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Purple Haze

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For other meanings of Purple Haze, see Purple Haze (disambiguation).
"Purple Haze"
Song
B-side"51st Anniversary"

"Purple Haze" is a song written in 1966 and recorded in 1967 by Jimi Hendrix 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.[citation needed]

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 doing 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.[citation needed] Rolling Stone magazine placed the song at #17 in their "500 Greatest Songs of All Time."[4] Australian music TV channel MAX placed "Purple Haze" at #17 on their 2008 countdown Rock Songs: Top 100.[citation needed]

Lyrics

Hendrix said that he was inspired by a dream in which he was walking under the sea. In his dream his faith in Jesus saved him; an early song manuscript has the title "Purple Haze, Jesus Saves."[citation needed] "I dream a lot and I put a lot of my dreams down as songs," he 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."[5] 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, [6][7] as well as a street drug manufactured by Owsley Stanley. [8]

Common Mondegreen

A common misheard lyric in the song is "'scuse me while I kiss this guy". The actual line is "'scuse 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,[9] particularly at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967.

Music

The song is known for its use of the "Hendrix chord" (dominant 7 # 9) played as the first chord after the introduction. The intro itself is notable for its prominent use of the distinctive tritone interval. It is sounded when Hendrix plays a Bb (and its octave) on the guitar while the bass plays an E (and its octave);[10] such a "dissonant" interval was unusual in popular music of the time.[citation needed] The guitar solo is played through an Octavia,[11] 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.[12] A dubbed guitar part using the Octavia can also be heard during the outro.[citation needed]

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.
  • 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).[13][14]
  • A live recording was featured in the opening credits of the 1983 comedy-drama film of the same name.
  • A pop version by Dion reached #72 in Canada in February 1969.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • In the film Apocalypse Now, the character Lance deploys a purple smoke grenade on the boat and sings the song, while on LSD.
  • A copy of the single was found in a CD player in one of Uday Hussein's luxury vehicles.
  • In the song "Dimension" by the Australian band "Wolfmother", they use the lyrics "Purple Haze is in the sky"
  • The Traveling Wilburys song "End of the Line" 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"

See also

References

  1. ^ Shapiro, Harry (1995). Jimi Hendrix, Electric Gypsy. MacMillan. p. 148. ISBN 9780312130626. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ Shapiro and Glebbeek, Jimi Hendrix, Electric Gypsy, 147.
  3. ^ Shapiro and Glebbeek, Jimi Hendrix, Electric Gypsy, 524-526.
  4. ^ "The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2009-01-25. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  5. ^ Shapiro and Glebbeek, Jimi Hendrix, Electric Gypsy, 148.
  6. ^ Miller, Richard Lawrence (2002). Drugs of abuse : a reference guide to their history and use. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press. p. 228. ISBN 0313318077 9780313318078. OCLC 224044107. Retrieved 2009-03-11. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: length (help)
  7. ^ Noon, Chris (2005). "Novartis CEO Posts Strong Quarter". Forbes (April 21). Retrieved 2009-03-11. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  8. ^ Sriram, J. (2008-05-05). "My five". The Hindu. Retrieved 11 March 2009.
  9. ^ http://www.kissthisguy.com/jimi.php
  10. ^ Rooksby, Rikky (2002). Riffs: How to Create and Play Great Guitar Riffs. p. 24. ISBN 0879307102. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  11. ^ Shapiro and Glebbeek, Jimi Hendrix, Electric Gypsy, 524.
  12. ^ "Octavia". Guitar Effects by Roger Mayer. Retrieved 2009-01-25. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  13. ^ Walsh, Michael (1986-11-17). "Once Upon A Time In America". Time. Retrieved 2009-01-24. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  14. ^ Wierzbicki, James (1990-01-29). "Kronos Quartet Audience Gets Ear-load Of Quality". Saint Louis Dispatch. Retrieved 2009-01-24. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  15. ^ http://www.bobs.com/stso.html
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