| "Little Wing" | |
|---|---|
| Song bythe Jimi Hendrix Experience | |
| from the albumAxis: Bold as Love | |
| Released |
|
| Recorded | October 25 & 28, 1967[a] |
| Studio | Olympic, London |
| Genre | |
| Length | 2:24[4] |
| Label | |
| Songwriter | Jimi Hendrix |
| Producer | Chas Chandler |
"Little Wing" is a song written byJimi Hendrix and recorded bythe Jimi Hendrix Experience in 1967. It is a slow temporhythm and blues-inspired ballad featuring Hendrix's vocal and guitar with recording studio effects accompanied by bass, drums, andglockenspiel. Lyrically, it is one of several of his songs that reference an idealized feminine orguardian angel-like figure. At about two and a half minutes in length, it is one of his most concise and melodically focused pieces.
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 playingCurtis Mayfield-influenced guitar accompaniment. He developed the song while performing in New York City's Greenwich Village prior to his involvement with producerChas Chandler. After being inspired by events at the 1967Monterey Pop Festival, Hendrix completed the song in October 1967, when it was recorded by the Experience during the sessions for their second albumAxis: Bold as Love.
"Little Wing" was released with theAxis 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 albumsHendrix in the West in 1972 andThe 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. In 2004,Rolling Stone magazine included "Little Wing" on its list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" at number 357.[5]
Jimi Hendrix began his career as a rhythm and blues guitarist and performed and recorded with several popular R&B artists, includingthe Isley Brothers,Don Covay, andLittle Richard. He learned from other R&B guitarists, includingCurtis Mayfield, who was known for his understated rhythmic fills and chording.[6][c] Hendrix toured as a support act with Mayfield in 1963. He described the experience: "The best gig was with Curtis Mayfield andthe Impressions. Curtis was areally good guitarist ... I learned a lot in that short time. He probably influenced me more than anyone I'd ever played with up to that time, that sweet sound of his, you know".[9] In 1966, Hendrix recorded a song titled "(My Girl) She's a Fox" with theIcemen, an R&B duo.[d] Hendrix biographerHarry Shapiro has described it as "paced and phrased in the style of Curtis Mayfield, [that] is virtually a blueprint for 'Little Wing'".[11] Later Hendrix producer John McDermott called his contribution to "She's a Fox" (included on the 2010West Coast Seattle Boy: The Jimi Hendrix Anthology) "perhaps the strongest of his pre-Experience career. Hendrix's Curtis Mayfield-influenced guitar styling is the song's strongest attribute".[12]
According to Hendrix, "Little Wing" came from an idea he had originally developed while playing inGreenwich Village, when he was fronting his bandJimmy James and the Blue Flames in the summer of 1966.[13] He later explained that he was further inspired during the Experience's performance at the 1967Monterey Pop Festival:[e]
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 and 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.[15]
In October 1967, recording sessions for the secondExperience album,Axis: Bold as Love, began atOlympic Studios in London. On October 25, after recording the strongly R&B-oriented "Wait Until Tomorrow", the Experience recorded an instrumental version of "Little Wing".[16] It followed the same chord progression as the later master recording, but had a more forceful rock feel.[1][f] After another take in the same vein, Chandler called for a different approach. Recording engineerEddie Kramer explained, "Chas knew right away what was needed. He had Jimi slow the tempo down and try it again".[1] After the basic track was completed, Hendrix and Kramer recorded overdubs on October 28, 1967.[18] For his recordings, Hendrix expended considerable effort to achieve the optimal tone for his guitar tracks.[19] For his rhythm guitar, he had set his pickup selector to a nonstandard position between the neck and middle settings to achieve a "hollow" tone, sometimes mistakenly referred to as "out-of-phase".[20] However, for the lead, Kramer later fed the guitar signal through a makeshiftLeslie speaker, which was normally used for electric organs.[18] By rotating the sound, Leslie speakers producevibrato- andtremolo-like effects, i.e., a pulsing or quivering addition to the sound (Hendrix later popularized the use of theUnivibephase shiftereffects pedal, which can be set to get a roughly similar effect).[21] Next, Hendrix added a straight ("dry, without any effects")glockenspiel to underscore his vocal and guitar.[22] According to Kramer, "Jimi always kept an eye out for odd instruments that would be lying about the studio" and found the glockenspiel in Studio A.[18] Last to be recorded was his vocal, which was treated with sound processing techniques to give it an airy sound. These have been variously described asartificial double tracking (ADT),phasing,Pultec filterequalization, and processing with a Leslie speaker.[22][23]
Regarding the song's arrangement, Shapiro commented, "Musically, 'Little Wing' is structured to lay a gossamer touch across the whole song from the arresting opening statement and the haunting glockenspiel to the use of a Leslie speaker cabinet for the guitar".[15] According toAllMusic's Matthew Greenwald, it is based on a "gentle, soulful chord progression [which] guides the melody and is an accurate mirror of the title and lyrics".[24] The song has been notated in4
4 with one bar in2
4 at a slow rock (70–72beats per minute) tempo and is built on achord progression without abridge section:[25][g]
| Em | G | Am | Em | Bm–B♭ | Am–C | G–Fadd9 | 2 4 C | 4 4 D | rest |
After an instrumental introduction, there are two verses, followed by a guitar solo, which has been described as "richly melodic" by biographer Keith Shadwick.[27] Shapiro noted the song's brevity: "The song fades on a magical solo after only two minutes and twenty-five seconds. Even live, 'Little Wing' was hardly any longer – he said what he wanted to say and stopped".[15]
Hendrix's use of guitar chords for the song involves unconventional finger positions and approach to the fretboard.[27] GuitaristFrank Marino explained:
He had the tendency to play with his fingers very flat [on the guitar's fretboard], and he had a very long thumb, so he could come over the top of the neck to play bass notes. That left his fingers in a likely position to do all this chordal-type stuff. Playing with his fingers so flat also got him that double-string effect every time, like in 'Castles Made of Sand' or 'Little Wing". That's an R&B thing.[27]
A reference work byHal Leonard compares it to a pianist's approach, with Hendrix's "thumb fret[ting] the bass notes, functioning in almost the same manner as a keyboardist's left hand, and the fingers of his fretting hand can be likened to a pianist's right hand".[26] Leonard also adds that guitaristAdrian Belew describes the technique as a "lost art".[26]
The name "Little Wing" was first used by Hendrix as a working title for an entirely separate song, later re-titled "Angel" and released as a single posthumously.[28]
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".[29] In different interviews, he acknowledged an American Indian-influence on his songs "I Don't Live Today", "May This Be Love", and "Little Wing".[30] He described "Little Wing" as being "based on a very, very simple Indian style",[15] perhaps referring to someNative American mythologies 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'",[30]
With a circus mind that's running wild
Butterflies and zebras, and moonbeams and fairy tales
That's all she ever thinks about, riding with the wind[31]
Music journalistCharles Shaar Murray likens the figure to a feminine ideal: "Sometimes she is a spirit, sometimes a fantasy, sometimes a woman as solidly, palpably physical as he is".[32] The figure first appears as "Waterfall" in "May This Be Love", where she offers solace and hope, and as "a soulful, lovingsprite" in "Little Wing".[32] However, other writers have suggested that the figure is similar to the guardian angel associated with Christianity,[2] which is clearly what she represents in Hendrix's later song "Angel".[h] Hendrix's brother,Leon, interpreted "Little Wing" (and "Angel") as a general tribute: "He wrote it for his girlfriends, our aunties, and especially for our mama, who looked over us from high above in the afterlife".[34][i] Hendrix's hand-written lyrics for "Angel" (with the note, "Finished January 14, 1968") use the title "My Angel Catherina (Return of Little Wing)", which suggests that he saw a connection between the two songs.[16] At the time, Hendrix had just finished a short tour of Scandinavia, where he had performed "Little Wing" in concert for the first time.[36] At some point he responded to a question, "Love? I know a girl, Katerina, in Sweden."[37] In a later 1969 interview, Hendrix described his relationships while he was on tour: "So like 'Little Wing' is like one of these beautiful girls that come around sometimes ... She was a very sweet girl that came around that gave me her whole life and more if I wanted it. And me with my crazy ass couldn't get it together, so I'm off here and there and off over there."[38]
"Little Wing", along with the rest of the tracks forAxis: Bold as Love, was mixed October 31, 1967. Because some of the masters had been lost, stereo remixes were prepared on November 1 (it is not clear if "Little Wing" was among those remixed).[39] On November 2, 1967, a monaural mix was prepared, makingAxis the last Hendrix album specifically mixed in mono (subsequent mono albums were electronically "folded" from the stereo mixes).[39] When recording engineer Kramer was preparing the album for a new mono reissue, he commented on the differences: "Perhaps the most unique track was 'Little Wing'. Jimi's guitar and vocals were much drier while the drum reverb was much more present. It was experimentation ... the entire [mono] album was all mixed in one day!"[40]
The album was issued byTrack Records in the UK on December 1, 1967,[41] andReprise Records on January 15, 1968, in the US.[36][j] The song appears on subsequent reissues ofAxis: Bold as Love, which continues to be a best selling Hendrix album.[k] It has also been included on numerous Hendrix compilation albums, includingThe Essential Jimi Hendrix,Stone Free,The Ultimate Experience,Experience Hendrix: The Best of Jimi Hendrix, andVoodoo Child: The Jimi Hendrix Collection.[43][24] In 2022, theBritish Phonographic Industry awarded "Little Wing" its Silver certification, signifying sales of over 200,000.[44] However, it is unknown whether this applies to the original recording or a subsequent live version.
"Little Wing" was one of only two songs fromAxis that the Experience regularly performed in concert, the other being "Spanish Castle Magic".[45] Except for the glockenspiel and the song's ending, their live performances generally follow the studio arrangement.[15] Since theAxis recording ends on a fade, Hendrix needed to devise a different live ending.[46] Early recordings show a progression to an open chord, while later ones have more elaborate single-string guitar improvisation with effects, such aswah-wah, before a chiming final chord.[46] For one 1968 performance in San Francisco, Hendrix's guitar signal was routed through a Leslie speaker.[21] Writer Dave Rubin commented, "the real Leslie played outdoors [out of the studio] like this really gives a very delicate, gentle swirl to the chords and helps the chordal embellishments in the intro".[21] This version was also rendered at a slower (56 bpm) tempo,[21] making it somewhat longer (4:01).[47]
On January 8, 1968, the Experience debuted the song at theKonserthuset in Stockholm, Sweden, recordings of which have appeared onbootleg albums.[48] Other live versions appear onStages: Paris 68 (L'Olympia Paris, January 29, 1968),The Jimi Hendrix Concerts (Winterland Ballroom San Francisco, October 12, 1968), andHendrix in the West (Royal Albert Hall[l] London, February 24, 1969).[50] These recordings have been reissued onLive in Paris & Ottawa 1968,Winterland, andThe Jimi Hendrix Experience box set. The 1969 Royal Albert Hall live recording was included on singles issued in the UK and US in 1972.[50] A March 17, 1968, instrumental jam with Hendrix and members of thePaul Butterfield Blues Band andthe Electric Flag is built around "Little Wing".[51] Hendrix recorded it for his personal use around the time he began recording tracks forElectric Ladyland at theRecord Plant studio in New York. This lowfidelity tape from theCafe au Go Go, along with others from the Generation Club andthe Scene in New York, was later stolen from his apartment and has appeared on several bootleg albums over the years.[52]
English guitarist and singerEric Clapton has performed "Little Wing" throughout his career, beginning in 1970 withDerek and the Dominos.[53] He explained in an interview:
I found that his lyricism when he was writing ballads, like "Wind Cries Mary" or "Little Wing," was so different, in a way, that it was powerfully attractive to me. [It was] much more structured than some of his other things, and more melodic, too. ["Little Wing"] stands up so well that anyone could do it.[54]
Derek and the Dominos performed the song in London at theMarquee Club ten days after their live debut at theLyceum on June 14, 1970.[55] WithDuane Allman on second guitar, the group recorded "Little Wing" atCriteria Studios in Miami, during the sessions forLayla and Other Assorted Love Songs shortly before Hendrix's death on September 18, 1970.[56] Clapton biographer Michael Schumacher notes, "Clapton had intended it as a tribute to a living legend, but now that Hendrix was gone, the song hit on a different emotional level."[57]
Atco Records issued the song on a single as the B-side to "Bell Bottom Blues"[53] and included it onLayla and Other Assorted Love Songs.[56] Critics' comments on Derek and the Dominos' rendition range from "exquisitely arranged" (Rolling Stone)[58] to "bombastic"(Legends of Rock Guitar).[59] The group performed the song during their tour and a recording from theFillmore East in New York City on October 23, 1970, was released on theLive at the Fillmore album in 1994.
After the break up of Derek and the Dominos, Clapton continued to perform "Little Wing".[53] Live recordings appear onEric Clapton's Rainbow Concert (1973),Crossroads 2: Live in the Seventies (1974, released 1996),Eric Clapton & Friends in Concert (DVD withSheryl Crow 1999),Live in San Diego (2007, released 2016),Live from Madison Square Garden (withSteve Winwood 2008, released 2009).[60]
Texas blues musicianStevie Ray Vaughan recorded an instrumental version in 1984, although it was not released until 1991, when it appeared on Vaughan's posthumously released albumThe Sky Is Crying. Vaughan's interpretation of the song won the 1993Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.[61]
Rolling Stone has included "Little Wing" on its list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" at number 357 in 2004,[62] number 366 when the list was updated in 2010,[63] and 188 in 2021 and 2024.[64] Several musicians have recorded the song in a variety of styles.
Gil Evans included ajazz arrangement in his band's repertoire throughout his career.[65] A version was later included on an expanded reissue ofThe Gil Evans Orchestra Plays the Music of Jimi Hendrix (1974). In 1987, Evans provided an arrangement and backing for a recording by English musicianSting for his second solo album...Nothing Like the Sun. Murray describes Evans' involvement as "almost his last creative act" (Evans died less than a year later).[65]
Irishpop rock bandthe Corrs recorded the song for their 1997 albumTalk on Corners. AnAllMusic album review noted "[t]he best and most spirited Celtic cut is 'Little Wing,' deliciously resting on the contributions of the dropping-byChieftains."[66]
Footnotes
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)357. Little Wing, Jimi Hendrix
366 – The Jimi Hendrix Experience, 'Little Wing'
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