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)
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
"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)
(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...."
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.
Jimi Hendrix – vocals, electric guitar, piano, recorder
Mitch Mitchell – drums, glockenspiel, backing vocals
Noel Redding – backing vocals, bass guitars (four and eight-string)
Rolling Stone: 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time ; Readers Poll The 10 Best Jimi Hendrix Songs
BBC: Little Wing - Music - Record
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar