Length 3:55 Writer(s) Jimi Hendrix | Label Track | |
Released May 12, 1967 (1967-05-12) (UK) Recorded Olympic Studios, London, February 20, 1967 Genre Psychedelic rock
hard rock | ||
"I Don't Live Today" is a song by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, released on May 12, 1967, on the band's debut album Are You Experienced. In honor of his Cherokee heritage, Hendrix dedicated the song to the American Indians and other minority groups.
Contents
Background
Are You Experienced and its preceding singles were recorded over a five-month period from late October 1966 through early April 1967. The album was completed in sixteen recording sessions at three London locations, including De Lane Lea Studios, CBS, and Olympic. Chas Chandler booked many of the sessions at Olympic because the facility was acoustically superior and equipped with most of the latest technology, though it was still using four-track recorders, whereas American studios were using eight-track.
Recording
On February 20, 1967, the Experience continued working on Are You Experienced, but scheduling conflicts at Olympic led Chandler to book time at De Lane Lea. During the session they recorded "I Don't Live Today", which featured a manual wah effect that predated the pedal unit. They managed to complete a working master by the end of the day, though Hendrix eventually recorded a new lead vocal at Olympic.
Music and lyrics
Musicologist Ritchie Unterberger considers the lyrics to "I Don't Live Today" to be more at home in a gothic rock setting than in psychedelia, however; he describes the music as being "played and sung with an ebullience that belies the darkness of the lyrics." Author Sean Egan wrote that Hendrix "superbly, and with great economy of words evok[ed] despair, whether that despair be an individual's or the despair of a devastated and brutalized race." The song's tribal rhythms served as a platform for Hendrix's innovative guitar feedback improvisations. In honor of his Cherokee heritage, Hendrix dedicated the song to the American Indians and other minority groups.