Musical Ink: Jimi Hendrix "Castles Made Of Sand"

sing us poetic songs, 
mesmerizing us with your lyrics,
let us trace the length of your melody,
locating the musical ink....

Quick note:  This is something new I've started.  I'm understanding that my love of both poetry and music is not coincidental.  I've spoken to many musicians and poets alike, and there is a kinship in both arts.  The flow of some of the best poems dances like a bass line in head.  The lyrics of some of the best songs read like stanzas on a page.

The poetic nature of music is undeniable.  This is a look into that nature.

A classic example of what I call "musical ink" (those songs that feel like poems put to music and sung) would be "Castles Made of Sand", by Jimi Hendrix.




The Jimi Hendrix Experience --- Castles Made Of Sand

This song was recorded on the 1967 album, Axis: Bold as Love, which was the groups second hit album.  According to one account with his younger brother, Jimi apparently revealed that this song was about their family.

The lyrics:

Castles Made of Sand


Down the street you can hear her scream you're a disgrace
As she slams the door in his drunken face
And now he stands outside
And all the neighbors start to gossip and drool


He cries oh, girl you must be mad,
What happened to the sweet love you and me had?
Against the door he leans and starts a scene,
And his tears fall and burn the garden green

And so castles made of sand fall in the sea, eventually

A little Indian brave who before he was ten,
Played war games in the woods with his Indian friends
And he built a dream that when he grew up
He would be a fearless warrior Indian Chief


Many moons past and more the dream grew strong until
Tomorrow he would sing his first war song and fight his first battle
But something went wrong, surprise attack killed him in his sleep that night

And so castles made of sand melts into the sea, eventually

There was a young girl, who's heart was a frown
cause she was crippled for life,
And she couldn't speak a sound
And she wished and prayed she could stop living,
So she decided to die


She drew her wheelchair to the edge of the shore
And to her legs she smiled you wont hurt me no more
But then a sight she'd never seen made her jump and say
Look a golden winged ship is passing my way

And it really didn't have to stop, it just kept on going...

And so castles made of sand slips into the sea, eventually


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Such visual lyrics.

Marcus Jamison, The Rare Poet