#paul and jimi

[torchlitinthedesert]

I fell down a Beatles-Jimi Hendrix rabbit hole (Jimi and his manager living in Ringo’s flat! Linda being Jimi’s favourite photographer!) and I’m charmed by what a cheerleader Paul was for Jimi, right from the beginning.

He first saw him on 25 October 1966, when the Jimi Hendrix Experience played the Scotch of St James club. Chas Chandler, Jimi’s manager, was trying to get him noticed in London. So he set up this private showcase at a very hip club, and invited agent Dick Katz to come along. Chas remembered:

Paul McCartney was also sitting at our table and leant over to say he hoped Dick had Jimi signed up as he would be a giant.”

A month later, Experience played the Bag o’Nails club. Word had got around: as rock musician Terry Reid remembered, “We were all hanging out in Carnaby Street, at the Bag O’Nails - Keith, Mick Jagger, Brian (Jones) comes skipping through, like, all happy about something. Paul McCartney walks in. Jeff Beck walks in. Jimmy Page. I thought, ‘What’s this? A bloody convention or something?’”

The performance was overwhelming - for the band as well as the audience. Noel Redding, the Jimi Hendrix Experience bass player, remembered: “Afterwards, in the dressing room, Lennon walked in, which freaked me out. He was saying, ‘Fuckin’ grand.’ He loved it, but I was like 20 years old, John Lennon had walked into our dressing room and said ‘That’s grand, lads.’ And then McCartney walked in and that freaked me out even more.”

John was a fan, too.Mike Nesmith of The Monkees remembers: “I was having dinner in London with John Lennon, Eric Clapton and a group of people. In the middle of dinner John produced this portable tape player and requested that the restaurant turn down the piped-in music. He then proceeded to play ‘Hey Joe’ on his recorder saying, ‘You guys gotta check this out.’ Everyone was reverential…” (The Monkees became big Hendrix fans, and later booked him as a support act on tour. It didn’t go well.)

On 25 February 1967, Paul reviewed Jimi for the Melody Maker’s “Blind Date” column, where pop stars reviewed singles without being told who the artist was:

The Jimi Hendrix Experience went on to play the Saville Theatre, run by Brian Epstein, who also hosted a first night party for them. (Noel Redding remembers Paul rushing to open the door for them.)

Paul’s own favourite Jimi Hendrix story is at the Saville: Jimi playing the title track of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band:

It’s still obviously a shining memory for me, because I admired him so much anyway, he was so accomplished. To think that that album had meant so much to him as to actually do it by the Sunday night, three days after the release. He must have been so into it, because normally it might take a day for rehearsal and then you might wonder whether you’d put it in, but he just opened with it. It’s a pretty major compliment in anyone’s book. I put that down as one of the great honours of my career.

More generally, they were hanging out and having a good time. Roger Mayer, Jimi’s guitar engineer, recalls Paul regularly dropping in to see Jimi at his flat or in the studio. And journalist Sharon Lawrence remembers:

the delight in Jimi’s voice as he recounted how he’d admired a custom-made jacket McCartney was wearing and that the Beatle had insisted Jimi should have it. ‘It even had his initials inside!’

But Jimi and the Experience still had to crack the US. As Jimi put it:

Paul McCartney was the big bad Beatle, the beautiful cat who got us the gig at the Monterey Pop Festival. That was our start in America.

Chas Chandler went into more detail:

You gotta remember how huge the Beatles were in them days. They were just a colossus. And when the Mamas and the Papas and John Phillips and them come up with the Monterey thing, they asked Paul to be part of the board that was set up in front and would guarantee the Monterey festival. Paul just basically said, ‘I’ll join the board at Monterey if the Jimi Hendrix Experience are on the show’. That was his condition on joining it.

Around the same time, Paul invited Jimi to take part in another project. Jimi explained:

We were supposed to be on The Magical Mystery Tour. The Beatles used to come and see us sometimes, like at certain concerts like the Saville Theatre, and Paul McCartney told me about this little scene he had. They were planning to do a film and he wanted us to be in this film. We weren’t known then when McCartney asked us. He was trying to help us, but we got a nice break before they got the movie together.

This means Paul nearly got the dream combo of a band, a bus, and Jimi Hendrix. He would have been so happy.

Paul and Jimi did work together once, on Mike McCartney’s McGough & McGear album (1968). Jimi was also friends with Linda, his favourite photographer (he wanted her pictures on the cover of Electric Ladyland, and was angry when the record company substituted the cover with all the naked ladies.)

Jimi and Paul at the launch party for Mary Hopkin’s album Postcard, 13 February 1969. This seems to be the only photograph of Jimi and Paul together - which is strange, given that they were friends, and that Linda loved both of them. Maybe Paul is sitting on an unreleased archive of pictures?

And there’s one more near miss, this time with Jimi asking Paul. A telegram sent on 21 October 1969 invites Paul to join Jimi and jazz trumpeter Miles Davis on a new recording. Peter Brown, curses be upon him, sent a reply that Paul was on holiday - he and Linda were in Scotland, retreating from Paul Is Dead and the breakup - and Brown seems not to have passed the message on. Maybe it wouldn’t have happened (Miles withdrew from the session with Jimi - allegedly over fees). Still, even if the message didn’t get through, it’s very sweet to think of Hendrix offering Paul a helping hand when he was at his lowest.

[relaxedstyles]

Jimi Hendrix performs "Sgt Pepper" w/ The Beatles in attendance.. 3 days after the albums release.

[spectralish]

6 fanarts thingy and probably artists your dad listens to edition

[thecodeisveroncia]

They should be saved from ME because I’m on my way now

[loveinhereyes-flowersinherhair]

some other classic rock related memorabilia at hard rock nyc!! ♡

you can only imagine how insane i went in here LOL

[princess-lvcifer]

Me every time I remember all the talented rockstars that died too young:

[jedivoodoochile]

The only photograph of Jimi Hendrix and Paul McCartney together (1967)

[gaylordtinklefairy]

"We know Major Tom's a junkie"

[relaxedstyles]

Jimi Hendrix performs "Sgt Pepper" w/ The Beatles in attendance.. 3 days after the albums release.

[billie-blue-bossa-nova]

If laying on the floor and listening to old music paid I’d be so rich this week

[thecodeisveroncia]

It’s been so long since I printed photos out to put in my journal to update it on and it felt like it took 2 hours to cut it all out. Help jimmys face looks so huge there

[chazchaschad]

messing around with doodles

[lu-in-the-sky-w-diamonds]

I'm With The Band: Confessions of a Groupie (1987) by Pamela Des Barres

[ometochtli2rabbit]

MAYA:

13.0.12.11.15

b'olon[9] MEN [eagle]|TZI'KIN[bird]- oxlajun[13] ZOTZ

galactic tone: patience/ cyclic periodicity

sun sign: eagle or quetzal/black/west

ascend to a larger perspective

NAHUA:

chicunahui[9] - CUAUHTLI [eagle]

Quetzalcoatl | Xipe Totec

totolin[turkey] | warriors of Huitzilpochtli

lord of the night: Tepeyollotl

trecena[9]: Tepeyollotl

x: mahtlactliomome [12] - teotleco

"The Future of Freedom", Toyen, 1946

"Freedom" Peter Max, 1980.

Day Cuauhtli (Eagle, known as Men in Maya) is governed by Xipe Totec, God of Seedtime, as its provider of tonalli (Shadow Soul) life energy. Cuauhtli is a day of fighting for freedom and equality. It is a day of the Warriors of Huitzilopochtli, those who sacrifice their lives willingly to keep the present age, the Fifth Sol, moving. It is a good day for action, a bad day for reflection. A good day for invoking the gods, a bad day for ignoring them. [www.azteccalendar.com]

As today is a good day to fight for it, especially with what is going on in this world, these are songs about FREEDOM:

George Michael: Freedom! '90

Wham!: Freedom

Jack White: Freedom at 21

Chicano Batman: Freedom Is Free

dead prez: We Want Freedom

Tears for Fears: Everybody Wants to Rule the World

Michael McDonald: Sweet Freedom

Ke$ha: FREEDOM

Bread: Mother Freedom

Bobby Darin: Simple Song of Freedom

Jurassic 5: Freedom

Taylor Swift: Back to December

Bon Jovi: Bells of Freedom

Lenny Kravitz: Road to Freedom

David Coverdale: The Last Note of Freedom

Swans: The Sound of Freedom

Katy Perry: Freedom (Spirit)

ABBA: Ode to Freedom

Immortal Technique: Freedom of Speech

Dido: No Freedom

Alice Cooper: Freedom

Genesis: The Knife

Above the Law: Freedom of Speech

Beyonce: Freedom

Paris: Freedom

Merle Haggard: Here Comes the Freedom Train

A Perfect Circle: Freedom of Choice

The Staple Singers: Freedom Highway

DEVO: Freedom of Choice

Nicki Minaj: Freedom

Richie Havens: Freedom

Da Lench Mob: Freedom Got an AK

Tracy Chapman: Freedom Now

Jim Morrison: Freedom Exists

Lauryn Hill: Freedom Time

Bob Marley: Talkin' Blues

U2: Freedom for My People

Kris Kristofferson: Burden of Freedom

Elton John: Philadelphia Freedom & The One

Bob Dylan: Chimes of Freedom

Rage Against the Machine: Freedom

Ween: Freedom of 76

Fleetwood Mac: Freedom

Culture: Sweet Freedom

The Isley Brothers: Freedom

Metallica: Eye of the Beholder

Charles Mingus: Freedom

Pink Floyd: A Great Day for Freedom

Paul McCartney: Freedom

Madonna: Freedom

Depeche Mode: Freestate

Aretha Franklin: Think

Elliott Smith: My New Freedom

Joan Baez: Let Us Break Bread Together/Oh, Freedom

Jimi Hendrix: Freedom

[ricfreak]

Meanwhile...... in Guitar Heaven 🏝😇🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🤘😎

Imagine all of these legends jamming together, playing each other's music.