Jimi Hendrix has often been described as a “freaking guitar god.” The greatest to ever pick up the instrument, according to pretty much everyone with ears and a brain.
But here’s something you might not know about the legendary Seattle stoner – the dude had a serious spiritual side.
Hendrix was always going on about how his music was meant to be spiritual, not just some trippy background noise while people got high and zoned out. “This isn’t a game, man,” he’d say. “We really mean this stuff. It’s already spiritual music, but we want it to be respected as such.”
Heavy stuff from a brokedown ’60s dropout.
The album he’s referring to is the unfinished double LP “First Rays of the New Rising Sun” that he was working on before he kicked the bucket. The tracks were supposed to be these super deep, soulful spiritual tunes.
Take “Drifting” for example — just a simple little number about floating on a sea of tears and broken hearts, sailing towards love and home on a life raft. Metaphysical as heck.
But get this: Hendrix was convinced some demon was following him around, haunting his every move.
His girlfriend at the time said he was begging her to perform some kind of exorcism on him because, you know, she was from Georgia so she must know that voodoo stuff. Sounds bat crazy insane, right? Then again, the dude was higher than a kite most of the time.
According to close friends, he was also obsessed with aliens and outer-space creatures. Those themes show up in some of his most iconic songs.
There was also this poem called “The Story of Life” found next to his corpse when he OD’d. The lyrics wax on about God and Jesus and carrying crosses. Here are the lyrics:
The story of Jesus
So easy to explain
After they crucified him,
A woman, she claimed his name
The story of Jesus
The whole Bible knows
Went all across the desert
And in the middle, he found a rose
There should be no questions
There should be no lies
He was married ever happily after
All the tears we cry
No use in arguing
All the use to the man that moans
When each man falls in battle
His soul it has to roam
Angles of heaven
Flying saucers to some,
Made easter sunday
The name of the rising sun
The story is written
By so many people who dared,
To lay down the truth
To so very many who cared
To carry the cross
Of Jesus and beyond
We will guide the light
This time with a woman in our arms
We as men
Can’t explain the reason why
The woman’s always mentioned
At the moment that we die
All we know
Is God is by our side,
And he says the word
So easy yet so hard
I wish not to be alone,
So I must respect my other heart
Oh, the story
Of Jesus is the story
Of you and me
No use in feeling lonely,
I am searching to be free
The story
Of life is quicker
Than the wink of an eye
The story of love
Is hello and goodbye
Until we meet again
Seems like ol’ Jimi really wanted to find some deeper meaning before the clock ran out. “If I had more time,” he allegedly said. Yeah, no kidding — the guy was only 27 when he bit the big one and passed through the veil.
So was Jimi Hendrix some misunderstood spiritual guru or just a whacked-out junkie chasing rainbows? It depends on the beholder.
But you have to admire his relentless drive to find greater truth and purpose, even if he got hopelessly sidetracked by drugs and rock stardom along the way.
There’s no telling if he had lived past 27 he may have found Christ. Or perhaps he did just before he passed. We cannot be sure.
Given his last penned lyrics in “The Story of My Life,” both ideas aren’t a stretch. (By the way, the events surrounding Jimi’s death are mysterious, and some have alleged that his manager killed him. But that’s a rabbit trail that you can follow on our own.)
C.S. Lewis believed that at the moment of death, a person faces reality and has a chance to repent and believe on Christ. I wouldn’t bet money on this since it’s not stated in Scripture, but I hope it’s true. I’d love to see Jimi in eternity with the Creator who gave him his unspeakable talent.
As Jimi put it, “The story of life is quicker than the wink of an eye. The story of love is hello and goodbye. Until we meet again.”
Related:
John Lennon on Jesus: The Untold Story
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