This song discusses many colors: "In shiny metallic purple armor; fiery green gown sneers at the grassy ground." Because of Hendrix' inability to read music, he would often describe emotions (and music) in colors rather than more descriptive words. Jimi was a very emotional and colorful person, and in this song he really brought out his emotions in a wild imagery that at first glance can be easily misinterpreted.
In the book Deconstructing Gurdjieff, scholar, author, and Exeter University fellow Tobias Churton claims this song refers to the Axis concept held by Islamic mystics known as Sufis. In Sufi tradition, the Axis is a spiritually perfected human being "who leads the saintly hierarchy and brings to each generation the desired knowledge of God." This song's title is identical to the album it appears on, minus only the word "Axis," so Churton's analysis fits the internal logic.
The line, "My yellow is this case is not so mellow" is a reference to the Donovan song "Mellow Yellow" and describes Hendrix' inability to express his feelings to a former girlfriend in any conventional way. Instead, Hendrix used colors to describe his feelings of fright, uncertainty and frustration. It's that frustration that leads him to say at the end of the song: "And all of these emotions of mine is holding me from giving my life to a rainbow like you."
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