210
March 5th, 2010
“AND THE WIND CRIES MARY” (JIMI HENDRIX)
A girl at Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills March 4th 2010. Art by Damien Hirst.
Words below by: Safiya Sawney
I first heard of Bob Dylan via Jimi Hendrix’s cover of “Along the Watchtower”. Now Hendrix is the kind of musician who simply makes you write whether you want to or not. Thus, after seeing a BBC documentary on the life of Hendrix and having just moved to New York City and sampled the music offerings of the West Village’s Cafe Wha, Terra Blues, Blue Note and Bitter End I felt compelled to capture in writing the gist of the documentary throwing in researched facts of Hendrix’s life where appropriate as if I were on assignment for Rolling Stone or Mojo or Billboard. I typed furiously and edited meticulously this piece on Hendrix which I officially labeled “Alchemy” inspired from a comment by The Who’s Pete Townsend who labeled Hendrix an alchemist at one point in the documentary for the amazing things he did with his restrung, backwards Fender Stratocaster.
Hendrix first and foremost was a guitar player yet at some point he started to sing and both his vocals and guitar playing earned him a spot on “The Experience”. He sold out shows, wooed Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, impressed the Beatles and opened for Mick and the Stones.
Call me crazy but I’d like to think had it not been for the existence of the man they call Bob Dylan, with his folksy rock and story-telling poetry, a raconteur in his own way, then Hendrix wouldn’t have given us such things as:
Will the wind ever remember
The names it has blown in the past
And with his crutch, it’s old age, and it’s wisdom
It whispers no, this will be the last
And the wind cries Mary
and
I said
Stone free do what i please
Stone free to ride the breeze
Stone free i can’t stay
Got to got to got to get away
Yeah ow!
Tear me loose baby
‘Alchemy’ still sits in a folder on my computer unread, unpublished – mine to keep.
Words by: SAFIYA SAWNEY
