Jimi Hendrix: 5 Great 1967 live versions of Purple Haze (videos)

Jimi Hendrix 1967
Jimi Hendrix 1967

Purple haze, all in my brain
Lately things they don’t seem the same
Actin’ funny, but I don’t know why
Excuse me while I kiss the sky

It is one of the unforgettable opening riffs in rock: a ferocious, stomping guitar march, scarred with fuzz and built around the dissonant “devil’s interval” of the tritone. And it launched not one but two revolutions: late-Sixties psychedelia and the unprecedented genius of Jimi Hendrix. For the first time, Hendrix, bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell got to show off their acrobatic onstage chemistry on record — and they somehow managed to condense it to an under-three-minute blaze of overdubbed guitar sorcery.
~rollingstone.com

Such a rock ‘n’ roll masterpiece needs to be enjoyed often & loud.

Music is a safe king of high
~Jimi Hendrix

Wikipedia

Single by The Jimi Hendrix Experience
B-side “51st Anniversary”
Released March 17, 1967 (UK)
Format Seven-inch 45 rpm record
Recorded De Lane Lea Studios, London, January 11, 1967,
Olympic Studios, London, February 3–8, 1967
Genre Psychedelic rock
Length 2:46
Label Track (no. 604 001)
Writer(s) Jimi Hendrix
Producer(s) Chas Chandler

jimi hendrix purple haze

Purple Haze” is a song written by Jimi Hendrix and released as the second record single by the Jimi Hendrix Experience on March 17, 1967. As a record chart hit in several countries and the opening number on the Experience’s debut American album, it was many people’s first exposure to Hendrix’s psychedelic rock sound.

The song features his inventive guitar playing, which uses the signature Hendrix chord and a mix of blues and Eastern modalities, shaped by novel sound processing techniques. Because of ambiguities in the lyrics, listeners often interpret the song as referring to a psychedelic experience, although Hendrix described it as a love song.

“Purple Haze” is perhaps Hendrix’s best-known song and appears on many Hendrix compilation albums. The song featured regularly in concerts and each of Hendrix’s group configurations issued live recordings. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and is included on lists of the greatest guitar songs, including at number two by Rolling Stone and number one by Q magazine.

original version

Purple haze, all around
Don’t know if I’m comin’ up or down
Am I happy or in misery?
What ever it is, that girl put a spell on me

Help me
Help me
Oh, no, no

The Marquee Club – March 2, 1967 – GREAT version

Gaumont Theatre, Ipswich, England – Apr 1, 1967

Ooo, ahhh
Ooo, ahhh
Ooo, ahhh
Ooo, ahhh, yeah!

Purple haze all in my eyes
Don’t know if it’s day or night
You got me blowin’, blowin’ my mind
Is it tomorrow, or just the end of time?

Offenbach, Stadthalle – May 18, 1967

Stockholm,Sweden – May 24,1967

Ooo
Help me
Ahh, yea-yeah, purple haze
Oh, no, oh
Oh, help me
Tell me, tell me, purple haze
I can’t go on like this
Purple haze
You’re makin’ me blow my mind
Purple haze, n-no, nooo
Purple haze

Blackpool, UK – November 25, 1967

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-Egil