(Credits: Far Out / Sony Music Entertainment)
Sat 3 January 2026 15:05, UK
“‘Scuse me while I kiss the sky”. One moment’s pause amid an unrelenting three minutes of unrelenting guitar muscle that might just open a window into the meaning behind Jimi Hendrix’s most famous song, ‘Purple Haze’.
Many have interpreted the song as a straightforward reflection of the psychedelic experience since it was recorded and released around the time that Hendrix and various other rock musicians were dabbling in the psychoactive drug LSD. Is the “purple haze” described in the material simply a name for the enhanced experiential state induced by LSD, which seems to heighten sensory phenomena such as colours but also cast a foggy “haze” over rational thought?
Well, not according to the songwriter himself. Hendrix claimed to have derived the song from a dream he had about “walking under the sea”. You won’t find any references to an underwater promenade in the lyrics of the song, though. Perhaps Hendrix was conflating ‘Purple Haze’ with the title track from his debut album Are You Experienced?, which features the line, “We’ll watch the sun rise from the bottom of the sea”.
On the other hand, we can trace the title of ‘Purple Haze’ directly back to a 1966 science fiction novel called Night of Light by Philip José Farmer, with which Hendrix was familiar.
Just the end of time?
Farmer’s novel is set on a distant planet whose inhabitants experience a strange, world-altering haze every seven years. Hendrix’s reference to writing about mythical “wars on Neptune” while describing ‘Purple Haze’ in an interview, alongside his noted love of the genre, suggests that he was certainly thinking in terms of science fiction when he wrote the song.
In this vein, the final version of the song appears to reference the relativity between time and space when Hendrix asks: “Is it tomorrow, or just the end of time?” The qualifying “just” adds a layer of irony to the lyric, suggesting that he wasn’t being completely serious when he wrote it.
He may have taken inspiration from a sci-fi novel, but there is no clear thread running through the lyrics to ‘Purple Haze’ which fleshes out a world based on science fiction with any clarity. Hendrix publicly expressed his own frustration with the limitations of the finished lyric, claiming the draft version had been a “thousand words” long before it had to be whittled down to fit the music.
(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)She put a spell on you?
‘Purple Haze’ certainly leans more into science fiction than your typical love song. And yet there is one, single reference to a possible lover at the end of the second verse. Hendrix sings, “That girl put a spell on me,” apparently referencing the classic R&B song ‘I Put a Spell on You’ by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins (and famously covered by Nina Simone).
The spell mentioned isn’t simply a metaphor for romantic attraction, but a possible allusion to Hendrix’s interest in spiritualist voodoo. This interest would later be expressed directly in two different songs entitled ‘Voodoo Child’ on his band’s third album.
There was an incident in 1966 when Hendrix became ill soon after meeting a young woman who took an interest in him, and ignored his attempts to rebuff her. He reportedly believed the woman had practised some form of voodoo to make him ill. Reading through the lyrics of ‘Purple Haze’ in this light actually gives us a more coherent picture of someone “acting funny” with illness, “comin’ up or down” with a fever, and feeling a haze of delirium “all in” their “eyes”.
But Hendrix never gave credence to this interpretation in any of his explanations of the song’s meaning. He did once suggest that it was just about “this girl” who the protagonist in the song is a “daze” over. Perhaps it was that simple, after all, although he never repeated this explanation after initially giving it just after the song’s release.
According to Jimi Hendrix and the song’s lyrics, then, a “purple haze” could variously refer to an aura of light cast on a distant planet, an underwater dream, a voodoo-based mystery illness or a daze of infatuation. In any case, the song does an inimitable job of illustrating a profound sense of confusion and disorientation, whatever the underlying cause of this sensation is supposed to be.
Is it his best song?
Just by the very nature of Hendrix’s mercurial appeal, the chances are that very few people will entirely agree with our list. In fact, we would hope they didn’t. But we think it’s pretty set in stone that the archetypal Hendrix tune simply has to be ‘Purple Haze’ if not just for the iconic lyrics “excuse me, miss, while I kiss the sky.”
It has all the finer threads of what makes Hendrix a guitar genius, the shining silk of Eastern modalities, the sturdy and colourful blues mix, and the rendered beauty of the sound processing. What comes out is a suit worthy of Savile Row.
While the lyrics may leave you misunderstanding the intent of Hendrix—having often been seen as a psychedelic experience—while Hendrix would reiterate it’s intended as a love song. What is in no doubt is that on this track, Hendrix’s guitar playing is the most honest and authentic moment of the song.
One of the best-known songs of Hendrix’s extraordinary yet short catalogue, ‘Purple Haze’ is a shining light of not only the illustrious creativity that flourished in the sixties. But the poster boy of that unbridled and untethered push of pulsating artistry.
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