Castles Made of Sand (song)

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Castles Made of Sand is a song from The Jimi Hendrix Experience's second studio album, Axis: Bold As Love, released in 1967 in the UK and 1968 in the U.S. The song is a ballad, with each verse telling a story about occurrences gone wrong somehow, supporting the chorus-line, "...and so castles made of sand fall in the sea, eventually...". It is a metaphor for the notion that nothing is permanent and everything is eventually washed away into the sea, per se.

The meaning of this could also be that people who are brought up unsteadily, are unsteady - or weak-spirited - like castles made of sand, and are destined to fall into the sea (have an unhappy ending) like the examples Hendrix mentions in his song lyrics. But he also appears to mean that such people can change their ways, and find more in life to live for than just themselves.

First verse lyrics:

Down the street you can hear her scream 'You're a disgrace!'
As she slams the door in his drunken face
And now he stands outside
And all the neighbors start to gossip and drool.

He cries, 'Oh girl, you must be mad!
What happened to the sweet love you and me had?'
Against the door he leans and starts a scene
And his tears fall and burn the garden green.

Chorus: And so castles made of sand fall in the sea, eventually.

The song is known for its intricate solo, heard on record as being completely backwards in time (at first recorded properly, then reversed on track) and its lack of a conventional chorus.

The song was covered by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and a live version was featured on the 2003 remastered version of their album Mother's Milk. The studio version was recorded in 1991 and was released as an iTunes exclusive bonus track to Blood Sugar Sex Magik.