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Photo: Bob Baker/Redferns
In the early 1960s, Jimi Hendrix spent his formative years on the Chitlin' Circuit (a network of clubs and venues where black artists performed), working as a backing musician for a number of soul and blues stars – essentially learning and honing his craft.
It's no surprise that, having decided he'd had enough of standing in the shadows and starting performing with his own band, he began performing mostly cover versions of the same blues and soul songs he'd honed his craft on, with the addition of a few modern pop and rock classics.
Here are 10 of his best moments where he took the original source material, infused it with the spark that made him unique, and reimagined the songs in his own image – often almost as if they were written specifically for him.
1. All Along The Watchtower (Electric Ladyland – 1968)
The highest mark of respect any artist can receive for a cover version of a song is for the original artist to use the new version for future performances, which is what happened to Bob Dylan when he heard Hendrix's reimagining of the song. «Watchtower» .
As is often the case with Dylan cover versions, the original version often becomes, in essence, the author's demo recording (see almost all of the Byrds' covers of Dylan songs).
He took some of my little songs that no one paid attention to and took them to the far reaches of the stratosphere.
Bob Dylan on Jimi Hendrix
While Dylan's original version was rather pedestrian and inarticulate, Hendrix took everything necessary and created a track that would take pride of place on any Jimi greatest hits compilation.
Dylan himself generously acknowledged Jimi's contribution to this composition: "He took some of my little-known songs that no one paid attention to and elevated them to unprecedented heights, turning them into classics." Not only is this the finest cover of any Dylan song, but for many Hendrix fans, it is one of the highlights of his career.
Jimi creates a unique atmosphere with his layered guitars, including subtle wah-wah effects, Wes Montgomery-style octave passages, and virtuoso slide guitar work, which together create a strange, otherworldly feeling that perfectly ties in with the song's opening line: "There's got to be some way out of here..."«
2. Hey Joe (Hits – 1966)
Song «Hey Joe» has received countless different interpretations in numerous cover versions, but as before, Hendrix's version represents the definitive version of the dark lyrical story of Billy Roberts' murder. Ignoring the temptation to speed up the tempo, as in The Leaves' hit version, Hendrix replaces his frenetic garage style with depth and power.
Jimi released this song as his debut single, achieving initial worldwide success and eventually reaching number six on the UK pop charts. As with all of Hendrix's hit singles, the solos here are crisp, concise, and memorable, creating parts as essential to the song as the lyrics and melody. Undoubtedly, manager Chas Chandler played a key role in maintaining the band's strict focus in the studio.
Jimi had already performed this song, along with several others on this list, when he was a regular at the Wha Cafe in Greenwich Village. It was the first song future manager Chandler saw Hendrix perform in 1966; he went to hear him on the recommendation of Linda Keith, Keith Richards' girlfriend.
It was after that performance that night that Chandler invited Hendrix to return to the UK with him, with the intention, as the old saying goes, of making him a star.
3. Wild Thing (Live At Monterey – 1967)
This song could easily have been written for Hendrix—the original version by The Troggs certainly has very little in the way of extravagance. Essentially a joke song in its original incarnation, it topped the American charts in 1966. As if to underscore the absurdity, the solo in The Troggs' version, performed on an obscure ocarina, practically sounds like a parody of the title. Extravagant? Yeah, right.
What is undeniably striking, however, is Hendrix's guitar sound – it reaches its apogee when he plays a simple three-chord intro, plunging into a whole universe of hidden meaning.
Many of the "wild rock musician" cliches originate from Jimi Hendrix's performance of this song in the film. «Monterey Pop» with its fiery guitar finale.
However, this isn't the best version. Jimi usually preceded the intro with some pretty heavy manipulation of the Stratocaster's tremolo arm. The downside of this approach, however, is its disastrous effect on the guitar's tuning.
Jimi often tried to correct this during the song's development, but it's clear that some problems still remain in the version recorded in Monterey. Paradoxically, this slightly jarring clash of intervals actually enhances the unusual nature of Jimi's interpretation.
In fact, one of the best video performances of this song can be seen in a 1967 recording from the Blackpool Opera House in England, where the guitar tuning problem barely affects Jimi's playing.
4. Killing Floor (Live At Monterey & BBC Sessions 1967)
Rumor has it that after Eric Clapton witnessed Jimi Hendrix perform as a guest musician with Cream in 1966, completely reimagining the original version of "Howlin' Wolf," he was so astonished by what Jimi had done that he had to leave the venue. Clapton said it made him rethink everything he did.
Chas Chandler recalled, "Clapton was standing there, and suddenly his hands dropped the guitar. He staggered and walked off the stage." Clapton himself recalled the event: "Of course, Jimi played it exactly as it should have been played, and he completely amazed me.".
However, Clapton never held a grudge; they remained good friends until the end of Jimi's life, and Clapton even named a version Killing Floor from the BBC with his favorite Hendrix song.
Clapton stood motionless, his hands dropping abruptly from his guitar. He staggered off the stage.
Chas Chandler
The incredibly fast tempo at which Jimi performs this song transforms the original's calm—though undeniably menacing—rhythm into a hypersonic adrenaline rush. The speed and virtuosity with which Hendrix accentuates the rhythmic parts truly create the impression of two different guitarists.
As magnificent as Hubert Sumlin's work on the original was, Hendrix always had a way of finding an even deeper, more unimaginable dimension in every song he covered.
5. Like A Rolling Stone (Live At Monterey – 1967)
Another Dylan interpretation, another relic of the Café Wha days. Bob's original, recorded after he had fully embraced the electro-rock approach that so sharply divided his fans, remains one of Dylan's most beloved songs.
In this version, Hendrix didn't completely rewrite the rules or shatter established notions, but he brought a restrained, laconic atmosphere to the song that wasn't present in Dylan's own version. Where Dylan sounds embittered—few can interpret lyrics as ironically as Bob—Hendrix conveys the feeling: "It's your loss, not mine." Jimi's performance has an ironic, humorous edge, and, of course, his playing is, as always, impeccable.
The Monterey version retains the iconic moments where he says, "Let me play guitar" in the intro, as well as the casual manner in which he informs the band that he missed a verse at the end.
Fans are evenly divided between this version and the 1968 version of Winterland as to which is better. The argument that Jimi is the better interpreter of Dylan—made in Watchtower magazine - additionally supported by the magazine Rolling Stone and a few more entries further down this list.
6. Rock Me Baby (Live At Monterey – 1967)
Jimi reimagined B.B. King's original so completely that he renamed it and made it his own song, turning it into «Lover Man» . Of course, B.B. never played rock to any significant degree, even in his earliest recordings of the 1950s, so there's nothing like it in King's own extensive catalog.
B.B. King's personal opinion of Hendrix's version is unknown, although in several interviews he said he met Hendrix in Jimi's early years—when he played with Little Richard and the Isley Brothers—and found him quiet and friendly. They did indeed meet near the end of Hendrix's life. King often spoke of his admiration for Jimi's playing.
Hendrix made many attempts to record the song. Lover Man , but none of them were good enough to warrant release. Jimi applied the same formula to Rock Me Baby , that and to Killing Floor , where only the words remain from the original song.
Once again, Jimi skillfully combines rhythm and solo parts, creating the illusion of two guitarists playing simultaneously, and also uses the delta blues technique, sometimes playing the same melodic lines - a technique that he used with great success in his own composition. Voodoo Chile .
7. "The Star-Spangled Banner" (Woodstock Concert, 1969)
As always, Hendrix finds a way to preserve the core essence of the original melody while taking it to a level no other artist could ever imagine.
Often interpreted as a protest against the Vietnam War—though Hendrix himself never said so—this music is more like the soundtrack to Armageddon. A powerful sonic assault assaults the senses, practically driving the listener to sensory overload, as Hendrix recreates the essence of the "Sturm und Drang" of a bloody, brutal war.
There is a common misconception that this was a one-off protest by Hendrix, but he had been performing this composition for quite some time and had also taken a similar approach to the British national anthem and, supposedly, although no audio evidence exists, to the French national anthem.
The concept of a virtuoso guitarist performing the national anthem solo has become quite common at major sporting events, but no other artist has ever dared to take it to the level that Jimi did, to demonstrate a groundbreaking exploration of the extremes that a man of unrivaled skill and imagination could extract from an electric guitar designed to capture the imagination.
8. Loose Ends (1973)
This list marks our third time turning to Dylan's work, and we have a track that Bobster had never performed live until 1992. It was originally included on Dylan's album «John Wesley Harding» , released in 1967 to mixed reviews.
Hendrix recorded his version three years later, though it was never released in his lifetime. It originally appeared on one of the many posthumous compilations created for profit— Loose Ends, and later on a much higher quality collection of unreleased tracks and works in the making, which became South Saturn Delta .
The song is essentially built around the I chord, with brief glimpses of the IV chord, creating an endlessly repeating loop that doesn't offer much harmonic potential, something that apparently didn't bother Hendrix, who sprinkles in some excellent fills and rhythmic motifs throughout the verses and choruses, and delivers another Hendrix masterclass in solo performance.
While Jimi didn't rework the song as radically as other covers, he still managed to adapt it for an electro-rock audience by building on its acoustic sound with a folk-style guitar and harmonica.
9. Come On Part 2 (Electric Ladyland – 1968)
Earl King's original single version was split into two 7-inch sides and titled accordingly. Part I and Part II . Hendrix's cover version combines both sides of the single, although he calls it Part I. (When Stevie Ray Vaughan did a cover, he called his version Part III , clearly paying homage to King and Jimi Hendrix).
Hendrix brings a driving, uplifting soul groove to the song, which he seamlessly blends with the otherwise faithful reproduction of the original, right up until the solo, where Hendrix again adds his signature style in three choruses filled with smooth, dynamic, and fiery fretboard sounds before returning to the main theme, and again in a couple of choruses at the end.
Jimi has performed this song for many years, since its release in 1960, with some of his early bands; like «Hideaway» Freddie King's "The Blues" is a blues rite of passage that guitarists considered the benchmark for their abilities, and one of the staples of the early '60s blues guitar canon.
Earl King re-recorded the song in 1977, inspired by Hendrix's interpretation, to bring the song full circle. According to Experience bassist Noel Redding, it was the last song recorded for Electric Ladyland : "We just played it live and they loved it.".
10. Johnny B. Goode (Hendrix In The West – 1970)
One of the most frequently performed songs of all time and a staple of every bar band's repertoire since Chuck Berry released it back in 1958. The song «Johnny B. Goode» It didn't make this list because of Jimi Hendrix's reimagining of the song, but rather because of his new approach to the typical solo performance.
Typically, the average guitarist is content to pump out a stream of typical Chuck Berry riffs, predictably mixing and matching elements of his style. Hendrix, of course, avoids the obvious and offers his signature uncanny approach, while maintaining a connection to the essence of the song, though at times it seems as if he's about to abandon it all.
Each of the six solo choruses begins with Berry's motif, followed by a series of wildly distorted notes that reach heights they shouldn't. The sound, created by Jimi with a combination of Stratocaster, Marshall, and mind-boggling overbending, renders any subsequent cover versions redundant.
11. Daytripper (BBC Sessions, 1967)
While Hendrix brought a lot to this cover, it doesn't quite fall into the "made it his own" category, so it's added as an additional option for consideration—as a side dish to the ten-song feast mentioned above.
One of many compositions specially recorded for various BBC radio broadcasts in the UK (all included in the indispensable collection BBC Sessions ), Jimi recorded this version a couple of years after The Beatles' original hit the Top 5 on both sides of the Atlantic. It's interesting to compare it to the relaxed, free-flowing atmosphere Hendrix brought to the song, which elevates it to a whole new level.
Jimi Hendrix's version is much more energetic, making the Fab Four's original sound seem a bit subdued by comparison—something that happened every time Hendrix covered the song. In the Beatles' version, nothing much happens in the middle—of course, Hendrix takes the opportunity to deliver a fiery solo, replete with scorching guitar pyrotechnics.
Small return - a few contenders for further consideration.
While the tracks above are the best of the best, there are several other notable examples, including a cover version of another Dylan song, Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window , recorded on BBC Sessions , any attempts to remake Hound Dog — a song Hendrix experimented with several times, his mini-version Sunshine of Your Love Cream and another recording from BBC Sessions , featuring Jimi Hendrix's interpretation of the song Hoochie Coochie Man Muddy Waters.