The song features his inventive guitar playing, which uses the signature Hendrix chord and a mix of blues and Eastern modalities, shaped by novel sound processing techniques.

By January 5, 1967, the Jimi Hendrix Experience's first single, "Hey Joe", backed with "Stone Free", had peaked at number six on the UK record chart.

[8] "Hey Joe" was not a Hendrix composition – it was written by Billy Roberts and recorded by several groups prior to the Experience.

"[9] The group recorded several demos of original material at studios in London, including "Can You See Me", "Foxy Lady", "Third Stone from the Sun", "Red House", and "Remember".

'"[11] Chandler claimed that after some more urging, Hendrix wrote the rest of "Purple Haze" in the dressing room of a London club during the afternoon of December 26, 1966, before a gig.

[13] The Experience began recording "Purple Haze" on January 11, 1967, at De Lane Lea Studios in London.

[17] At Olympic, they were assigned Eddie Kramer, who, as a sound engineer, played an important role in subsequent Hendrix recordings.

[17] Unlike the conventional techniques used by the Experience to record previous songs, Chandler decided to try out new effects and sounds for "Purple Haze".

[11] He enhanced background sounds (some contributed by Redding) by playing them back through headphones, which were moved around the recording microphone, creating "a weird echo".

[19] Chandler also used sped-up guitar parts recorded at half-speed (which also raises the pitch) and panning to create novel effects.

Biographer Harry Shapiro points out that "Purple Haze" is most likely "a pot-pourri of ideas" which Hendrix developed over time.

[14] Hendrix read Night of Light, a 1966 novel by Philip José Farmer, that expanded on a short story published in 1957.

[2] In the story set on a distant planet, sunspots produce a "purplish haze" which has a disorienting effect on the inhabitants.

[21][b] An early handwritten draft by Hendrix, titled "Purple Haze – Jesus Saves", uses dream-like imagery where the sense of direction and time is distorted.

[2]So far, only a crumpled single sheet of ruled yellow tablet paper is on exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and does not include any of the lyrics used in the Experience song.

[24] Chandler admitted that in the early stages, he helped Hendrix shape the songs and lyrics to radio single length.

[14] After its release, Hendrix offered another explanation: "He [the song's protagonist] likes this girl so much, that he doesn't know what [state] he's in, ya know.

"[13] This draws on an experience Hendrix had while still in New York, where he felt that a girl was attempting to use voodoo to trap him and he became ill.[5] Shapiro believes that this is reflected in most of the first two verses:[5] Purple haze all around, don't know if I'm coming up or down Am I happy or in misery, whatever it is that girl put a spell on me Many fans and the press interpret the song as referring to a psychedelic experience due to lines such as "purple haze all in my brain" and "'scuse me while I kiss the sky".

[2] However, Hendrix and those closest to him never discussed any connection between psychedelic drugs and the song, although Shapiro admits that, at the time, to do so would have been "professional suicide".

[26] Beginning with its dissonant opening and heavy use of distortion, Hendrix's techniques "all contributed to the dirty, raw, metallic, [and] angular sounds" heard in the song, according to Shapiro.

[31] Redding follows the chord changes mostly by playing the root with occasional passing notes,[34] while Mitchell heightens the tension with drum flourishes that accentuate Hendrix's vocal and guitar.

"[35] Biographer David Henderson describes Hendrix's guitar tone on the track as "at the razor edge of distort".

[4] Paul McCartney, who was an early Hendrix supporter, gave the record an enthusiastic pre-release review in Melody Maker.

[45] During March 1967, several performances of "Purple Haze" were filmed to promote the song and used for television programs, such as Beat-Club, Dee Time, and Top of the Pops.

[26] An alternative version recorded at the same time, but with different vocal and guitar overdubs, is the first song on The Jimi Hendrix Experience 2000 box set.

[59] It also appeared at number 17 on the magazine's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list in 2004, with the comment that "it launched not one but two revolutions: late-Sixties psychedelia and the unprecedented genius of Jimi Hendrix".