Voodoo Child, Jimi Hendrix, 1968
Jimi Hendrix is a truly remarkable anomaly in the history of modern music. Not only was his rise meteoric, the timeline for him to have made such a lasting mark on popular music was extremely short. After just four years on the scene, Hendrix tragically “burned out” before ever even having the chance to “fade away.” For me, even 50 years after his death, Hendrix’s music is still as potent and indescribably unique as it must have been the day it was released. Listen after listen after listen, his music really is an experience.
Voodoo Child is my favorite Hendrix tune. He makes the guitar literally talk. It’s the grooviest, dirtiest, chaotic bunch of beautiful noise I’ve ever heard. It’s funny to me, too, that it’s mostly the guitar talking – not a lot of lyrics here, folks. It’s like this marathon guitar solo composed as a full-length story/song. I think it’s so interesting that the handful of lyrics consist of roughly a warning of sorts.
It’s a song with a dangerous vibe – I just love it. A week or so ago, Jeffrey posted about how song lyrics or phrases kind of run through our brains as responses to moments in our lives. Voodoo Child is one of these for me. When I’m feeling pushback for being who I am -- which, btw, I'm not always the nicest person -- I think to myself: Lord knows I’m a voodoo child. Heathen that I am. The duality of the Lord knowing I'm a heathen. So sorry, not sorry.
https://youtu.be/qFfnlYbFEiE
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