Sunday, February 12, 2023

The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Axis: Bold as Love (1967)

I'm sure the title only made sense after one man's Trip, namely Jimi Hendrix's, and indeed that surreal name is an apt advertisement for the record. But amid the tracks' psychedelia is an appreciation of life, love, and fellowship.

Witness: one YouTube commentator on "Little Wing" said she played it at her husband's funeral. Even without that for context, I think I would have teared up at the song.

Life is short, that is what makes it bittersweet, Jimi knows it. It's haunting when on "If 6 was 9," he says "I'm the one who's going to have to die when it's time for me to die." The inadvertent art of it is that through the echo and fade of his words, you can hear him chewing gum.

After the Exile, the Hebrew expectation of a full life was three-score years and ten. Average life expectancy for those in even advanced societies is under 80. May we appreciate the time.

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