THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE - "Little Wing"

The Jimi Hendrix Experience

"Little Wing"

Album: Axis: Bold as Love

Released: 1 December 1967 (UK), 15 January 1968 (US)

Writer: Jimi Hendrix

Label: Track (UK), Reprise (US)
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"Little Wing" is a song written by Jimi Hendrix and recorded by the Jimi Hendrix Experience in 1967. It is a slower tempo, rhythm and blues-inspired ballad featuring Hendrix's vocal and guitar with recording studio effects accompanied by bass, drums, and glockenspiel. Lyrically, it is one of several of his songs that reference an idealized feminine or guardian angel-like figure. At about two and a half minutes in length, it is one of his most concise and melodically-focused pieces.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - "Little Wing" (from the album Axis: Bold as Love 1967)

The Jimi Hendrix Experience's album Axis: Bold as Love

The origins of "Little Wing" have been traced back to the 1966 recording of "(My Girl) She's a Fox", an R&B song which features Hendrix playing Curtis Mayfield-influenced guitar accompaniment. He developed the song while performing in New York City's Greenwich Village prior to his involvement with producer Chas Chandler. After being inspired by events at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, Hendrix completed the song in October 1967, when it was recorded by the Experience during the sessions for their second album Axis: Bold as Love.

"Little Wing" was released with the Axis album in December 1967 in the UK and the following month in the US. As one of only two songs from the album to become part of the Experience's concert repertoire, the Experience often performed it live and recordings were issued on early Hendrix posthumous albums Hendrix in the West in 1972 and The Jimi Hendrix Concerts in 1982. More recently, demo versions have been released as well as additional live renditions. "Little Wing" is one of Hendrix's most popular songs and has become a standard, with interpretations recorded by musicians in a variety of styles. It is ranked number 366 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - "Little Wing" (unofficial music video)

"Little Wing" Classic Singles Collection, 1998
(Label: Experience Hendrix LLC / ASCAP)

According to Hendrix, "Little Wing" came from an idea he had originally developed while playing in Greenwich Village, when he was fronting his band Jimmy James and the Blue Flames in the summer of 1966. 

He later explained that he was further inspired during the Experience's performance at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival: "...I got the idea like, when we were in Monterey and I was just looking at everything around. So I figured that I take everything I see around and put it maybe in the form of a girl maybe, somethin' like that, you know, and call it 'Little Wing', and then it will just fly away. Everybody's really flyin' and they're really in a nice mood, like the police and everybody was really, really great out there. So I just took all these things an put them in one very, very small little matchbox, you know, into a girl and then do it. It was very simple, but I like it though...."

In discussing his lyrics, Jimi Hendrix was characteristically enigmatic. In a 1967 interview, he explained "Most ballads come across in different ways. Sometimes you see things in different ways than other people see it. So then you write it in a song. It could represent anything". In different interviews, he acknowledged an American Indian-influence on his songs "I Don't Live Today", "May This Be Love", and "Little Wing". He described "Little Wing" as being "based on a very, very simple Indian style", perhaps referring to some mythologies of the indigenous peoples of North America in which spirits inhabit nature and animals, including birds. In one interview, he saw it as self-explanatory: "That's exactly what it's about, like 'She's walking through the clouds'" 

Allmusic: "...Despite Jimi Hendrix's well-deserved reputation as an electric guitar pioneer, there is little doubt that he was also capable of masterful melodies, and "Little Wing" is perhaps his finest. A gentle, soulful chord progression, based on an E minor to D major shift, guides the melody and is an accurate mirror of the title and lyrics. Ostensibly a tender love song, Hendrix conveys these emotions in a bittersweet way that juxtaposes his stance as a hard rocker...." (Review by Matthew Greenwald)

The song appears on subsequent reissues of Axis: Bold as Love, which continues to be a best selling Hendrix album. It has also been included on numerous Hendrix compilation albums, including The Essential Jimi Hendrix, Stone Free, The Ultimate Experience, Experience Hendrix: The Best of Jimi Hendrix, and Voodoo Child: The Jimi Hendrix Collection.

"Little Wing" was one of only two songs from Axis that the Experience regularly performed in concert, the other being "Spanish Castle Magic".Except for the glockenspiel and the song's ending, their live performances generally follow the studio arrangement.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - "Little Wing" (Unofficial music video)

The Jimi Hendrix Experience live in London

In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine included "Little Wing" on its list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" at number 366. As one of Jimi Hendrix's most popular and interpreted songs, "Little Wing" has gone on to become a standard. Some artists who have recorded it include: Concrete Blonde, Chaka Khan, Santana, The Corrs, Nigel Kennedy, Skid Row, Josh Charles, Ottmart Liebert, Sting, Poppa Chubby, Steve Lukather and Steve Morse, Quinn Sullivan, Deff Leppard, John Mayer, Toto, Derek and the Dominos, Monte Montgomery, Tuck & Patti, Gill Evans, Pappo, Stevie Ray Vaughan, G3, Corinne Bailey Rae, Snowy White, The Gun Club.

Line-up / Musicians:
Jimi Hendrix – vocals, electric guitar, piano, recorder
Mitch Mitchell – drums, glockenspiel, backing vocals
Noel Redding – backing vocals, bass guitars (four and eight-string)

Links / Reviews:
Wikipedia: Little Wing
Allmusic: Little Wing - Jimi Hendrix

Songfacts: Little Wing by Jimi Hendrix
Rolling Stone: 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time ; Readers Poll The 10 Best Jimi Hendrix Songs
BBC: Little Wing - Music - Record

THE CARS - "Drive"

The Cars
"Drive"
Single / B-side: "Stranger Eyes"
Album: Heartbeat City
Released: 23 July 1984
Writer:Ric Ocasek
Label: Elektra
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"Drive" is a 1984 song by The Cars, the third single from the band's Heartbeat City album released in March 1984 and their biggest international hit. It was written by Ric Ocasek and produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange with the band. This was the Cars' highest-charting US single and their second-highest charting UK single, the highest bein "My Best Friend's Girl." The song was re-released one year later and use at the Live Aid concert in July 1985 as the background music to a montage of clips depicting the contemporaneous Ethiopian famine. Proceeds from the sales of the re-released song raised nearly £160,000 for the Band Aid Trust: Ocasek presented the charity's trusteeMidge Ure with a cheque for the amount while he was in London in November 1986 promoting his solo album This Side of Paradise.

The Cars' Single "Drive" 1984(Photo courtesy of Elektra)

The Cars - "Drive" (vinyl, Heartbeat City, 1984)

The Cars - "Drive" (CBS Video, Live Aid 1985)

Cars bass player Ben Orr sang lead on this one. Orr died of Pancreatic cancer in 2000. When he died, this was played in his honor at a memorial service at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

A very melancholy song by The Cars, "Drive" is written from the perspective of a guy who's watching a woman (who he presumably used to date) "going down the tubes," trying to get her to take a hard look at what's going on in her life.

In a retrospective review of the single, AllMusic journalist Donald A. Guarisco praised the song for being "a gorgeous ballad that matches heartfelt songwriting to an alluring electronic soundscape. The music reflects the lyrical tone with a lovely melody that rises and falls in a soothing yet sad fashion."

The Cars - "Drive" (music video)

The Cars 1985

The music video was directed by actor Timothy Hutton and features model and actress Paulina Porizkova, who would later become Ric Ocasek's wife. The video alternates between shots of Orr sitting in a disused nightclub, facing mannequins posed at the bar as customers and bartender, and scenes that depict the breakdown of a relationship between the characters played by Ocasek and Porizkova. Ultimately left alone, the woman cries and laughs hysterically for a time before visiting the nightclub. She looks sadly in through a dirty window at the stage, where tuxedo-clad mannequins of the band members are posed with their instruments as if playing a show, and turns to walk away as the video ends.

Line-up / Musicians:
Ric Ocasek – rhythm guitar, synthesiser
Elliot Easton – lead guitar, backing vocals
Greg Hawkes – keyboards, Fairlight programming, backing vocals
Benjamin Orr – bass, lead vocals 
David Robinson – drums, percussion, Fairlight programming
With:
Andy Topeka: Additional Fairlight programming

Links / Reviews:
Wikipedia: Drive (The Cars song)
Songfacts: Drive by The Cars 
Allmusic: Drive - The Cars / Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards 
Rolling Stone: 100 Best Singles of 1984: Pop's Greatest Year  
The Cars Official Website: thecars.org  

PAUL MCCARTNEY & WINGS - "Live and Let Die"

Paul McCartney & Wings
"Live an Let Die"
Single/ B-side: "I Lie Around"
Album: Live and Let Die
Released: 1 June 1973 (UK), 18 June 1973 (US)
Writers: Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney
Label: Apple
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"Live and Let Die" is the main theme song of the 1973 James Bond film Live and Let Die, written by Paul and Linda McCartney and performed by Paul's band Wings. It was one of their most successful singles, and the most successful Bond theme.

Paul McCartney &Wings' single "Live and Let Die" 1973
(Courtesy of Apple / EMI / Parlophone)

Paul McCartney & Wings Live and Let Die (Live 1973)

Commissioned specifically for the movie and credited to McCartney and his wife Linda, it reunited the former Beatle with the band's producer, George Martin, who both produced the song and arranged the orchestral break. It has been covered by several bands, with Guns N' Roses' version being the most popular. Both McCartney's and Guns N' Roses' versions were nominated for Grammys. In 2012, McCartney was awarded the Million-Air Award from Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), for over 4 million performances of the song in the US.

The single was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of over one million copies. Although McCartney's previous single, "My Love", had been credited to "Paul McCartney & Wings", the label of the "Live and Let Die" single credited the performing artist simply as "Wings." On the soundtrack album, however, the song was credited to "Paul McCartney & Wings", and was credited as such in the opening titles to the film. "Live and Let Die" was the last Paul McCartney single on Apple Records that was credited only to "Wings".

Wings 1973

McCartney was initially asked to write a song for the movie for someone else to perform. He agreed to write it only if his band Wings could perform it. Even before Tom Mankiewicz had finished writing the screenplay to Live and Let Die, producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli invited Paul McCartney to write the theme song. Originally, producer Harry Saltzman was interested in having Shirley Bassey or Thelma Houston perform it instead of Wings. Martin said that McCartney would only allow the song to be used in the movie if Wings were able to perform the song in the opening credits. Saltzman, who had previously rejected the chance to produce A Hard Day's Night, decided not to make the same mistake twice and agreed.

Roger Moore told the London Times August 1, 2008 about Bond producer Harry Saltzman's reaction when he first heard the demo of this song. He recalled: "Saltzman was unconvinced, and he turned to George Martin and said: 'Ok, but who are we going to get to sing it?' George replied that he had just listened to Paul McCartney, one of the biggest recording stars of all time."

Wings co-founder and original drummer Denny Seiwell said of this song: "Everybody thought it was cool that we were doing something for James Bond. I remember what Paul told us - he said a couple weeks before we did the actual recording, he said they wanted him to write the theme to the next James Bond movie, and they sent him the book to read. And we were up at the house one day and he had just read the book the night before, and he sat down at the piano and said, 'James Bond... James Bond... da-da-dum!', and he started screwing around at the piano. Within 10 minutes, he had that song written. It was awesome, really. Just to watch him get in there and write the song was really something I'll remember the rest of my life."

"Live and Let Die" Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, 1973

"Live and Let Die" was not featured on a Paul McCartney album until the Wings Greatest compilation in 1978, and was included again on 1987's All the Best!. The entire soundtrack was also released in quadrophonic. 

"Live and Let Die" was the first James Bond theme song to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song (garnering McCartney his second Academy Award nomination and Linda her first), but lost to the theme song from The Way We Were.

In Wings' live performances of the song, the instrumental break featured flashpots and a laser light show. McCartney has continued to play the song on his solo tours, often using pyrotechnics when playing outdoor venues. "Live and Let Die" is the only song to appear on all of McCartney's live albums (except for the acoustic-based Unplugged). McCartney performed this on his solo tours in 1989-1990 and 1993. McCartney also  played this at halftime of the 2005 Super Bowl. It was the only non-Beatles song in his set.

Paul McCartney & Wings - "Live and Let Die (live)

Paul McCartney "Live and Let Die" (Super Bowl,2005)

Laser show on Wings live performance

Following the attacks on 11 September 2001, the song was placed on Clear Channel's list of inappropriate song titles.

Line-up / Musicians: 
Paul McCartney - lead vocals, piano
Linda McCartney - backing vocals, keyboards
Denny Laine - backing vocals, bass guitar
Henry McCullough - lead guitar
Denny Seiwell - drums
George Martin - orchestral arrangement

Links / Review:
Wikipedia: Live and Let Die (song)
Songfacts: Live And Let Die by Paul McCartney & Wings
Rolling Stone: The Top 10 James Bond Theme Songs 
BBC: Live and Let Die tops Bond song poll

DEREK AND THE DOMINOS - "Bell Bottom Blues"

Derek and the Dominos
"Bell Bottom Blues"
Single / B-side: "Keep on Growing" /  re-release backed with "Little Wing"
Album: Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
Released: 1971
Writter: Eric Clapton
Label: Atco Records
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"Bell Bottom Blues" is a song written by Eric Clapton and performed by Derek and the Dominos. It deals with unrequited love and appears on the album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. It has often been suggested that Bobby Whitlock may have contributed to the composition of the song. As a single, backed with "Keep on Growing". A re-release backed with "Little Wing". The song also appears on several Eric Clapton compilation album, among others Eric Clapton at His Best (1972) and 20th Century Masters / The Millenium Collection (2004). In many appearance Clapton frequently performed this, one of them is packaged in live album 24 Nights (1991).

Derek and the Dominos single "Bell Bottom Blues" 1971
(Art cover courtesy of Atco / Polydor)

Derek and the Dominos - "Bell Bottom Blues" (single 1971)

"Bell Bottom Blues" was recorded before Duane Allman joined the recording sessions, so Clapton is the only guitarist on the song. Clapton compensates for this by playing multiple guitar parts, including a sensitive, George Harrison-style guitar solo and chime-likeharmonics.

Bell-bottoms are a style of trousers that were popular at the time. According to Clapton, the song was written for Pattie Boyd after she requested him to get her a pair of bell bottom blue jeans from the United States. Clapton wrote the song for her, along with many others on the album such as "I Looked Away" and "Layla". The lyrics describe a lovers' quarrel. 

Eric Clapton wrote the music for the one and only Derek and the Dominos album while still completely obsessed with Pattie Boyd. Bell Bottom Blues" was the first song he finished for the project. "Pattie asked me to get her some pairs of these jeans we used to call Landlubbers," Clapton wrote in his memoir. "Which were hipsters with two little slip pockets at the front. She had asked for flared rather than straight bottoms." That simple request led to one of the all-time great unrequited love songs in rock history, and Clapton's anguish is painfully clear in every note of this song. 

Derek and the Dominos - "Bell Bottom Blues" (album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, 1970)

The band was in France when the inspiration for this song hit. Says Whitlock: "Eric met this girl, she was like a Persian princess or something, and she wore bell bottoms. She was all hung up on him - he gave her a slide that Duane (Allman) had given him and he wrapped it in leather and she wore it around her neck. She didn't speak a word of English and they had to date through an interpreter. That relationship did not last but a week. He started the song over there, then when we got back to England, we finished it up in his TV room in Heartwood Edge."

Author Jan Reid praised Clapton's singing on the song, noting that his phrasing manages to suggest that despite the pain he is feeling, the woman's antics remind him of the "joy of just being alive." Bill Janovitz of Allmusic wrote: "... it his vocal performance that is remarkable; not only one of his personal best, but one of the finest in rock & roll...."

Eric Clapton - "Bell Bottom Blues" (Live Video Version, 2007)

Eric Clapton - "Bell Bottom Blues" (Royal Albert Hall, London, 1990)

In a review upon the album's release, Rolling Stone writer Ed Leimacher called "Bell Bottom Blues" (as well as "Have You Ever Loved a Woman") filler. A retrospective of the album in Rolling Stone praised the song as an epic that "feels as if it's going to shatter from the heat of its romantic agony."  In The New Rolling Stone Album Guide, J. D. Considine cites the song as an example of how Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs is "about the transformation of the blues, a process Clapton and his band mates manage through a variety of means", writing that the song "distills the pop-blues approach of Blind Faith and Cream into a memorable chorus and exquisite metaphor".

Derek and the Dominos 1971

Line-up / Musicians:
Eric Clapton - vocals, lead guitar
Bobby Whitlock - Hammond organ, harmony vocals
Jim Gordon - drums, tabla, backwards snare,
Carl Radle - bass guitar, percussion

Links / Review:
Wikipedia: Bell Bottom Blues (Derek and the Dominos song) 
Eric Clapton official site: ericclapton.com
Where's Eric! The Eric Clapton Fan Club Magazine: Eric Clapton Discography/Derek and Dominos
Songfacts: Bell Bottom Blues by Derek & the Dominos
Rolling Stone: Readers' Poll: The 10 Best Eric Clapton Songs

THE DOORS - "Touch Me" - 1968

The Doors
Single /  B-Sides: "Wild Child"
Album: The Soft Parade
Released: December 1968
Writers: Robbie Krieger
Label: Elektra

"Touch Me" is a song by The Doors from their 1968 album The Soft Parade and was released as a single in December 1968. Written by Robby Krieger, it is notable for its extensive usage of brass and string instruments (including a solo by featured saxophonist Curtis Amy) as well as a Christmas Music like sound to accent Jim Morrison's vocals. The song also borrowed the guitar riff from the 1967 Four Season's "C''mon Maryann" and used it on keyboards.

Single "Touch Me" / "Wild Child", 1968 
(The cover art can be obtained from Elektra)

A remixed version with added bass and compression appeared on a 1974 compilation called Heavy Metal released via Warner Bros. 

According to Bruce Botnick's liner notes the song was initially referred to by its various working titles; "I'm Gonna Love You," from a line in the chorus, or "Hit Me," a reference to blackjack. The opening line was originally "C'mon, hit me...I'm not afraid," the line thus reflecting the first person vantage point of a blackjack player. Morrison reportedly changed the lyric out of concern that rowdy crowds at their live shows would mistakenly believe that "hit me" was a challenge to physically assault him.

Jim Morrison and the Nelson Riddle Orchestra 

(the Doors on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, 1968)

The group mimed "Touch Me" on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour along with the single's B-side, "Wild Child". The taping date was December 6, 1968 with air date of December 15. During the performance, Morrison, who was providing a live vocal to a pre-recorded backing track, missed his cue for the lines "C'mon, c'mon", and Krieger could be seen with a black eye. Krieger stated in several interviews given after Morrison's death that Morrison had given him the black eye during a confrontation, inadvertently referencing the song's original title. The group appeared with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, with Curtis Amy miming to the saxophone solo he had provided on the studio recording. Twice during the performance, Manzarek can be seen "conducting" the backing musicians, as if to maintain the illusion--at least to home viewers--that they were playing live.

Line-up / Musicians:
Jim Morrison – lead vocals, maracas, tambourine
Ray Manzarek – piano, Gibson G-101 organ, Harpsichord
Robby Krieger – guitar
John Densmore – drums
With
Curtis Amy – sax solos
Reinol Andino – conga
George Bohanan – trombone solo
Harvey Brooks – bass
Champ Webb – English horn solo
Paul Harris – orchestral arrangements

Links:
- The Doors official website: thedoors.com - Touch Me
- Wikipedia: Touch Me (The Doors song)