3 Jimi Hendrix Deep Cuts That Rival His Defining Songs

In only a few years, between 1967 and 1970, Jimi Hendrix forever changed rock history, and with it, the electric guitar. His most iconic recordings include “Purple Haze”, “Hey Joe”, “Little Wing”, “Foxey Lady”, and many others, as you’ll read below. But I want to highlight lesser-known tracks that may rival his defining songs. Perhaps some of them offer glimpses of where the legendary guitarist might have gone.

“Gypsy Eyes”

You won’t find many grooves deeper than this. The Jimi Hendrix Experience released Electric Ladyland in 1968. The trio’s third and final studio LP is best known for “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)”, “Crosstown Traffic”, and an epic reading of Bob Dylan’s “All Along The Watchtower”. But “Gypsy Eyes” shows how crucial bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell were to Hendrix’s groundbreaking rise to fame.

“Little Miss Lover”

Speaking of deep grooves, here’s a banger from Axis: Bold As Love. Engineer Eddie Kramer transforms the mix into a psychedelic experience—pun intended—by panning the track back and forth between speakers. In headphones, Kramer’s mix sounds like a kind of celestial transmission. This is Hendrix as an alien guitar hero. And if Eric Clapton was “God” in the 1960s, then it would take a galactic bluesman to set the world straight. Crank this one.

“Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)”

This may have been what Hendrix imagined his next chapter might sound like. It appears on Rainbow Bridge, which was released posthumously in 1971. The song originates from 1968 demos of a new work called “The New Rising Sun”. The descending chords echo “All Along The Watchtower”. But here, with his guitar swirling in watery effects, Hendrix’s searching notes mimic the new-dawn vibe of the title. It’s the throughline in his music: exploration.

Hey baby, where do you come from?
Well, she looked at me and smiled and looked into space,
And said, “I’m coming from the land of a new rising sun.”

Then I said, “Hey, baby, where you trying to go to?”
Then she says, “I’m gonna spread, spread around peace of mind,
And a whole lotta love to you and you.”

Photo by Walter Iooss Jr./Getty Images