A-side "The Wind Cries Mary" | Length 3:30 | |
Released May 5, 1967 (1967-05-05) Format Seven-inch 45 rpm record Recorded Olympic Studios, London, April 3, 1967 Genre Psychedelic rock, acid rock, blues rock | ||
"Highway Chile" is a song by English/American psychedelic rock band The Jimi Hendrix Experience, featured as the B-side to their 1967 third United Kingdom single "The Wind Cries Mary". The song was written by vocalist and guitarist Jimi Hendrix and later appeared on the international version of the compilation Smash Hits, released in April 1968.
The song was described, in the book Jimi Hendrix: Electric Gypsy, as "a joyful autobiographical stomp," explaining it as being a story of the pursuit of the American Dream. Matthew Greenwald of Allmusic also talks about the song as autobiographical, claiming that "It's easy to see that Hendrix was writing about himself here, and his life as a musician on the road in the R&B/soul "Chitlin' Circuit," and forming his own unique vision and style."
Musically, "Highway Chile" has been described as "A funky shuffle [...] a great place for Hendrix's mid-tempo, R&B riffing, based on a blues pattern." The song was released, both on "The Wind Cries Mary" and Smash Hits, in mono; a re-processed stereo version was released on War Heroes, it was made available in stereo for the first time when released on the box set The Jimi Hendrix Experience in September 2000.
The use of the word "chile" is a deliberate misspelling of the word "child", to mimic that Hendrix did not pronounce the end of the word, which he also used on the song "Voodoo Chile" from Electric Ladyland.