Machine Gun (song)

For other uses of the phrase, see Machine gun (disambiguation).

"Machine Gun" is a song written and performed by Jimi Hendrix, and is the 2nd track on the 1970 live album Band of Gypsys. Although a studio recording was never officially released there are several live recordings appearing on (among other live albums) Jimi Hendrix: Live at Berkeley, Blue Wild Angel: Live at the Isle of Wight, and most notably the Band of Gypsys LP, the latter often lauded as one of Hendrix's finest performances, and has even been considered among the finest performances ever with an electric guitar [1].

"Machine Gun" debuted in September 1969 by Hendrix and his then bandmates drummer Mitch Mitchell and bassist Billy Cox as a lengthy, loosely musically defined (jam-based) protest song to the Vietnam War [2], and was broadcast on the Dick Cavett Show, the week of September 5. The song is long, with most known performances between ten and twenty minutes in length, and each with different music and lyrics, but share the same opening riff and basslines. The song opens with a recognizable, Univibe Pedal based guitar riff intended to mimic the sounds of a firing machine gun. The memorable (and menacing) bass and drum patterns then commence. The rather sparse lyrics, which differ in every performance, are told from the point of view of a soldier fighting in war:

" Machine gun
Tearin' my body all apart
Evil man make me kill you
Evil man make you kill me
Even though we're only families apart.
Well, I pick up my axe and fight like a farmer,
You know what I mean?
Hey, and your bullets keep knockin' me down..."

In the Band of Gypsys recording, Hendrix's vocals are also accompanied by Buddy Miles' vocals. "Machine Gun" is a prime example of Jimi Hendrix's effects mastery, as most recordings use a wah-wah pedal, an Arbiter Fuzz Face, a Univibe pedal, and an Octavia pedal[3], as well as heavy use of feedback. The intro to "Hear My Train A Comin'" at Jimi's Woodstock performance in August 1969 is reminiscent of the "Machine Gun" intro, once again using the Univibe pedal. He also used vocal lines and riffs(which match up in a fashion similar to "Machine Gun") while playing an E blues mainly beginning at the 12th fret, much like the "Machine Gun" intro. During the writing and recording of (what would have been) Hendrix's 4th studio album, Jimi began a studio version of Machine Gun, which was later heavily edited by Alan Douglas, and featured on the 1975 posthumous release Midnight Lightning. This version was not very well received among fans, as Douglas had brought in session musicians to overdub drum, bass and even guitar parts, which were missing/lacking due to either poor recording quality, or damage to the tapes. This studio version lacked the huge feeling and heart that the live performances delivered, and contained too many overdubbed guitar and vocal parts which made the song cramped, and quite unlistenable.