Little Wing
It is a slower tempo, rhythm and blues-inspired ballad featuring Hendrix's vocal and guitar with recording studio effects accompanied by bass, drums, and glockenspiel.
The origins of "Little Wing" have been traced back to the 1966 recording of "(My Girl) She's a Fox", an R&B song which features Hendrix playing Curtis Mayfield-influenced guitar accompaniment.
After being inspired by events at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, Hendrix completed the song in October 1967, when it was recorded by the Experience during the sessions for their second album Axis: Bold as Love.
[5] Jimi Hendrix began his career as a rhythm and blues guitarist and performed and recorded with several popular R&B artists, including the Isley Brothers, Don Covay, and Little Richard.
[d] Hendrix biographer Harry Shapiro has described it as "paced and phrased in the style of Curtis Mayfield, [that] is virtually a blueprint for 'Little Wing'".
[12] According to Hendrix, "Little Wing" came from an idea he had originally developed while playing in Greenwich Village, when he was fronting his band Jimmy James and the Blue Flames in the summer of 1966.
[15]In October 1967, recording sessions for the second Experience album, Axis: Bold as Love, began at Olympic Studios in London.
These have been variously described as artificial double tracking (ADT), phasing, Pultec filter equalization, and processing with a Leslie speaker.
[15] According to AllMusic's Matthew Greenwald, it is based on a "gentle, soulful chord progression [which] guides the melody and is an accurate mirror of the title and lyrics".
[24] The song has been notated in 44 with one bar in 24 at a slow rock (70–72 beats per minute) tempo and is built on a chord progression without a bridge section:[25][g] After an instrumental introduction, there are two verses, followed by a guitar solo, which has been described as "richly melodic" by biographer Keith Shadwick.
[26] The name "Little Wing" was first used by Hendrix as a working title for an entirely separate song, later re-titled "Angel" and released as a single posthumously.
[30] He described "Little Wing" as being "based on a very, very simple Indian style",[15] perhaps referring to some Native American mythologies in which spirits inhabit nature and animals, including birds.
In one interview, he saw it as self-explanatory: "That's exactly what it's about, like 'She's walking through the clouds'",[30] With a circus mind that's running wild Butterflies and zebras, and moonbeams and fairy tales That's all she ever thinks about, riding with the wind[31] Music journalist Charles Shaar Murray likens the figure to a feminine ideal: "Sometimes she is a spirit, sometimes a fantasy, sometimes a woman as solidly, palpably physical as he is".
[h] Hendrix's brother, Leon, interpreted "Little Wing" (and "Angel") as a general tribute: "He wrote it for his girlfriends, our aunties, and especially for our mama, who looked over us from high above in the afterlife".
[39] When recording engineer Kramer was preparing the album for a new mono reissue, he commented on the differences: "Perhaps the most unique track was 'Little Wing'.
[21] Writer Dave Rubin commented, "the real Leslie played outdoors [out of the studio] like this really gives a very delicate, gentle swirl to the chords and helps the chordal embellishments in the intro".
[50] A March 17, 1968, instrumental jam with Hendrix and members of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and the Electric Flag is built around "Little Wing".
This low fidelity tape from the Cafe au Go Go, along with others from the Generation Club and the Scene in New York, was later stolen from his apartment and has appeared on several bootleg albums over the years.
[53] He explained in an interview: I found that his lyricism when he was writing ballads, like "Wind Cries Mary" or "Little Wing," was so different, in a way, that it was powerfully attractive to me.
[54]Derek and the Dominos performed the song in London at the Marquee Club ten days after their live debut at the Lyceum on June 14, 1970.
[55] With Duane Allman on second guitar, the group recorded "Little Wing" at Criteria Studios in Miami, during the sessions for Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs shortly before Hendrix's death on September 18, 1970.
[56] Critics' comments on Derek and the Dominos' rendition range from "exquisitely arranged" (Rolling Stone)[58] to "bombastic"(Legends of Rock Guitar).
In 1987, Evans provided an arrangement and backing for a recording by English musician Sting for his second solo album ...Nothing Like the Sun.
An AllMusic album review noted "[t]he best and most spirited Celtic cut is 'Little Wing,' deliciously resting on the contributions of the dropping-by Chieftains.
