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Jimi Hendrix - The Wind Cries Mary - Live in Stockholm 1967




Jimi wrote this in 1967 for Are You Experienced?; it was inspired by his girlfriend at the time, Kathy Mary Etchingham. He'd gotten into an argument with her about her cooking. She got very angry and started throwing pots and pans and finally stormed out to stay at a friend's home for a day or so. When she came back, Jimi had written "The Wind Cries Mary" for her.


Kathy Mary recalled, "We'd had a row over food. Jimi didn't like lumpy mashed potato. There were thrown plates and I ran off. When I came back the next day, he'd written that song about me. It's incredibly flattering." (Source Q magazine February 2013)


Jimi wrote the song quietly in his apartment and didn't show it to anybody. After recording "Fire" (which was about his sexual relationship with Kathy), he had 20 minutes to spare in the recording studio, so he showed it to the band. They managed to record it in the 20 minute period they had. The band later recorded several more takes of the song, but they all seemed very sterile and they decided to go with the original recording.


A lot of people assumed this was about marijuana, which is also known as "Mary Jane."




Lyrics


After all jacks are in their boxes

And the clowns have all gone to bed

You can hear happiness staggering on down the street

Footprints dressed in red


And the wind whispers Mary


A broom is drearily sweeping

Up the broken pieces of yesterday's life

Somewhere a queen is weeping

Somewhere a king has no wife


And the wind, it cries Mary


The traffic lights they turn a blue tomorrow

And shine their emptiness down on my bed

The tiny island sags downstream

'Cause the life that they lived is dead


And the wind screams Mary


Will the wind ever remember?

The names it has blown in the past

And with its crutch, its old age and its wisdom

It whispers "no, this will be the last"


And the wind cries Mary



Songwriters: Jimi Hendrix

The Wind Cries Mary lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, BMG Rights Management







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