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.
Voodoo Chile
Jimi Hendrix Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Lord, I'm a voodoo chile
Well, the night I was born
Lord, I swear the moon turned a fire red
The night I was born
I swear the moon turned a fire red
Well, my poor mother cried out "Lord, the gypsy was right!"
(Have mercy)
Well, mountain lions found me there waitin'
And set me on a eagles back
Well, mountain lions found me there
And set me on a eagles wing
(Its' the eagles wing, baby, what did I say)
He took me past to the outskirts of infinity
And when he brought me back
He gave me a Venus witch's ring
Hey!
And he said "Fly on, fly on"
Because I'm a voodoo chile, yeah
Voodoo chile
Hey!
Well, I make love to you
And Lord knows you'll feel no pain
Say, I make love to you in your sleep
And Lord knows you felt no pain
(Have mercy)
'Cause I'm a million miles away
And at the same time, I'm right here in your picture frame
(Yeah! What did I say now)
'Cause I'm a voodoo chile
Lord knows, I'm a voodoo chile
(Yeah!)
Well, my arrows are made of desire
From far away as Jupiter's sulphur mines
Say my arrows are made of desire, desire
From far away as Jupiter's sulphur mines
(Way down by the Methane Sea, yeah)
I have a humming bird and it hums so loud
You think you were losing your mind, hmm
Well I float in liquid gardens
And Arizona new red sand
(Yeah)
I float in liquid gardens
Way down in Arizona red sand
Well, I taste the honey from a flower named Blue
Way down in California
And in New York drowns as we hold hands
'Cause I'm a voodoo chile
Lord knows I'm a voodoo chile
Yeah
In Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile," the lyrics tell a story of a man who was born under supernatural circumstances, foreshadowing his connection to the spiritual world. The lyrics mention that the night he was born, the moon turned red - a symbol of bad luck and mystery in many cultures. The man also has a connection to animals, as the mountain lions set him on an eagle's back and took him to the outskirts of infinity. He also mentions that his arrows are made of desire, possibly suggesting he has magical powers. The song ends with the man claiming he is a voodoo chile, a term that could refer to his African-American heritage and spiritual roots.
There are also sexual undertones in the song, as the man sings about making love to someone without them feeling any pain. These lyrics could refer to his mystical abilities or to his prowess in the bedroom. He also mentions tasting honey from a flower named Blue and holding hands in New York, which could be interpreted as more romantic themes.
Line by Line Meaning
Well, I'm a voodoo chile
Lord, I'm a voodoo chile
I'm a mystical being with supernatural powers
Well, the night I was born
Lord, I swear the moon turned a fire red
The night I was born
I swear the moon turned a fire red
Well, my poor mother cried out "Lord, the gypsy was right!"
And I seen her, fell down right dead
(Have mercy)
My birth was accompanied by eerie occurrences and my mother died upon seeing me
Well, mountain lions found me there waitin'
And set me on a eagles back
Well, mountain lions found me there
And set me on a eagles wing
(Its' the eagles wing, baby, what did I say)
He took me past to the outskirts of infinity
And when he brought me back
He gave me a Venus witch's ring
Hey!
And he said "Fly on, fly on"
Because I'm a voodoo chile, yeah
Voodoo chile
Hey!
Animals carried me to universes beyond our own and gifted me with powerful artifacts
Well, I make love to you
And Lord knows you'll feel no pain
Say, I make love to you in your sleep
And Lord knows you felt no pain
(Have mercy)
'Cause I'm a million miles away
And at the same time, I'm right here in your picture frame
(Yeah! What did I say now)
'Cause I'm a voodoo chile
Lord knows, I'm a voodoo chile
(Yeah!)
I have the power to make love across great distances and be present in multiple places at once
Well, my arrows are made of desire
From far away as Jupiter's sulphur mines
Say my arrows are made of desire, desire
From far away as Jupiter's sulphur mines
(Way down by the Methane Sea, yeah)
I have a humming bird and it hums so loud
You think you were losing your mind, hmm
I possess otherworldly weapons and creatures that can drive people insane
Well I float in liquid gardens
And Arizona new red sand
(Yeah)
I float in liquid gardens
Way down in Arizona red sand
Well, I taste the honey from a flower named Blue
Way down in California
And in New York drowns as we hold hands
I can transcend space and time to experience different places and sensations
'Cause I'm a voodoo chile
Lord knows I'm a voodoo chile
Yeah
I am a powerful, otherworldly being that defies conventional understanding
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