Re: [Harp-L] Re: "My Friend" (was: Gus)

["John Schulman" <john.schulman@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Please excuse my digression, but I recently read the excellent Roomful of
Mirrors, about Jimi Hendrix.  I had not realized the abject poverty in which
he had grown up.  The song "Castles Made of Sand" was about a fight his
drunken father had with Jimi's mother.  I don't think he was ready to deal
with all that fame brought, especially in that era when the drugs were
flowing freely.  I also recently read that when he was still an R&B player,
heading Jimmy James and the Blue Flames, guitarist Randy California's
parents would not let him accompany Jimi to London, just before he was
"discovered".  Randy later formed the group Spirit.  I though of this as I
wrote my post about Jeff Carp.  Randy drowned in Hawaii saving his son from
a rip tide.  As another odd side note, a friend of mine, Butterfield's sound
man, later lived in Mitch Mitchell's house in England.  He was working in
Mitch's studio while Mitch had to be out of the country for a year to avoid
excessive taxes.

John

-----Original Message-----
Message: 11
Date: Sun, 30 Dec 2007 08:49:46 -0500
From: Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Re: "My Friend" (was: Gus)
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Message-ID: <4777A1FA.4010109@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

Randy wrote:
<Wow, I  was going to ask if anybody knew "My Friend." A guitar player I 
<was  working  with showed me the chords to that and I play it just 
<about every day on the  guitar to warm up. I vaguely remember it on one 
<of his Experience albums (I  think).  I just wasn't aware of it having 
<a harp on it. What album was this on?

The album is "Cry of Love".

I remember hearing "My Friend" for the first time and thinking that 
these lyrics are utterly bleak and lonely:

"You know that it's not easy
'Specially when your only friend
Walks, talks, looks and acts like you
And you do just the same as him"

Lyrics meant a lot to Hendrix--Dylan was one of his gods--and I think we 
can safely assume that he was telling his audience exactly how he felt. 
  The lyrics to "Castles Made of Sand," which is supposed to be 
Hendrix's favorite of his own compositions, tell a similar story of 
loneliness and disappointment.

A lot of people think wealth and fame solve all your problems.  But if 
you don't get your problems under control before you get to be wealthy 
and famous, wealth and fame can easily make your problems much, much 
worse.  Felt lonely before you were famous?  Imagine how lonely you feel 
once you can't take anyone's interest in you at face value.

In the very interesting documentary "A Film About Jimi Hendrix," Mitch 
Mitchell said emphatically that Hendrix was not in any way a naive man. 
  But it's hard not to conclude that fame didn't deliver everything he 
expected.

Regards, Richard Hunter
hunterharp.com
harmonica blog at http://myspace.com/richardhunterharp
Latest mp3s always at http://broadjam.com/rhunter
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