Starting At Zero (13 page)
Authors: Jimi Hendrix
Sometimes you see things in different ways than other people, so then you write it in a song. It could represent anything. Like some feelings make you think of different colors.
Jealousy is purple. I’m purple with rage or purple with anger.
And green is envy. This is like explaining your different emotions in color
towards this certain girl who has all the colors in the world. In other words, you don’t think you have to part with these emotions but you’re willing to try.
I get a lot of my inspiration for songs from girls. These girls are like one girl to me. Like
The Wind Cries Mary
is representing more than one person. And she’s the one that really
comes around.
Little Wing
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 off over there.
You can’t hold on to relationships when living a raving life like me. I’m an adventurer traveling around the world looking for excitement. It’s the same thing as the olden days
when the war happens and you ride into town for the drinks and parties and so forth. You play your gig, and these beautiful girls come around and really entertain you. You do actually fall in love
with them because that’s the only love you can have.
When I was on the block starving it was the girls that used to help me. One of them even bought a guitar for me. Ever since then I say to myself, “Well, any girl I meet now I’m going
to try to show her my appreciation!” Seriously though, it’s just nature. You shouldn’t be envious, because if you’re not used to it, it could kill you really!
Sometimes it’s a problem to be nice to all of them. If they invite you to their place and you say “no thanks,” then they think you are big-timing them. And half of them ask you
such silly questions, like when was the last time you saw John Lennon and can you get the Box Tops’ autographs. There’s also a big challenge thing with some girls. They’ll say to
their friends, boasting, “Oh, I’ve been with him before,” and they’ll say, “I wonder what it’s like to sleep with John Walker?”
Some people call them “groupies.” We call them “band aids.” They are just innocent little girls trying to do their thing. But the establishment is so uptight about sex
that all it wants to do is make the groupies look bad. So the insecure man puts labels on them – suck your favorite star. They don’t talk about the ones who bring flowers and then go
home to their mothers.
I
’M THE BIGGEST SQUARE OF ALL when it comes to approaching someone I really dig. You don’t go by appearance ’cause, boy, we know
the story. Some of them are the worst people in the world. There are other things that girls have to offer besides their looks. The first thing I look for when meeting a girl is to see if
she’s human. It’s so nice meeting girls not wearing masks, who dare to be kind.
I get sad about all the girls I see walking on the street when I’m in a taxicab, because I’ll never meet them, and perhaps one of them is the right girl for me. I can fall in love,
really in love, with one girl, and I can also fall in love with someone else, but in a different way at the same time. I guess I confuse myself sometimes.
M
AY THIS BE LOVE OR JUST CONFUSION
,
BORN OUT OF FRUSTRATION, WRACKED
FEELINGS OF NOT BEING ABLE TO
MAKE TRUE PHYSICAL LOVE TO
THE UNIVERSAL GYPSY QUEEN
,
TRUE, FREE EXPRESSED MUSIC
.
D
ARLING GUITAR
PLEASE REST
.
A M E N
The guitar and music come first for me. Only then do I think about women. With music there’s not time for anything else. I’ve no intention of getting married. I really couldn’t
imagine it. Marriage and other artificial forms that have been passed down generation to generation say it’s bad to make love to a girl or whore or cross to the other side when you’ve
been going berserk for years. Those are nothing but artificial rules. Those bits of paper called marriage certificates are only for people who feel insecure. You can give yourself to somebody, and
you can take yourself away from somebody if you want to. But in a split second because, don’t forget, it’s your life.
Freedom is the key word to this whole thing. People don’t understand that because their brains are too complex. Why do you think that every single human being on this earth is so different
from every other one? There’s a purpose behind this. Everybody has their own ways. They can do exactly what they want. When it’s time for you to die, you’ve got to do it all by
yourself. Nobody’s going to help you.
Sweet words don’t help nobody.
LETTER TO A FAN:
Regardless of what people think about you, just so long as you have your freedom of mind and freedom of speech and thought, don’t let nobody turn you on your
own thoughts and dreams. I am very interested in meeting you. I believe I would really love to talk to you for a very long time. You seem very different from other girls who may write to
us. I believe your mind is really and truly together. BUT!! – don’t call yourself stupid anymore in LIFE. This is your life. You must die by yourself, so for heaven’s sake
live for yourself and no one else.
Love you forever,
Jimi Hendrix
Are you glad to be back in London?
There’s no place like London. Basically, I’m a country cat. I go crazy in the city, but then I don’t consider London a city. It’s more
relaxing.
Why do you carry two dimes in your shoe?
That was all I had when I landed in this country.
What do you think of the British police?
I think the police are very groovy over here. They don’t bother you very much. As a matter of fact I was walking down the street in London completely out of my
mind, completely and utterly, and a police wagon came and they said, “Hi, Jimi, how are you doing?” and I replied, “Is it tomorrow – or just the end of
time?”
Do you take LSD?
Do I look like I do?
Why not?
Because it’s naked. I need oxygen.
How does the British hippie scene compare to that in the States?
The movement is not as organized over here. They’ve just got weird-looking cats. It’s a small thing, not like it is in the States.
Do the teachings of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi appeal to you?
I don’t really believe that his transcendental meditation is much more than day dreaming. If you really believe in yourself, you can think it out on your own. You
don’t need someone else.
What do you do in your spare time?
If I’m not working, I rarely leave the flat. Mostly I sit at home here playing records. I don’t like having to dress up and go to social parties much, but
you just have to do it. I always have the feeling that I will arrive at one of these things in all my own gear, and they might not let me in. I like to leave all that to the glamour people
as far as possible, the Engelberts and Tom Joneses. They are the ones who sing beautifully enough to have their voices in TV commercials. Me, I’m just trying to get my music
together.
What are your ambitions now?
Oh, that changes a hundred times a day. You never know what shape clouds are going to be before you see them. I have only one life to live. I might not be here tomorrow,
so I’m doing what I’m doing now. Because human beings die too easily, you know.
Do you like kids?
Yeah, I like kids. I guess I like them any age.
What about old people?
Some old people are a gas. In fact, a lot of older people are far groovier than some of my own generation. You’re only as old as you think you are. As long as your
mind can still function you’re still young.
Can you think of yourself being eighty?
I don’t think I’ll be around when I’m eighty. There’s other things to do besides sitting around waiting for eighty to come along, so I
don’t think about that too much.
Has making money changed you?
Well, with the Experience I really don’t know how much we earn today. We just get enough money every week for what we need. I don’t give a damn so long as I
have enough to eat and to play what I want to play.
Is there anything you can’t do?
I can’t express myself in conversation. I can’t explain myself like this or that. So when we’re on stage, that’s all there is in the world.
That’s my whole life.
How far can you go with what you’re playing?
I don’t know. You can go on until you bore yourself to death, I guess. I’m happy to be able to play like I feel now. I play it by ear, man! I know the
audience is changeable, but I’m not afraid of tomorrow.
Where do your songs come from?
From the people, from the traffic, from everything out there. The whole world influences me. Everybody and everything is music. You don’t plan songwriting. You
don’t get into a certain groove to write a song. You can get inspiration for a song any time, because music is just what you feel. The ideas come very easily. It’s just getting
the song together to where it’s acceptable. I stay in bed most of the time or go to the park or somewhere. I write some of my best songs in bed, just laying there. I was laying there
thinking of one when you came in. I dream a lot, and I put a lot of my dreams down as songs.
Do you dream in color?
Oh, definitely. The closest to a black and white dream I ever had was in pastel shades, you know? One time it was in pastel shades, and it was maroon, very light maroon,
and then this big gold cliff out of the middle of nowhere. It was great! That was the closest I ever got to black and white.
What’s your New Year’s resolution?
To keep the axis turning so that love follows music as the night the day.
{IN JANUARY 1968, THE EXPERIENCE TOURED SWEDEN AND DENMARK.}
W
E HAVE NEVER TRIED TO PLAY ANYTHING from
Axis
onstage before, so the Swedish public will be the first to experience that event. I’ve
always liked Sweden, and I like to perform here because I feel the Swedish audience understands the purpose of our music. They’ve got so many different ways all over the world of showing
appreciation, but Sweden is the one that shows appreciation more than anybody. They show it by being completely silent while you’re playing – completely. I mean, there are a few rockers
back there running around falling out of balconies. But the average person is completely quiet, and they wait until every last thing is over and then they clap.
Sounds like the walls caving in.
{JIMI WAS ARRESTED IN GOTHENBURG FOR SMASHING UP A HOTEL ROOM.}
We were going home when we met some friends who started a party. I drank quite a bit of schnapps. Then I don’t remember anything. I think I woke up at the police station. I cut up my hand
a little, and there were also a couple of things that got broken. It probably will be a while before my right hand is completely OK. It hurts like crazy, but the show must go on.
The newspapers made the thing seem bigger than it was. Do they always have to exaggerate? Everybody drinks some alcohol sometimes. It’s only when famous people do that newspapers make
headlines out of it. Nothing like that has ever happened to me before. I’m convinced somebody put something in my drinks. I’m sure about that, because the next day I didn’t get a
hangover, just a strange feeling I’ve never experienced before. From now on I’d better stick to tea and milk! Do you think there will be a lot of shit from this? I really feel bad about
it. It’ll be better next time, though. We’re human beings too, just like anybody else, aren’t we?
Since I made it to the top, everything has happened so fast. This pop business is so much harder than people think. It’s nerve-racking and mind-bending. The people who dig ditches for a
living don’t know how lucky they are. We are constantly under pressure, and the workday is often twenty-four hours. Every show takes its pound of flesh. I can hardly get anything to eat.
We’re too much on the go. You see, even my skin is suffering from the lack of eating right. One often gets depressed. It’s only natural that we need a stimulant sometimes.
After Stockholm I’ll take it easy for a while
.
I need to slow down.
M
OST OF ALL, I’D LIKE TO FORGET EVERYTHING BEFORE 1968. We call it the end of the beginning. It is now that I plan to start making real music.
I want to create new sounds, try to transmit my dreams to the audience. Music must always continue to expand further out, further away. Kids listen with open minds, but I don’t want to give
them the same things all the time. It gets to be a bad scene coming out saying, “Now we’ll play this song, and now we’ll play that one.” I want to keep doing fresh things,
different songs, different things visually.