January 21, 2010

"Red House"

red house over yonder
From the Wikipedia entry:

"Red House" is a blues song, written by famed guitarist Jimi Hendrix and originally recorded by The Jimi Hendrix Experience.

There are two different takes of this song: the original album version that appeared on the European issue of the Are You Experienced? album, and the alternative take on which bass player Noel Redding plays electric guitar tuned to resemble a bass guitar. Despite Hendrix's complaints, the song was omitted from the USA compilation release of the album because the recording company reportedly argued that "America does not like blues."

That sounds sort of like when Decca told Brian Epstein "guitar groups are on the way out."


I've heard this a hundred times, and that last line still makes me chuckle. Almost as good as "Move over Rover, and let Jimi take over."

At the Woodstock Music Festival:
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2 comments:

  1. Retro Hound6:24 PM

    I bought the album when I was in Germany and was surprised at how different it was from the American version. Different songs, different order, different cover. Just, you know, different. And I was pretty mad that Red House wasn't on the American version. Of course now it's on about 30 Hendrix CDs.

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  2. Chris9:08 AM

    Yeah, I've never heard that version with Noel Redding playing guitar. The echo on Hendrix's guitar on the "official" version is excellent. It's as if he's standing on top of a mountain.

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