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Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
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"Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" is the last track on the third and final album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Electric Ladyland. The song is known for its wah-wah-heavy guitar work. It is #101 on Rolling Stone's list of 500 greatest songs of all time.
The song was recorded in 1968, and was re-released as a single after Hendrix's death in 1970. It was the A side on a three-track record, and reached Number 1 in the UK. It was catalogued as "Voodoo Chile" (Track 2095 001), and that is the title which appears on the single and is the title referred to officially.
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Encyclopedia
"Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" is the last track on the third and final album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Electric Ladyland. The song is known for its wah-wah-heavy guitar work. It is #101 on Rolling Stone's list of 500 greatest songs of all time.
The song was recorded in 1968, and was re-released as a single after Hendrix's death in 1970. It was the A side on a three-track record, and reached Number 1 in the UK. It was catalogued as "Voodoo Chile" (Track 2095 001), and that is the title which appears on the single and is the title referred to officially. This obviously confuses it with the 15-minute song on the album Electric Ladyland. The B-side of the single featured two of his previous hits: "Hey Joe" and "All Along the Watchtower".
Origins and recording
The genesis of "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" was essentially in "Voodoo Chile", a long blues jam featuring guests Steve Winwood and Jack Casady. On May 3, 1968 (the day after "Voodoo Chile"'s recording), a crew from ABC filmed the Jimi Hendrix Experience while they played. As Hendrix explained it:
- [S]omeone was filming when we started doing [Voodoo Chile]. We did that about three times because they wanted to film us in the studio, to make us—"Make it look like you're recording, boys"—one of them scenes, you know, so, "OK, let's play this in E, a-one, a-two, a-three," and then we went into "Voodoo Child".
The song became one of Hendrix's staples in live performances and would vary in length from 7 to 15 minutes. Notable live performances were at Woodstock and during his 1969 show at the Albert Hall, originally released on the posthumous Hendrix in the West album, later re-released on the Experienced Box Set. On the Band of Gypsys live album Live at the Fillmore East, Hendrix refers to the song as the Black Panthers' national anthem.
Personnel
Legacy
Hendrix's solo was named the 11th greatest solo of all-time in Guitar World's 100 Greatest Guitar Solos; Guitar Legends Issue #46. Hendrix was listed 6 times, more than any other artist on the list.
In the same issue Joe Satriani listed this as his favorite guitar solo:
"It's just the greatest piece of electric guitar work ever recorded. In fact, the whole song could be considered the holy grail of guitar expression and technique. It is a beacon of humanity."
Kenny Wayne Shepherd:
"This is pretty much the guitar anthem of all time. From that amazing opening riff to the way he breaks it down in the middle and gets funky, the whole thing is incredible. There are things Jimi did on the guitar that humans just can't do. You can try all day, even if you're playing the right notes, it's not the same. It definitely seems as if he was coming from a higher place when he played."
Cover versions
- The song was covered and released by the famous Argentine band Divididos in their record "Acariciando lo Áspero". The song is usually performed in their concerts. The guitar player, Ricardo Mollo, usually does the main riffs of the song with different objects such as trainers, tennis balls, drumsticks, carrots, and his own teeth.
- The song featured as a jam between Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Yngwie Malmsteen at G3: Live in Denver in 2003.
- The intro of the song was sometimes covered by Slash before Guns N' Roses went into "Civil War" during their Use Your Illusion Tour.
- Buddy Guy covered it live.
- The song has also been covered numerous times by Ben Harper during live performances*The song was also covered by Angélique Kidjo for her 1998 album Oremi.
- Another cover was recorded by Yngwie Malmsteen on the album The Genesis and is mentioned as a "jam".
- Mick Mars of Mötley Crüe used parts of the song during his guitar solo during the Carnival of Sins tour in 2006 and during Cruefest in 2008.
- The song was covered by Zakk Wylde's band Pride and Glory also featuring Slash of Guns N' Roses at Gibson Guitar Corporation's 100th Anniversary.
- Gabriel Rios and Jef Neve made an accoustic cover of the song for Rios' album Angelhead/Morehead.
- The song was covered by Kenny Wayne Shepherd and released as a bonus track on his "Blue on Black" single released in 1997 and is a staple in his live setlist.
- Voodoo Child was also covered by Rob Thomas and pedal steel maestro Robert Randolph.
- The track was covered by avid Hendrix fan Stevie Ray Vaughan for his 1984 album Couldn't Stand the Weather in a slightly extended version. Stevie played this song all throughout his career.
- The song appears on The Best of Top of the Pops '70 (Hallmark HALMCD 1037), one of a series of albums recorded by session musicians that contained covers of hits.
- Top of the Poppers covered the song in 1970, with their version later appearing on their The Best of Top of the Pops '70 album.
Other usage
- Hanoi Rocks guitarist Andy McCoy quoted the song as his "last words" when he was sliding down from his balcony in 1999. McCoy said to his wife before falling down to the ground "If I see you no more in this world, I see you in the next world, and don't be late". McCoy, however, survived the fall (though his leg required multiple operations afterwards). "I quoted Hendrix", he told later in the interview in Helsingin Sanomat newspaper's weekly supplement.
- Samples of "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" feature on the KMFDM song "We Must Awaken" from the Money album.
- The song has been featured in the films Payback, In the Name of the Father, Under Siege, Almost Famous, Flashback, and Withnail and I.
- Stevie Ray Vaughan's cover of "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" was also featured in the 2002 film Black Hawk Down.
- The song has been featured in a Nissan Xterra commercial.
- In the late 1990s, WCW professional wrestler Hulk Hogan used the song as his ring entrance theme music. Following his return to the WWE in 2002, Hogan used the theme again for a short while. The song is also featured on WWE WrestleMania XIX.
- The opening to the song also is one of the demos included in Guitar Pro 5.
- Radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge opens and closes his show with the song.
- Muse frontman Matthew Bellamy has played the intro in between songs live.
- Comedian Bill Hicks, on his album Dangerous, presents the lyrics "Well I'm standing next to a mountain, and I knock it down with the edge of my hand" "like an anaconda, flapping in the wind."
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