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.
Lime
Jimi Hendrix Lyrics
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And the day is too
There's nothing left here to greet me
But the velvet moon
All my loneliness
I have felt today
It's a little more than enough
To make a man throw himself away
To burn the midnight lamp
Alone
Now the smiling portrait of you
Is still hangin' on my frowning wall
But it really doesn't really doesn't bother me too much at all
It's just the, uh, ever falling dust
That makes it so hard for me to see
That forgotten ear-ring laying on the floor
Facing coldly toward the door
And I continue
To burn the midnight lamp
Whoa, alone
Burn
Yeah yeah
Lonely lonely lonely
Loneliness is such a, drag
So here I sit to face
That same old fire place
Gettin' ready for the same old explosion
Goin' through my mind
And soon enough time will tell
About the circus and the wishing well
And someone who will by and sell for me
Someone who will toll my bell
And I continue to burn the same old lamp
Alone
Yeah, right now
Can you hear me callin' you so lonely
Gotta blow my mind
Yeah yeah
Lonely lonely lonely
Blow my mind
Yeah
"Burning the Midnight Lamp" is a deeply emotional song that explores themes of loneliness and isolation. The opening lines of the song set the tone, describing a world that feels empty and desolate. The singer is left to grapple with his own loneliness and despair, with only the moon and his own thoughts for company. Despite the darkness that surrounds him, he continues to burn the midnight lamp, suggesting a determination to soldier on no matter how difficult life may be.
In the second verse, the singer reflects on the remnants of a past relationship, encapsulated by the smiling portrait of his former partner that still hangs on his wall. Yet even this memento has lost its power to affect him deeply; the "ever falling dust" that covers the portrait serves as a potent metaphor for the passage of time and the way our memories and emotions can become obscured over time. The singer is left to contend with his own sense of loss and abandonment, and despite the pain it causes him, he stubbornly refuses to let go of the past.
The final verse is a rumination on the unpredictable nature of life, and the way in which our fortunes can rise and fall in the blink of an eye. The singer describes himself as waiting for "the same old explosion" to go off in his mind, suggesting a sense of impending crisis or turmoil. He wonders who will be there to support him when the going gets tough, and whether there will be anyone left to toll his bell when he is gone. Through it all, he continues to burn the same old lamp, revealing a sense of stoic resilience in the face of adversity.
Line by Line Meaning
The morning is dead
The morning has ended and it's now daytime.
And the day is too
The day has also ended, and now it's nighttime.
There's nothing left here to greet me
There's no one to welcome me at this moment.
But the velvet moon
The only thing present here right now is the moon.
All my loneliness
I am feeling quite lonely right now.
I have felt today
I have experienced this feeling throughout the day.
It's a little more than enough
It's become somewhat overwhelming.
To make a man throw himself away
It's enough to make someone feel like they want to give up on everything.
I continue
Despite this feeling, I persist.
To burn the midnight lamp
I keep burning the lamp through the night.
Alone
I am by myself.
Now the smiling portrait of you
There's a picture of you smiling at me right now.
Is still hangin' on my frowning wall
The picture is hung on a wall that has a frown-like appearance.
But it really doesn't really doesn't bother me too much at all
The picture doesn't have much of an effect on me.
It's just the, uh, ever falling dust
It's just that there's always dust falling on it.
That makes it so hard for me to see
The dust makes it difficult to see the picture clearly.
That forgotten ear-ring laying on the floor
There's an earring on the ground that was left behind.
Facing coldly toward the door
The earring is pointing towards the exit.
And I continue
And still, I persist.
To burn the midnight lamp
I keep burning the lamp through the night.
Whoa, alone
And I am still by myself.
Lonely, lonely, lonely
I am very lonely right now.
Loneliness is such a, drag
Being lonely is very tiring and difficult to deal with.
So here I sit to face
I am now sitting down to consider my thoughts.
That same old fire place
I am in front of the same fireplace as before.
Gettin' ready for the same old explosion
I am preparing myself for the same kind of outburst I have had before.
Goin' through my mind
My thoughts are all over the place.
And soon enough time will tell
I am waiting to see how things will pan out in the future.
About the circus and the wishing well
This involves different kinds of events and hoping for the best outcomes.
And someone who will by and sell for me
Someone will try to make a transaction for me.
Someone who will toll my bell
Someone else will take care of something for me.
And I continue to burn the same old lamp
I am still burning the same lamp as before.
Alone
And still, I am by myself.
Yeah, right now
At this present moment.
Can you hear me callin' you so lonely
I am feeling really lonely and I am trying to reach out to someone.
Gotta blow my mind
I need to do something to distract myself from these thoughts.
Blow my mind
I need a way to escape this current situation I am in.
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