Purple Haze

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“Purple Haze”
A 1988 CD titled after the song
Single by The Jimi Hendrix Experience
B-side	"51st Anniversary" (UK) "The Wind Cries Mary" (U.S.)
Released	March 17, 1967 June 19, 1967
Format	vinyl record (7")
Recorded	11 January 1967
Genre	Psychedelic rock, acid rock, hard Rock
Length	2:50
Label	Track Records, Barclay Records, Polydor, Reprise Records
Writer(s)	Jimi Hendrix
Producer	Chas Chandler
The Jimi Hendrix Experience singles chronology
"Hey Joe" (1966) "Purple Haze" (1967) "The Wind Cries Mary" (1967)

For other meanings of Purple Haze, see Purple Haze (disambiguation).

Purple Haze is a song recorded in 1966 by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, released as a single in both the United Kingdom and the United States. It also appeared on the US release of their 1967 album Are You Experienced. 'Purple Haze' is often cited as one of Jimi Hendrix's greatest songs. For many, it is his signature song.^[1] Purple Haze became Hendrix's second single after his manager Chas Chandler heard him playing the riff backstage and suggested that he write lyrics to go with it.

The single peaked at number three in the UK but only number 65 in the US, where it was released in June 1967, a month after the UK LP "Are You Experienced" and three months after the UK single.^[2] In March 2005, Q magazine ranked "Purple Haze" at number one in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. The Rolling Stone magazine placed the song at No. 17 in their "500 Greatest Songs of All Time."^[3]

[edit] Lyrics

Hendrix said he was inspired by a science fiction novel written by Philip José Farmer that he was reading at the time. (The phrase appearing in Farmer's book is "purplish haze".^[4]) An early song manuscript has the title "Purple Haze, Jesus Saves". Hendrix claimed that the song was about love, explaining that the line "whatever it is, that girl put a spell on me" was the key to the meaning of the lyrics.^{[citation needed]} He also mentioned that the song's colorful imagery came to him in a dream. "I dream a lot and I put a lot of my dreams down as songs" in a 1969 interview.

[edit] Music

The song is known for the Hendrix chord as well as its prominent use of the distinctive tritone interval which appears in the intro. The guitar plays a Bb octave while the bass plays a E octave.^[5] Such a "dissonant" interval was unusual in popular music of the time. The guitar solo is played through an octavia, an effects pedal that increases notes by one octave.^[6] A dubbed guitar part can also be heard using it during the outro.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] "Purple Haze" in other media

This section does not cite any references or sources. (March 2008) Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

"Purple Haze" has been covered by a variety of other artists, from Ozzy Osbourne to the Kronos Quartet to Québécoise artist Carole Laure, and has also been featured in many films, television shows, and commercials. Some of the more notable and/or unusual appropriations of the song over the years include:

• A BBC4 TV trailer on air in the UK until the 24th April 2008, uses a medieval version of Purple Haze by Tam Nightingale and Pascal Bideau with medieval instruments (such as the rebec, the hurdy gurdy, the shawm and the viola da gamba) to introduce the BBC's forthcoming Medieval season.
• A Pepsi TV commercial (first broadcast during the 2004 Super Bowl) shows the young Jimi Hendrix purchasing a soda from a Pepsi vending machine. As he opens the bottle, his eye is drawn to an electric guitar in a nearby pawn shop, and the famous opening riff of the song begins to play. He then glances at a Coca-Cola machine located across the street in front of an accordion store, and the opening riff is played again, this time on an accordion. The commercial subsequently cuts to the caption: "Whew! That was close!"
• The episode of Bill Nye the Science Guy focusing on cells featured a parody of this song (with an accompanying music video) called "Cellular Haze."
• In the film Twilight Zone: The Movie, in the first segment (the Vietnam War scene) it is heard playing on a boom box belonging to a patrol of US soldiers.

• In the film Awakenings, a doctor uses the song to revive a catatonic patient.

• In the film Apocalypse Now, a sailor pops a purple smoke grenade and says, "Purple Haze!".

• Comedian Wayne Federman's traveling routine, in which he plays "Purple Haze" on an electric ukulele.

• In East Carolina University football games, the song is traditionally broadcast over the stadium speakers as the team enters the field.

• The British comedian Bill Bailey once played a version of the song on his show Is It Bill Bailey? in which he mumbled all the lyrics except "sky", claiming that just because he doesn't know the words it does not mean he cannot rock out.

• Comedian Bill Cosby sang alternate lyrics to "Purple Haze" as "Hooray for the Salvation Army Band!" on his 1968 album of the same name.

• Comedian Bill Hicks frequently used the opening riff as he arrived on stage, as seen in his live DVD, Revelations.

• The opening guitar riff is heard in The Spongebob Squarepants Movie video game. The riff is repeated throughout the level that resembled a bar.

• In an episode of Disney's Dinosaurs where Robbie Sinclair discovers a plant with marijuana-like effects, Earl Sinclair's boss, Mr. Richfield, is seen in his psychedelically tricked-out office singing the song.

• Comedian Michael Winslow briefly appears during an LSD induced dream in the film Cheech and Chong's Nice Dreams impersonating Hendrix, and performs a parody of the song.

• Cheech Marin performs a short cover of Purple Haze in the 1987 comedy film Born in East L.A..

• In the Simpsons episode Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?, Homer says, "Now excuse me while I kiss the sky." It is referenced again in the title of the episode 'Scuse Me While I Miss The Sky.

• The song The Fez by The Dead Milkmen parodies this song in the line, "Excuse me while I puke and die."

• The lyrics of the song "How High" by Method Man include the line "Scuse me as I kiss the sky".

• Dion DiMucci of Dion & The Belmonts recorded an acoustic version of the song.

• In one episode of the show "My Wife and Kids", star and comedian Damon Wayans played the riff and solo of "Purple Haze" on a stratocaster.

• On A Prairie Home Companion, an episode of "Guy Noir, Private Eye" features a pair of ducks that quack the intro to this song.

• The second verse of the song "End of the Line" by The Traveling Wilburys includes the line, "Maybe somewhere down the road when somebody plays Purple Haze."

• At Stephen F. Austin State University football games the Students section is known as Purple Haze.

In the online viral marketing campaign 'Will It Blend?', Tom Dickson blends the fretboard of a guitar controller for the video game 'Guitar Hero 3', after the guitar is finished blending, Dickson opens the lid and says "Whooo, Wow, Purple Haze, Don't Breathe This!".

[edit] References

1. ^ Retrotalk.
2. ^ Electric Gypsy, Harry Shapiro & C. Glebeek, p. 526–528.
3. ^ The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Rolling Stone Magazine. Retrieved on 2008-04-21.
4. ^ Photo of purplish haze passage.
5. ^ Rooksby, Rikky (2002). Riffs: How to Create and Play Great Guitar Riffs, p.24. ISBN 0879307102.
6. ^ Guitar Effects Pedals by Roger Mayer - Octavia.

[edit] External links

• Live performance of "Purple Haze" at the Berkeley (Calif.) Community Theatre in 1970.
• All Music Guide review
• Jimi Hendrix (lesson-5) "Purple Haze"