Know something about this song or lyrics?
Add it to our wiki.
After all jacks are in their boxes
And the clowns have all gone to bed
You can hear happiness staggering on down the street
Footprints dressed in red
And the wind whispers Mary
A broom is drearily sweeping
Up the broken pieces of yesterday's life
Somewhere a queen is weeping
Somewhere a king has no wife
And the wind cries Mary
The traffic lights they turn a blue tomorrow
And shine their emptiness down on my bed
The tiny island sags downstream
Cause the life that they lived is dead
And the wind screams Mary
Will the wind ever remember
The names it has blown in the past
And with its crutch its old age and its wisdom
It whispers "no, this will be the last"
And the wind cries Mary
And the clowns have all gone to bed
You can hear happiness staggering on down the street
Footprints dressed in red
And the wind whispers Mary
A broom is drearily sweeping
Up the broken pieces of yesterday's life
Somewhere a queen is weeping
Somewhere a king has no wife
And the wind cries Mary
The traffic lights they turn a blue tomorrow
And shine their emptiness down on my bed
The tiny island sags downstream
Cause the life that they lived is dead
And the wind screams Mary
Will the wind ever remember
The names it has blown in the past
And with its crutch its old age and its wisdom
It whispers "no, this will be the last"
And the wind cries Mary
Track duration: 03:20
"The Purple Haze" as written by Andrew Cocup, Tom Findlay, Francis Dominic Michael Nicola Rossi, Bob Young, William Hughes, Melvin Adams, Brian Scott, Ron Wilson, Wallace Whigfield Wilson
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
The received opinion is that the lyrics were inspired by an domestic row with his then partner Kathy Etchingham, whose middle name was Mary. While probably true, I have attempted a wider reading of the lyrics, which are in any event left well open to interpretation.
The mood of the song is heavily reflective; features little band accompaniment and attempts towards poignancy. It carries a sexy, bluesy, rock style and hints in the direction of intimacy while containing little fact on Hendrix’s personal life.
“After all the jacks are in their boxes”
Hendrix was bullied while in compulsory military service prior to his career success. The opening line is a reflection on this part of his life which would have been well behind him by the time he wrote this piece. The Jacks denote the cavalier military characters of his past. The term Jack the lad would have been in widespread use, originating from an 1840 song of the same name.
“and the clowns have all gone to bed”
In his more recent memory, Hendrix is referring to entertainment businessmen who may have used charm to manipulate, and with whom he no longer had much involvement on account of his independent success.
“You can hear happiness staggering on down the street”
In this part of his storytelling, he is bringing himself and his audience way apart from the familiar, heady and inebriated merriment associated with youth culture of the day, to subdue the atmosphere and gain attention for the lyrics which follow.
“footsteps dressed in red”
The line refers to his trail of affairs and liaisons, which would have peppered his recent sexual history. In the lyric, each footstep represents an erotic incident. The separation of footsteps depicts the disconnected pattern of sexual adventure which characterised his Casanova lifestyle. Red is usually associated with the erotic and the song carries a typical sensual and fiery Hendrix resonance.
“And the wind whispers Mary”
The diminished influence of religion on 1960s youth culture had, in his view, reached a point where the religious voice had been sent to a whisper.
“A broom is drearily sweeping
up the broken pieces of yesterdays life”
His recent career success had gained Hendrix the opportunity to rebuild his life from its fractured past. However, the slow pace of this reconstitution, caused through drug addiction and lack of domestic stability, had proved to be a matter of personal disappointment.
More widely the world, and in particular London where he would have been living at the time, were emerging from the fall out and devastation of World War II.
“Somewhere a queen is weeping
Somewhere a king has no wife”
Hendrix is expressing feelings about a lack of credibility caused by his philandering. This is coupled with emotions of guilt about the impact of his lifestyle on women. According to the accounts of his female lovers, including Derby born Kathy Etchingham with whom he was in a relationship at the time, he was prone to anger. Hendrix has been recorded as violent towards his sexual partners.
“And the wind, it cries Mary”
“The traffic lights, they turn blue tomorrow”
His prediction about the rise of pornography. The song was written just two years before Andy Warhol’s “Blue Movie.” Blue had been used to refer to risqué content since the 19th century.
“and shine their emptiness down on my bed”
An anticipation about the effect of pornography on the fullness of his future sex life.
“The tiny island sags down stream”
The tiny Island refers to Britain where he was living at the time. Although not tiny, it would have been small in geographical and economic terms to his homeland in the US. The intended slight on Britain’s size was a statement about her diminishment in international importance. Although experiencing a post-war cultural and economic boom in the sixties, the lyric is a reasonably obvious foretelling of the depression of the seventies that took hold of the nation shortly after his death.
“'cause the life that lived is,
is dead”
A reference to the granting of independence to colonial countries, and in particular the decolonization of Africa, that would have been frequent around and in the years leading up to the time the song was put together.
“And the wind screams Mary
Will the wind ever remember
the names it has blow in the past?
And with this crutch, its old age, and its wisdom
it whispers no, this will be the last
And the wind cries Mary”
In summary, the song is personally charged, expressing notions around the fading of romantic ideals of the preceding 1950s, the decline of religion, the passing of a broken age of war and the dawning of a new age of the blue movie.
I hope you like my interpretation of The Wind Cries Mary. It is evidently utter opinion.
The jacks in their boxes and clowns have gone to bed refers to Germany's defeat. The happiness down the street and footsteps dressed in red depicts Russia, they're communist (red) and no longer are at war (happiness) The wind was a little harder to figure out, but I believe the wind is the United States of America. We whisper "Mary" religious beliefs possibly? Anti-communist beliefs? The broom drearily sweeping up the broken pieces of yesterdays life could be Germany cleaning up the economic and emotional tragedies caused by war. With the Jews and the heavy reparations and all. The queen and king part gets me, I'm not quite sure how to fit it into my theory. The tiny island is obviously Japan though, when we defeat them. And America, being the wind, will we ever remember all those who died? We promise that this will be the last war? Of course I'm not positive this is the meaning, but hey, why not? Maybe Jimi wasn't singing about a lost love. Whatever the meaning, I absolutely love Jimi Hendrix. His poetic expertise was baffling, as was his amazing guitar skill. Rest in peace, you musical mastermind.
and besides that I definitely believe this is his best song, none of the others really come close.
"After all the jacks are in their boxes
and the clowns have all gone to bed"
>The jacks (pieces of the children's game, jacks) are put away because the players grew tired of playing. The game of jacks is the game people play in life to be the "best" or the "winner" (such as war), regardless of who loses in their wake. The players are the clowns, though, because they, themselves, eventually lose and just go to bed (or even die).
"You can hear happiness staggering on down the street
footprints dressed in red"
>So when the game ends, the people whose voices are heard are those left in the wake who were not playing the game. And they continue happily on the path of righteousness, although staggering. Their blood can be seen in their footprints while they still walk the path. They are visibly harmed, but do not divert.
"And the wind whispers Mary"
>"Mary" is Mary of Bethany from the Bible. (Mary walked the path of peace and faith, in contrast to her sister Martha, who lived in selfishness and doubt.) Hence, the wind now quietly speaks her name, the wind being the age or the times.
"A broom is drearily sweeping
up the broken pieces of yesterday's life"
>Those who are left after the fighting try to pick up the pieces of their destroyed way of life.
"Somewhere a queen is weeping
Somewhere a king has no wife"
>The queen is sad because the man she married is not the great man she believed he was. He was only a malevolent leader orchestrating senseless fighting for his own gain. She leaves him after the fighting because he has nothing left to offer her.
"And the wind, it cries Mary"
>The people who played and lost the game, like the king and queen, have lost almost everything. So the wind is louder now, crying for change.
"The traffic lights, they turn up blue tomorrow
and shine their emptiness down on my bed"
>The traffic lights are the old leaders, like the king and queen, who used to tell you when to go and when to stop. People followed their directions because it got them to where they were headed. But now, the traffic lights are turned blue (sad because they lost their power). Those who followed the traffic lights are now also blue because they have no direction for the future. Even the narrator is awoken by the empty blue.
"The tiny island sags downstream
'cause the life that lived is, is dead"
>The great kingdom that was is now only a "tiny island." It is isolated and all the pieces that are left fall apart without its surrounding structure. The old society that once thrived is now totally dead.
"And the wind screams Mary"
>The wind is so loud now, that it cannot be ignored.
"Will the wind ever remember
the names it has blown in the past?"
>The narrator questions whether the wind will consider the names it has blown before, such as kings' names, or perhaps Martha's name.
"And with this crutch, its old age, and its wisdom
it whispers no, this will be the last"
>The wise, old, wind now has Mary as its crutch to keep on flowing while the people get together to repair and build a better place to live in. The wind whispers to the narrator (so the people don't hear and become complacent) that this is the last name that needs to be blown. The people finally recognize the error of their ways.
"And the wind cries Mary"
>The wind calms a bit but still cries Mary for the stragglers. Perhaps later the wind will quiet down and no longer need to blow Mary's name, when the people realize their happiness and harmony depend on their own actions.
"After all the jacks are in their boxes
and the clowns have all gone to bed"
Jacks and Jokers refering to a deck of cards. He's saying once you put the games away a deck of cards referencing playing games.
"You can hear happiness staggering on down the street
footsteps dressed in red"
Footsteps dressed in red meaning foot prints not shoes. He's alluding to blood trails in footprints. Happiness is staggering down the street with bloody footprints so After playing cards/socializing with people he's remembering something that killed his happiness or maybe his happiness killed.
"And the wind whispers Mary"
Mary being who he's unhappy about. As this visual of happiness coming back with bloody foot prints comes back to him he hears "Mary" in the air.
"A broom is drearily sweeping
up the broken pieces of yesterdays life"
Brooms clean floors, broken pieces of yesterday. He's saying they were arguing about the passed and resolving their issues.
"Somewhere a queen is weeping
Somewhere a king has no wife"
Referring to her and himself. He's saying they've broken up.
"And the wind, it cries Mary"
Heartache for her.
"The traffic lights, they turn, uh, blue tomorrow
and shine their emptiness down on my bed"
Old traffic lights used to look a sort of blue color in the states rather than actual green. Shining blue tomorrow means that he won't be able to feel happiness this day. Shining emptiness down on my bed tomorrow meaning he's going to have to start his day feeling sad and without her in his bed.
"The tiny island sags down stream
'cause the life that lived is,
is dead
And the wind screams Mary
"
This is where I get begin to lose step with him. I do believe this to be a sexual reference. He's saying his romantic interests have become depressed because what he used to have is no longer. The wind now screams Mary because his longing for her has grown very strong.g
"Uh-will the wind ever remember
the names it has blow in the past?"
Seems to indicate that he's wondering if any of his passed relationships will resurface in his mind. As if he's asking himself if he's going to miss anyone else he's been with like he's missing this one. Makes more sense with the next bits.
"And with this crutch, its old age, and its wisdom
it whispers no, this will be the last"
Cruct, old age and wisdom meaning that he feels he's loved enough women to feel experienced and understand what he wants. This will be the last, as if to say "No this is the last woman I can fall in love with". He's found the one he wants to be with.
And the wind cries Mary
And he still misses her. What is interesting to me is that every time he reprises this line it changes slightly. It whispers, cries, screams and cries again. It shows the pattern of emotions he's going through. At first it's just whispers, like it's a smaller less noticeable feeling that he's trying to hold back or cope with. This happens when he's playing cards/putting the deck away. As if he had her on his mind while playing cards with friends. Then it begins to cry. He can't hold it back anymore and just goes with the feeling. This is when he's a king without a queen. After that it screams. Coincidentally this is the bit that relates to his sexual relationship with her. Hmm. Then it cries again. Reeling from true heart break it would seem. Coming to the realization that he's really in love with her and not going to be able to recreate those feelings for another woman.
Great song writing, great guitar work and overall great song. :D
After all the jacks are in their boxes,
and the clowns have all gone to bed,
you can hear happiness staggering on down the street,
footprints dress in red.
And the wind whispers Mary.
A broom is drearily sweeping
up the broken pieces of yesterday's life.
Somewhere a Queen is weeping,
somewhere a King has no wife.
And the wind it cries Mary.
The traffic lights they turn blue tomorrow
And shine their emptiness down on my bed,
The tiny island sags downstream
'Cos the life that they lived is dead.
And the wind screams Mary.
Will the wind ever remember
The names it has blown in the past,
And with this crutch, its old age and its wisdom
It whispers, "No, this will be the last."
And The Wind Cries Mary.
Either way you look at it, it's a beautiful song and Jimi Hendrix is amazing.<3
"will the wind ever remember
the names it has blow in the past?
And with this crutch, its old age, and its wisdom
it whispers no, this will be the last"
I don't think this refers just to Jimi's old crushes. It's basically a metaphor where he wonders how frustrated and sad the wind itself would be if it was a living thing, always carrying cries of lost loves and longing. In the end, would it just have enough of this sadness, give up, not be able to continue carrying those messages?