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The main lyrics in this song ("Let me stand next to your fire") came from a time when the band had just finished a gig in the cold around Christmas, 1966. They went to bass player Noel Redding's mother's house. When they got there, Jimi asked Margaret, the mother, to "Let me stand next to your fire" so he could warm up. They had a German Shepherd that way laying by the fire, which inspired the line, "Move over Rover, and let Jimi take over." (thanks, Jayson - Atlanta, GA)
Hendrix is legendary for theatrics like setting his guitar on fire and playing it with his teeth (not at the same time). This was the song he was playing when he set it on fire for the first time. At a concert in London in 1967, he doused his guitar in lighter fluid and burned it. The emcee at the show burned his hand trying to put it out.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers often covered this song in their early years. They decided to play it again at Woodstock '99 in Rome, New York and were accused of deliberately encouraging the rioters. While they played it, the crowd tore the place up and set fires (yes, Rome was burning). (thanks, Tom - Trowbridge, England)
Gary Moore covered this on his 1999 release A Different Beat. (thanks, Mike - Victoria, B.C., Canada)
In the movie Wayne's World, Wayne falls in love with the bassist from an all-girl band (Tia Carrere) after seeing them cover this song at Gasworks. (thanks, Jamin King - Puyallup, WA)
Comments (40):
Dean Pitchford
Dean wrote the screenplay and lyrics to all the songs in
Footloose. His other hits include "Fame" and "All The Man That I Need."
Corey Hart
The Canadian superstar talks about his sudden rise to fame, and tells the stories behind his hits "Sunglasses At Night," "Boy In The Box" and "Never Surrender."
Charlie Benante of Anthrax
The drummer for Anthrax is also a key songwriter. He explains how the group puts their songs together and tells the stories behind some of their classics.
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The game starts when the first team (usually the East or South team) calls out, "Red rover, red rover, send [name of player on opposite team] right over." The person called must run to the other line and break the chain (formed by the linking of hands). If the runner fails to break the chain, he joins the team that had called "Red rover." However, if the player successfully breaks the chain, he may take his pick of either of the two "links" broken by his successful jaunt. This broken link, along with the runner, joins the runner's team. The other team then calls out "Red rover" for a player on the first team, and so on. The game ends when one long super-chain is formed.
The distance between the two lines is subject to variation, but tends to fall within about 9 metres (30 feet).
A slight variation of the game is known as "Green Rover". In this version, the person calls the people over by a color, and if they are wearing that color they need to run across. In conventional Red Rover, participants are called over one by one.
The fireplace story is so wrong. Please, just read any of Jimi's interviews on the song. There is a BBC interview where he talks about the night she inspired the song.