so contained many Hendrix originals that were completely ground-breaking. Perhaps the most representative of the changes that were taking place in him was the almost epic-length blues number “Voodoo Chile.” “Voodoo Chile” is Hendrix statement of his own heritage, his refusal to deny himself and, as he said it, “dedicated to our friends from West Africa” (Fairchild, “Electric Ladyland” 22). Hendrix biographer Charles Shaar Murray said this of “Voodoo Chile” in his book Crosstown Traffic: “The relationship between the blues and Voodoo as a hold-over from West African religious and mystical practice and philosophy has been the subject of at least one first-class book- length study..., but in the context of the life and work of Jimi Hendrix, it is worth reiterating that his self- identification as the Voodoo Chile functions as his statement of black identity: a staking of claim to turf that no white bluesmen could even hope to explore, let alone annex. Whether Hendrix intended ‘Voodoo Chile’ as an explicit challenge to the hegemony of Western rationalism and black American Christian culture is ultimately not the point. That Hendrix was announcing, explicitly and unambiguously, who he thought he was, is” (Murray 147). “1983...(A Merman I Should Turn To Be),” the eleventh track on Electric Ladyland, is called by Murray: “rock’s premier work of science fiction; Hendrix was the music’s first and funkiest cyberpunk” (216). “Merman” marked the pinnacle of Hendrix’ producing skills, and Electric Ladyland was the first album that he himself produced. “Merman”’s lyrics indicate Hendrix’ increasing agitation with the world. In Tony Glover’s November 9, 1968 review of Electric Ladyland for Rolling Stone, he describes “Merman”: “Hendrix’ vision of the future shows...
