Excuse Me, While I Kiss the Sky

I learned the most interesting thing this week. Did you know Jimi Hendrix was a huge fan of science fiction literature? A "science fiction book junkie," as GalleyCat puts it.

While this may not be terribly surprising, considering the way the man lived and the drugs he took, I thought it was most intriguing.

According to Brad Schreiber, one of the authors of a book (called BECOMING JIMI HENDRIX plus a really long subtitle :)) about the talented, but ill-fated guitarist, the book NIGHT OF LIGHT written by Phillip Jose Farmer had a profound influence on Hendrix. In fact, Schreiber says that NIGHT OF LIGHT "was a science fiction book that in 1966 inspired Jimi to eventually write 'Purple Haze.' Farmer's story had to do with sunspots having a disorienting effect on a distant planet's population. Jimi wrote pages and pages of lyrics for 'Purple Haze,' originally an epic tale of the history of warfare for the control of the planet Neptune."



Schreiber goes on to state: "Jimi had been obsessed with science fiction as a boy in Seattle. He always went to see the actor Buster Crabbe in the serial Flash Gordon that played at the local theater. In fact, his nickname during youth was 'Buster.' Once, he literally jumped off the roof of his home, so taken was he with Flash's ability to fly ..."

Great story. And it explains a lot to me about Jimi Hendrix.