying. But it's not important who first said it, what's important is the message. It's so very true
@stevenlight5006
Thankyou Jimmie
@MrZiggy019
“I'm the one that's got to die when it's time for me to die, so let me live my life the way I want to.” Jimi Hendrix
@Enter5tube
sing on brother... play on drum..
@michaelwatson9849
"I don't live today, maybe tomorrow baby I just don't know" Jimi
@jrubs9719
No words...