Purple Haze
| "Purple Haze" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 A 1988 CD titled after the song |
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| Single by The Jimi Hendrix Experience | ||||
| from the album Are You Experienced | ||||
| B-side | "51st Anniversary" | |||
| Released | March 17, 1967 | |||
| Format | 7" | |||
| Recorded | January 11 and February 3, 1967 at De Lane Lea and Olympic Studios in London, England | |||
| Genre | Hard rock, blues-rock, psychedelic rock, acid rock | |||
| Length | 2:50 | |||
| Label | Track | |||
| Writer(s) | Jimi Hendrix | |||
| Producer | Chas Chandler | |||
| The Jimi Hendrix Experience singles chronology | ||||
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"Purple Haze" is a song written in 1966 and recorded in 1967 by The Jimi Hendrix Experience and released as a single (Hendrix's second) in both the United Kingdom and the United States. It appeared on the US release of their 1967 album Are You Experienced and on subsequent re-releases of the album. "Purple Haze" has become one of the "archetypical psychedelic drug songs of the sixties"[1] and is often cited as one of Jimi Hendrix's greatest songs, and for many is his signature song.
Reportedly, the song came into being after his manager Chas Chandler heard him playing the riff backstage and suggested that he write lyrics to go with it. There is some dispute about the lyrics: supposedly written in the dressing room of the Upper Cut Club on Boxing Day, 1966, Chandler claims that the lyrics were never cut in any way (though he admits that this was done on general principle with Hendrix's lyrics), while Hendrix stated that the original song contained much more text.[2]
The single was released in the UK (as Track 604001) on 17 March 1967; it entered the charts at #39 and peaked at number three, spending 14 weeks in the chart. It was released in the US (as Reprise 0597) on 19 June 1967, where it peaked at #65, spending only 8 weeks in the chart.[3]
In March 2005, Q magazine ranked "Purple Haze" at number one in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks.[4] Rolling Stone magazine placed the song at #17 in their "500 Greatest Songs of All Time."[5] Australian music TV channel MAX placed "Purple Haze" at #17 on their 2008 countdown Rock Songs: Top 100.
Contents |
Lyrics
"I dream a lot and I put a lot of my dreams down as songs," Hendrix said in a 1969 interview with the New Musical Express, "I wrote one called 'First Around the Corner' and another called 'The Purple Haze,' which was all about a dream I had that I was walking under the sea."[6] The term "purple haze" has been used to refer to LSD, due to the form sold by Sandoz, called Delysid, which came in purple capsules. Furthermore, Purple Haze is a particular strand of marijuana noted for its 'purple' appearance, therefore this is the most credible reference as 'kissing the sky' means 'to get high'.[7][8] Common legend is that Jimi was on Owsley Stanley Purple Haze LSD when he composed the song.[9]
The phrase itself appears in print as early as 1861, in Charles Dickens' Great Expectations, chapter 54: "There was the red sun, on the low level of the shore, in a purple haze, fast deepening into black..."
Common mondegreen
A common misheard lyric in the song is "excuse me while I kiss this guy". The actual line is "excuse me while I kiss the sky". In fact, it has even been documented that Jimi Hendrix himself perpetrated this mondegreen by actually using it as a joke while singing Purple Haze live in concert,[10] particularly at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. This can also be heard in Purple Haze(Live at Woodstock) on Guitar Hero World Tour. In Cheech & Chong's film Nice Dreams, the line is parodied as, "excuse me while I kiss this fly". The mondegreen has lent its name to a site devoted to misheard lyrics, KissThisGuy
Music
The song is known for its use of the "Hendrix chord" (dominant 7 # 9) played as the first chord after the introduction. This chord structure was often used in jazz by artists such as Horace Silver in the early 1960s, but was not used in rock on a regular basis. The intro itself is notable for its prominent use of the distinctive tritone interval, also used commonly by jazz musicians. It is sounded when Hendrix plays an E7 #9 (low to high: E, G#, D, G) on the guitar while the bass plays an E (and its octave);[11] such a "dissonant" interval was unusual in popular music of the time. The guitar solo is played through an Octavia,[12] an effects pedal that increases notes by one octave. The effect was developed by Roger Mayer, an acoustical and electronics engineer, and Mayer claims he made it in cooperation with Jimi Hendrix.[13] A dubbed guitar part using the Octavia can also be heard during the outro.
Covers of and references to Purple Haze
Johhny Jones & the King Casuals covered "Purple Haze" in 1968. Hendrix was a member of The King Casuals prior to his solo career. A pop version by Dion reached #72 in Canada in February 1969. In 1973, in National Lampoon's Lemmings, a parody of Woodstock, John Belushi's Joe Cocker parody "Lonely at the Bottom" refers to the late 1960s as "days of Purple Haze and freon". In the 1979 film Apocalypse Now, the character Lance deploys a purple smoke grenade on the boat and sings the song, while on LSD.
In Cheech & Chong's film Nice Dreams, released in 1981 by Columbia Pictures, when the protagonists are in a mental institution, a black patient dressed like Jimi Hendrix (played by Michael Winslow) sings a parody version of "Purple Haze". A live recording of the song is featured in the opening credits of the 1983 comedy-drama film of the same name. Near the end of the Huey Lewis and the News 1984 song "I Want a New Drug", the famous Intro to "Purple Haze" can be heard as the music fades out. Los Angeles art rock band The Fibonaccis recorded a discordant avant-garde cover of "Purple Haze" in 1984, releasing a psychedelic music video for the song the same year. San Francisco string quartet Kronos Quartet play "Purple Haze" live regularly; the song is included on their album Kronos Quartet (1986) and on the music DVD In Accord (2000).[14][15]
A version by the Art Ensemble of Chicago is featured on their album Ancient to the Future, which was released in 1987. The song "Purple Haze" is played in the movie Masters of the Universe from 1987 starring Swedish actor Dolph Lundgren. Art Rock band The Fibonaccis covered the song in an in-film performance in the 1987 comedy Valet Girls. The band Winger performed a cover of the song on their self-titled debut album released by Atlantic Records in 1988. The song was featured in the 1988 action film Shakedown. A heavy version of the song has been performed live by Ozzy Osbourne at the Moscow Music Peace Festival, a one-time gathering of high-profile hard rock acts who put on a concert for the people in Moscow, Soviet Union on 12 and 13 August 1989 to promote world peace. This version is featured on the compilation album Stairway to Heaven/Highway to Hell, which was released in the same year. The Traveling Wilburys song "End of the Line", released in 1989, contains the lyrics "Maybe somewhere down the road a ways / You'll think of me and wonder where I am these days / Maybe somewhere down the road when somebody plays / Purple Haze"
Frank Zappa performs a parody version of the song on 1991 live album The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life, recorded in 1988. The Bobs recorded an a capella version of "Purple Haze" in 1991.[16] A version of "Purple Haze" by Tangerine Dream is on the group's concert album 220 Volt Live, which was recorded live in USA in 1992. A version by The Cure is the first track on 1993 tribute album Stone Free: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix. In the film Apollo 13, released in 1995, Jim Lovell's oldest daughter was playing "Purple Haze" before watching Apollo 13's live broadcast from space.
In an episode of My Wife and Kids, Michael Kyle shows his son and his friend his guitar skills by playing the song; he also lit the guitar on fire and played it with his tongue. A copy of the single was found in a CD player in one of Uday Hussein's luxury vehicles. In the 2006 song "Dimension" by the Australian band Wolfmother, they use the lyrics "Purple Haze is in the sky". The intro to "Purple Haze" can be heard during the guitar solo of the song "Dani California" a single by The Red Hot Chili Peppers released on May 1, 2006.
In 2007, the Buena Vista Social Club covered this song in the album Rhythms del Mundo Classics.
The piece One Winged Angel, from Final Fantasy VII by Nobuo Uematsu, is inspired by Purple Haze including its famous intro. A live version of the song appears along side "The Wind Cries Mary" in the music video game Guitar Hero World Tour.
D.H. Peligro, ex-drummer of the Dead Kennedys, recently recorded a punk rock cover of Purple Haze, which was nominated for a Grammy Award.
Seattle band Eclipse Revolution covered Purple Haze live.
See also
- Jimi Hendrix discography
- Hendrix chord
References
- ↑
- ↑ Shapiro and Glebbeek, Jimi Hendrix, Electric Gypsy, 147.
- ↑ Shapiro and Glebbeek, Jimi Hendrix, Electric Gypsy, 524-526.
- ↑ "Rocklist.net...Q Magazine Lists". Rocklistmusic.co.uk. http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/qlistspage3.htm. Retrieved 2010-03-25.
- ↑ "The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/500songs. Retrieved 2009-01-25.
- ↑ Shapiro and Glebbeek, Jimi Hendrix, Electric Gypsy, 148.
- ↑ Miller, Richard Lawrence (2002). Drugs of abuse : a reference guide to their history and use. Westport, Connecticut, U.S.A: Greenwood Press. p. 228. ISBN 0313318077 9780313318078. OCLC 224044107. http://books.google.com/?id=G7As-qawdzMC&pg=PA228&lpg=PA228&dq=%22purple+haze%22+Sandoz. Retrieved 2009-03-11.
- ↑ Noon, Chris (April 2005). "Novartis CEO Posts Strong Quarter". Forbes (April 21). http://www.forbes.com/2005/04/21/0421autofacescan09.html. Retrieved 2009-03-11.
- ↑ Sriram, J. (2008-05-05). "My five". The Hindu. http://www.hindu.com/mp/2008/04/05/stories/2008040551670900.htm. Retrieved 11 March 2009.
- ↑ "The Jimi Hendrix Story - 'scuze me while I kiss this guy!". Kissthisguy.com. http://www.kissthisguy.com/jimi.php. Retrieved 2010-03-25.
- ↑ Rooksby, Rikky (2002). Riffs: How to Create and Play Great Guitar Riffs. p. 24. ISBN 0879307102.
- ↑ Shapiro and Glebbeek, Jimi Hendrix, Electric Gypsy, 524.
- ↑ "Octavia". Guitar Effects by Roger Mayer. http://www.roger-mayer.co.uk/octavia.htm. Retrieved 2009-01-25.
- ↑ Walsh, Michael (1986-11-17). "Once Upon A Time In America". Time. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,962874,00.html?iid=chix-sphere. Retrieved 2009-01-24.
- ↑ Wierzbicki, James (1990-01-29). "Kronos Quartet Audience Gets Ear-load Of Quality". Saint Louis Dispatch. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=SL&p_theme=sl&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB04C8AFB3D913D&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM. Retrieved 2009-01-24.
- ↑ "Sing the Songs Of". The Bobs. http://www.bobs.com/stso.html. Retrieved 2010-03-25.
External links
- Live performance of "Purple Haze" at the Berkeley (Calif.) Community Theatre in 1970.
- Allmusic review
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