Most songs are open to varied interpretation. Wild deviations from the writer's intent might make some sense, though they often require particularly agile and poorly-aimed leaps of imagination: for example, this song does not, did not, will not, never has, and never will have anything to do with religion. Jimi himself insisted that the use of the name 'Mary' had nothing to do with the Biblical character who shared that name, but then - as now - people who interpret everything in a religious context said he must have using the name 'unconsciously', insisting that because they see everything in Biblical terms, there is no way Jimi could not have seen it that way.
But Jimi, his girlfriend (whose middle name was 'Mary'), his manager, his producer, and his drummer all said that the song was inspired by Jimi's break-up with then-girlfriend Kathleen Mary Etchingham, but about the pattern of failed relationships Jimi left in his wake, and the question of whether anything had been learned, or would he continue to do the same things that caused the list of breakups? The lyrics imply, somewhat heavily, that the answer is no, that there is more pain to come. He wants things to be better, but he hasn't grown up enough to prevent the same things from happening.
The symbolism people are finding in this song - Biblical references, social commentary about the 60s, abortion, drugs, whatever - is fascinating. But believing what you believe is one thing; believing that what you believe is true, even in the face of conflicting evidence, is a completely different, and somewhat unsupportable, proposition.
Most songs are open to varied interpretation. Wild deviations from the writer's intent might make some sense, though they often require particularly agile and poorly-aimed leaps of imagination: for example, this song does not, did not, will not, never has, and never will have anything to do with religion. Jimi himself insisted that the use of the name 'Mary' had nothing to do with the Biblical character who shared that name, but then - as now - people who interpret everything in a religious context said he must have using the name 'unconsciously', insisting that because they see everything in Biblical terms, there is no way Jimi could not have seen it that way.
But Jimi, his girlfriend (whose middle name was 'Mary'), his manager, his producer, and his drummer all said that the song was inspired by Jimi's break-up with then-girlfriend Kathleen Mary Etchingham, but about the pattern of failed relationships Jimi left in his wake, and the question of whether anything had been learned, or would he continue to do the same things that caused the list of breakups? The lyrics imply, somewhat heavily, that the answer is no, that there is more pain to come. He wants things to be better, but he hasn't grown up enough to prevent the same things from happening.
The symbolism people are finding in this song - Biblical references, social commentary about the 60s, abortion, drugs, whatever - is fascinating. But believing what you believe is one thing; believing that what you believe is true, even in the face of conflicting evidence, is a completely different, and somewhat unsupportable, proposition.
Beautiful, but very sad. Like many Hendrix songs.
@adriaan101
@adriaan101
@adriaan101 Perfect comment. People really have some wild imaginations, don't they?
@adriaan101 Perfect comment. People really have some wild imaginations, don't they?