Hendrix classic helped define the era

The Jimi Hendrix Experience

Polydor

The sky looms large in the lyrical imagery of Jimi Hendrix, a former paratrooper fascinated by science fiction who for some time worked with a group of musicians he called "the Sky Church".

Up From the Skies, Angel, Little Wing and Night Bird Flying are just a few of the original compositions which find the guitarist looking upwards for inspiration, as with his second single, Purple Haze, which contains one of rock's most frequently misheard and misquoted lines. Instead of "'scuse me while I kiss the sky", he is thought by many to have sung "'scuse me while I kiss this guy". Hendrix was something of a joker, and in concert he is said to have occasionally sung the words that way - pointing as he did so towards drummer Mitch Mitchell or bassist Noel Redding, the two musicians with whom he made Are You Experienced, one of the most explosive rock albums of the 1960s.

Purple Haze was already a hit single in Britain and, as was the practice at the time, was left off The Jimi Hendrix Experience's debut album, which opened instead with the lascivious Foxy Lady.

For the US release different tracks were selected, which meant the American record buyer got three British hit singles - Purple Haze, which opened that version of the LP, Hey Joe, and The Wind Cries Mary - but lost the great slow blues number Red House, along with two less essential tracks, Remember and Can You See Me? Hendrix protested, but Americans - so the Seattle-born musician was told - weren't interested in the blues.