The solo heavy 15 minute prequel to “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)”, Voodoo Chile is one of Jimi’s most unhinged performances.

The absence of the ’d' in the title has been also used in songs like “Highway Chile”. The track itself derives from a well known Hendrix song, “Catfish Blues”. Each verse pays tribute to a different Muddy Waters track, these being “Rollin' Stone”, “Still a Fool”, and “Rollin' and Tumblin'”

The lyricism deployed here is both braggadocios and very eery, meant to describe a strangely magical tone, alluding to the song name. Music critics, songwriters, and instrumentalists have all given their own thoughts on the track, many professionals such as Charles Shaar Murray saying:

(the song) is virtually a chronological guided tour of blues styles

The strange, blues infused instrumentals and vocal may allude to Hendrix' love for science fiction. As a child, Jimi’s visions had a lot to do with what he described in his music, especially throughout Electric Ladyland.

These experiences not only influenced Jimi’s childhood drawings of spaceships and intergalactic battle scenes, but also informed a great deal of his songwriting later in life. Futuristic thought and imagination flows freely in songs like “3rd Stone from the Sun” and “Purple Haze,” and there is vivid apocalyptic imagery in “1983.”

“Voodoo Chile” peaked at no. 1 in the UK and is one of the group’s best known songs to date.

A live version can be found here, including the solos: