1967Released
3:20

Did You Know?

Interesting facts and trivia about The Wind Cries Mary. By Songfacts®.

Jimi wrote this in 1967 for Are You Experienced?; it was inspired by his girlfriend at the time, Kathy Mary Etchingham. He'd gotten into an argument with her about her cooking. She got very angry and started throwing pots and pans and finally stormed out to stay at a friend's home for a day or so. When she came back, Jimi had written "The Wind Cries Mary" for her. Kathy Mary recalled, "We'd had a row over food. Jimi didn't like lumpy mashed potato. There were thrown plates and I ran off. When I came back the next day, he'd written that song about me. It's incredibly flattering." (Source Q magazine February 2013)

Jimi wrote the song quietly in his apartment and didn't show it to anybody. After recording "Fire" (which was about his sexual relationship with Kathy), he had 20 minutes to spare in the recording studio, so he showed it to the band. They managed to record it in the 20 minute period they had. The band later recorded several more takes of the song, but they all seemed very sterile and they decided to go with the original recording.

This was the third single from Are You Experienced?.

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Song Analysis

Key, BPM (tempo) and time signature of The Wind Cries Mary.
FKey
MajorMode
4/4Time Signature
80BPM

Album

The album The Wind Cries Mary is released on.

Released By

The record label that has released The Wind Cries Mary.
Legacy Recordings
(P) 2009 Experience Hendrix L.L.C., under exclusive license to Sony Music Entertainment

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