Musical Analysis - Jimi Hendrix
Introduction
The Wind Cries Mary was recorded by The Jimi Hendrix Experience in the United Kingdom. It appeared on their debut release Are You Experienced in 1967. Written by Jimi Hendrix, the song is based around an altercation between himself and his long time lover Kathy Mary Etchingham.
The sixties was a defining decade for experimental music, fueled by the drugs musicians were taking at the time. Rock n Roll was a worldwide phenomenon and Jimi Hendrix became one of the main pioneers of the rock/psychedelic movement.
In the sixties the hippie culture was predominant, with the long haired youth of white middle class society experimenting with psychedelic drugs and trying to change the world with peace, love, and music.
As Cross asserts, London was the capital of the entire cultural world in 1966. Hendrix’s arrival came during the height of a sixties explosion of fashion, photography, film, art, theatre, and music (2005, p.157)
Form
The Wind Cries Mary is 64 bars in length and has been composed using a traditional formula of song writing. It follows a structure of Intro, Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Solo, Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Outro.
Fig.1A shows the guitar riff in the intro to the song which is four bars in length. The Intro is then followed by Verse 1 which is six bars, then the first Chorus being five bars in length.
Fig.1A
[pic]
After the first Chorus there is Verse 2 consisting of 6 bars followed by a Chorus of 5 bars (Fig. 1B) and then the guitar solo which has an 11 bar duration.
Fig. 1B
[pic]
Verse 3 follows the solo which is 6 bars long, leading into a Chorus of 5 bars, then Verse 4 which is six bars in length. The song finishes with another Chorus of 5 bars and then an Outro of 8 bars, which is shown in Fig.1C below.
Fig.1C
[pic]
Melodic Devices
Jimi’s singing in The Wind Cries Mary is typical of his style of singing a ballad. The phrasing is syncopated, and the way that the melody line
The Wind Cries Mary was recorded by The Jimi Hendrix Experience in the United Kingdom. It appeared on their debut release Are You Experienced in 1967. Written by Jimi Hendrix, the song is based around an altercation between himself and his long time lover Kathy Mary Etchingham.
The sixties was a defining decade for experimental music, fueled by the drugs musicians were taking at the time. Rock n Roll was a worldwide phenomenon and Jimi Hendrix became one of the main pioneers of the rock/psychedelic movement.
In the sixties the hippie culture was predominant, with the long haired youth of white middle class society experimenting with psychedelic drugs and trying to change the world with peace, love, and music.
As Cross asserts, London was the capital of the entire cultural world in 1966. Hendrix’s arrival came during the height of a sixties explosion of fashion, photography, film, art, theatre, and music (2005, p.157)
Form
The Wind Cries Mary is 64 bars in length and has been composed using a traditional formula of song writing. It follows a structure of Intro, Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Solo, Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Outro.
Fig.1A shows the guitar riff in the intro to the song which is four bars in length. The Intro is then followed by Verse 1 which is six bars, then the first Chorus being five bars in length.
Fig.1A
[pic]
After the first Chorus there is Verse 2 consisting of 6 bars followed by a Chorus of 5 bars (Fig. 1B) and then the guitar solo which has an 11 bar duration.
Fig. 1B
[pic]
Verse 3 follows the solo which is 6 bars long, leading into a Chorus of 5 bars, then Verse 4 which is six bars in length. The song finishes with another Chorus of 5 bars and then an Outro of 8 bars, which is shown in Fig.1C below.
Fig.1C
[pic]
Melodic Devices
Jimi’s singing in The Wind Cries Mary is typical of his style of singing a ballad. The phrasing is syncopated, and the way that the melody line
Bibliography: Aledort, A. 1996. Jimi Hendrix Signature Licks. Hal Leonard, Milwaukee, WI. Cassity, B. & Levaren, M. 2005. The ‘60s For Dummies. Wiley Publishing Inc, Hoboken, NJ. Cross, Charles R. 2005. Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix. Hyperion, New York, N.Y. Glebbeek, C. & Shapiro, H. 1990. Jimi Hendrix: Electric Gypsy. St. Martin’s Press, New York, N.Y. Waksman, S. 1999. Instruments of Desire: The Electric Guitar and the Shaping of Musical Experience. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. London, England.