1983... (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)

1968 song by the Jimi Hendrix Experience August 2026 1983... (A Merman I Should Turn to Be) the Jimi Hendrix Experience Electric Ladyland 1968 10 16 (US) October 25, 1968 (UK) March 13–June 10, 1968 Record Plant, New York City Psychedelic rockCharlesworth Chris https://books.google.com/books?id=TGreXZIq1RgC&pg=PT33 25 Albums that Rocked the World 2009 Omnibus Press 978-0-85712-044-1 48 jazz fusionMoskowitz David V. https://books.google.com/books?id=dzUlWk-RvfgC&pg=PA48 The Words and Music of Jimi Hendrix 2010 ABC-CLIO 978-0-313-37593-4 48 psychedelic jazz 13:25From Electric Ladyland liner notes (1968 international Polydor edition) Jimi Hendrix Reprise (US) Track (UK) Jimi Hendrix "1983... (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)" is a song recorded in 1968 for the third studio album, Electric Ladyland, by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Written and produced by Jimi Hendrix, the song features flute player Chris Wood of the band Traffic, and at over 13 minutes in duration is the second longest track released by the group (after "Voodoo Chile"). Recording and production Hendrix first recorded a private demo of "1983... (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)" in a New York apartment in March 1968,Geldeart Rodham 2007 125 as a solo performance with guitar and vocals. In 1995, the demo recording was included on the companion disc of a book titled Voodoo Child: The Illustrated Legend of Jimi Hendrix. In 2018, it was included on the additional disc of the 50th Anniversary Edition of Electric Ladyland. https://variety.com/2018/music/news/jimi-hendrix-electric-ladyland-box-set-1202940012/ September 13, 2018 Variety Staff Jimi Hendrix Experience's Electric Ladyland Gets 50th Anniversary Box Set Treatment Variety.com September 26, 2019 The first Experience recording of the song took place at New York's Sound Center Studios on March 13, 1968.Geldeart Rodham 2007 50 On April 22, 1968, the backing track was completed at the Record Plant, with Hendrix, Mitch Mitchell on drums, and Chris Wood, then a member of Traffic, on flute.Geldeart Rodham 2007 51 Additional overdubs were added on May 8, and the song was completed and mixed at the Record Plant on June 10.Geldeart Rodham 2007 54, 56 For the released version, Hendrix plays all guitars, vocals, percussion and bass (Noel Redding was absent from the track), with Mitchell on drums and Wood on flute.Shapiro Glebbeek 1995 531 The track features backwards guitar and flute parts, the sounds of seagulls produced by manipulating microphone feedback, and a flexatone that makes a ringing bell sound. By this time, Chas Chandler had stepped down as Hendrix's producer. Instead, production was led by Hendrix, while the engineering was handled by Eddie Kramer and studio owner Gary Kellgren. Composition and lyrics In the book Jimi Hendrix: Electric Gypsy, Hendrix commentators Harry Shapiro and Caesar Glebbeek propose that "1983..." is "a song of firsts and lasts", describing the music as "Jimi's first piece of major orchestration, using the full capacities of the Record Plant's studio facilities", and contrasting the lyrical content as "the last of Jimi's surreal apocalypses; despairing of mankind, he finally returns to the sea, the source of all life".Shapiro Glebbeek 1995 317 They also note that the song contains references to "Jimi's two favourite metaphors", sand and water, and that some of the phrases within the lyrics connote his "belief in the power of positive thinking apparent in his music, lyrics and interviews through all the rest of his life".Shapiro Glebbeek 1995 318 In an interview with Jane De Mendelssohn for International Times in 1969, Hendrix explained the significance of the track to be "something to keep your mind off what's happening... but not necessarily completely hiding away from it like some people do".Shapiro Glebbeek 1995 347 Reception In reviews of Electric Ladyland, "1983... (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)" has often been identified as a highlight of the album. Writing for the BBC in 2007, critic Chris Jones described the track as a "stoned classic", praising the way it "[utilises] washes of backwards tape, jazzy timeshifts and far out fish-friendly lyrics to tell the tale of future apocalypse and return to the oceans".https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/h2f9 Review of Jimi Hendrix – Electric Ladyland Jones Chris BBC April 24, 2007 October 16, 2012 English music magazine Uncut writer John Robinson characterized the track as a "brain-frying psychedelic epic",http://www.uncut.co.uk/the-jimi-hendrix-experience/the-jimi-hendrix-experience-electric-ladyland-review Jimi Hendrix Experience: Electric Ladyland – Review Robinson John Uncut October 16, 2012 https://archive.today/20130505114004/http://www.uncut.co.uk/the-jimi-hendrix-experience/the-jimi-hendrix-experience-electric-ladyland-review 2013-05-05 dead while Cub Koda of website AllMusic labels the track simply as "spacy".https://www.allmusic.com/album/electric-ladyland-mw0000527658 Jimi Hendrix Experience: Electric Ladyland – Review Koda Cub AllMusic October 16, 2012 American music magazine Rolling Stone treated the song slightly differently: Dedicating a paragraph of his 1968 review of Electric Ladyland to the track, writer Tony Glover summarised the lyrical content of the song before noting that "With tape loops, melancholy guitar and the flute of Chris Wood ... Hendrix structures a beautiful undersea mood – only to destroy it with some heavy-handed guitar. My first reaction was, why did he have to do that? Then I thought that he created a beautiful thing, but lost faith [in] it, and so destroyed it before anybody else could – in several ways, a bummer." Electric Ladyland – Review Glover Tony Rolling Stone November 9, 1968 https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/electric-ladyland-19681109 October 16, 2012 Personnel Musical personnel Jimi Hendrix – guitars, vocals, bass, percussion, production, mixing Mitch Mitchell – drums Chris Wood – flute Additional personnel Eddie Kramer – engineering, mixing Gary Kellgren – engineering Notes References Geldeart Gary Rodham Steve 2007 Jimi Hendrix: The Studio Log – 2008 edition Jimpress Warrington, Cheshire Shapiro Harry Glebbeek Caesar 1995 Jimi Hendrix: Electric Gypsy St. Martin's Press New York City, New York Category:Songs about oceans and seas Category:Songs about fictional male characters Category:1968 songs Category:The Jimi Hendrix Experience songs Category:Songs written by Jimi Hendrix Category:Song recordings produced by Jimi Hendrix Category:Works about mermen Category:Music about merfolk