The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
I stand up next to a mountain. I chop it down with edge of my hand.
Album: Electric Ladyland [3rd album]
Recorded: New York, New York
Genre: Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Blues
Album Release: October 16th 1968
Length: 5:13
Producer: Chas Chandler
Vocalist: Jimi Hendrix [age 25]
Label: Reprise Records [USA]
Official Audio
Live in Hawaii from 1970 [amazing performance]
Voodoo Chile (15 minute version)
Charts, Streams & Sales
Canada (albums): #1
France (albums): certified gold
UK (albums): #6 [certified gold]
UK (singles): #1 [certified gold]
USA (albums): #1 [2x platinum]
Spotify: 196,000,000 +
YouTube Music: 49,000,000 +
Guitar Worlds Greatest Wah Solos of All Time: #1
Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (2004): #101
MusicRadar's Best Guitar Riffs in Rock 'n' Roll History: #1
Credits
Bass, drums, guitar
Details
- 'Electric Ladyland' would be the last album from The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
- The original, 15-minute version of the song came to the band during a jam session, though the one used here is the faster 5 minute version. Both songs would feature on 'Electric Ladyland'.
- Hendrix declared the song to be the national anthem of the Black Panthers.
- If you have a guitar you'll try and learn 'Voodoo Child' at some point as the record has become synonymous with the instrument. Even though the song's rightfully lauded today as a true classic the critics at the time were left dumbfounded. People didn't "get" 'Voodoo Child', at least not initially.
When something sounds new, different yet familiar, it can take awhile for people to wrap their heads around it. 'Voodoo Child' mixed the old with the new, the blues with the psychedelic and people weren't ready for it. The blues influence is more evident on the slower 15-minute version of the song though it can still be felt in the improvisation on the shorter track. Improvisation being a key, though not essential, part of the blues.
When Hendrix sings "I'm a voodoo child" he doesn't mean he practices the ancient art of voodoo, he means he comes from blues music as voodoo is heavily linked with southern Delta blues. By updating such music with psychedelia, Hendrix brought the sound of the Mississippi swamp into the big cities, albeit in a new form.
'Voodoo Child' was the last song Jimi Hendrix played live. For all we know, it was the last song he ever played. He died in 1970 at the age of 27. He only started learning the guitar when he was 15, but by the time he slipped this mortal coil he was its master. He was one of the greatest guitarists the world ever produced and might be its absolute best. His debut album was released in 1967 and by 1970 he was gone. In the short space inbetween he released three records featuring such classics as 'Foxy Lady', 'Purple Haze' and more.
It's always a tragedy when the good die young but I would have liked to hear Jimi play his guitar once more time. It's always possible that Hendrix was a case of the candle burning twice as bright for half as long. Maybe he had already produced his best work? Maybe a shadow of his former self would have ended up flogging discounted toiletries on a late night shopping network as he sadly strummed his out of tune guitar inbetween advertisements for hot girls in your area and gambling websites? But maybe not? And we'll never know because that's what absence really is, loss. It's not knowing. It's having questions instead of answers. - The performance of 'Voodoo Child (Slight Return)' from Hawaii in 1970 [see above] is an example of the infectiousness of music. At the start, only a few people are dancing while at the end many in the crowd, including young children, are on their feet having a good time. The music fills the air and when people breathe it in they also breathe in the spirit of the song. For those so inclined, dancing becomes not an option but a necessary expression of their euphoria.
- "I stand up next to a mountain and chop it down with the edge of my hand" is a lyric that rocks so hard it could start an avalanche. It expresses a mighty attitude that portrays the singer as the master of nature itself. As if to say, the world does not effect me I effect the world. I can do anything. Mountains crumble before me. If you hear the line and don't immediately start pulling the stank face you didn't hear it right.
Artwork
