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Sunday, October 27, 2013

Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo Chile (information, example, and lyrics)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post provides information about Jimi Hendrik's recording "Voodoo Chile".

This is part of a series of posts on songs that are connected to the song "Catfish Blues". Two other pancocojams posts in this series are http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/10/how-rolling-stones-band-rolling-stones.html "How The Rolling Stones Band & Rolling Stones Magazine Got Their Names" [which showcases Muddy Waters' song "Rollin Stone"], and http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/10/robert-petway-catfish-blues-example.html Robert Petway - "Catfish Blues".

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/10/jimi-hendrix-voodoo-child-slight-return.html for the pancocojams post on Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo Chile (Slight Return).

Also, click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimi_Hendrix for information about musician, singer and songwriterJimi Hendrix (November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970).

The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

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INFORMATION ABOUT VOODOO CHILE
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voodoo_Chile

Voodoo Chile
Not to be confused with Voodoo Child (Slight Return)*

“ "Voodoo Chile"[1] is a song written by Jimi Hendrix and recorded in 1968 for the Jimi Hendrix Experience album Electric Ladyland. The song is Hendrix's longest studio recording and features additional musicians in what has been described as a "studio jam".[2] "Voodoo Chile" is based on earlier blues songs and became the basis for Hendrix's "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)", "one of Jimi Hendrix's best-known and influential songs".[3]

Background
"Voodoo Chile" evolved from "Catfish Blues", a song which Hendrix performed regularly during 1967 and early 1968. "Catfish Blues" was a homage to Muddy Waters, made up of a medley of verses based on Waters' songs, including "Rollin' Stone", "Still a Fool", and "Rollin' and Tumblin'".[4] In April 1968, Hendrix recorded a number of solo demos in a New York hotel,[5] including an early "Voodoo Chile", which "he'd been refining privately for some months".[6] It used elements of "Catfish Blues" with new lyrics by Hendrix and included a vocal and guitar unison line.

"Voodoo Chile" has been called "virtually a chronological guided tour of blues styles" ranging from early Delta blues, through the electric blues of Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker, to the more sophisticated style of B.B. King, and the "cosmic blurt" of John Coltrane.[7] Lyrically, the song is "part of a long, long line of supernatural brag songs.”...

*This information written in italic is found in the original article.

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SHOWCASE EXAMPLE: Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo Child - Atlanta 70´s



faustossj3, Uploaded on Mar 20, 2010

Jimi hendrix master of guitar ear 1969 vodoo child

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LYRICS: VOODOO CHILE
(Jimi Hendrix)


Well, I'm a voodoo chile
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!"
And I seen her, fell down right dead
(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, hmmm...
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 the in New York drowns as we hold hands

'Cause I'm a voodoo chile
Lord knows I'm a voodoo chile

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/jimihendrix/voodoochile.html

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Thanks to Jimi Hendrix for his musical legacy. Thanks also to the publisher of this video and thanks to all who are quoted in this post.

Visitor comments are welcome.

1 comment:

  1. The title "Voodoo Chile" refers to the magical, bragging self-descriptors voiced in Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile" and in "Voodoo Chile" (Slight Return).

    Here's an excerpt of a Huffington Post article http://www.huffingtonpost.com/saumya-arya-haas/what-is-vodou_b_827947.html that provides information about and corrects widespread misconceptions about Voodoo [whose correctly known as "Vodou"]:
    "[Huffington Post] Editors Note: While this article uses the AP Style spelling, 'Vodou' is considered a more appropriate spelling by the author and other scholars.

    Voodoo isn't accurately portrayed in most movies, TV shows and books. Even some documentaries and non-fiction books are misleading. Voodoo isn't a cult, black magic or devil worship. People who practice Voodoo are not witchdoctors, sorcerers or occultists. Voodoo isn't a practice intended to hurt or control others. Most Voodooists have never seen a "Voodoo doll" (unless, like you, they saw it in a movie).

    Voodoo isn't morbid or violent. Voodoo isn't the same everywhere. Not everyone who practices Voodoo does it in exactly the same way or agrees on exactly the same things...

    If Voodoo is just another religion, why does everyone think it's scary?

    Racism clouds our view of Voodoo. It is rooted in slavery and intricately connected to this hemisphere's political and social evolution. Voodoo was first practiced in America and the Caribbean by slaves of African descent, whose culture was both feared and ridiculed. Slaves were not considered fully human. Their religion was dismissed as superstition, their priests were denigrated as witchdoctors, their Gods and Spirits were denounced as evil."
    -snip-
    Click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_African_Vodun for more information about Vodou.

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