Anti-Climacus

Really, I should hate this song. Jimi Hendrix is excellent at writing understated songs ("Little Wing," "Up From the Skies," "May This Be Love," etc), and terrible at writing anything of extended length. This is why "Voodoo Child" is an incoherent mess and "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)" is one of his most-loved songs.

But seriously: rock and roll with classical music pretensions (it's in rondo form!); long running time; vague science-fiction post-apocalyptic lyrical theme; over-use of panning effects (it's a little disorienting with headphones); weird ambient sections in which nothing happens; something like three guitar solos. It ought to be a trainwreck.

Yet it's always been my favorite Jimi Hendrix song, for as long as I've had one. It was mighty incongruous in 8th grade when I only listened to punk from the 70s and Electric Ladyland. This is the song that led me down the dark path to jazz fusion and free jazz and ambient and probably bears responsibility for the multi-year obsession with the Krautrock group Can. But not everything worthwhile happens on the musical equivalent of the back porch.