One Rainy Wish

"One Rainy Wish"
Song by The Jimi Hendrix Experience from the album Axis: Bold as Love
Released	December 1, 1967
Recorded	October 1967 at Olympic Sound Studios, London
Genre	acid rock, psychedelic rock
Length	3:40
Label	Track
Writer	Jimi Hendrix
Producer	Chas Chandler
Axis: Bold as Love track listing
Side 1 "EXP" "Up from the Skies" "Spanish Castle Magic" "Wait Until Tomorrow" "Ain't No Telling" "Little Wing" "If 6 Was 9" Side 2 "You Got Me Floatin'" "Castles Made of Sand" "She's So Fine" "One Rainy Wish" "Little Miss Lover" "Bold as Love"

"One Rainy Wish" (also known as "Gold and Rose") is a song by English/American psychedelic rock band The Jimi Hendrix Experience, featured on their 1967 second album Axis: Bold as Love. The song was written by lead vocalist and guitarist Jimi Hendrix based on a dream that he had in which "the sky was filled with a thousand stars [...] and eleven moons played across the rainbows," according to the song's lyrics.^[1] Shortly after the release of Axis: Bold as Love, "One Rainy Wish" was featured as the B-side to "Up from the Skies", released in February 1968.^[2]

Background and style

"One Rainy Wish" was "one of Jimi [Hendrix]'s many songs born out of a dream".^[1] The style of guitar playing displayed by Hendrix is said to be reminiscent of that of American jazz guitarists Jim Hall and Wes Montgomery, according to fellow guitarist Mike Stern, who said the following about the song:

“

His playing is so lyrical. It has that same singing quality that I dig in Jim Hall's playing or Wes Montgomery's playing. But the thing about Hendrix was that he had that sound, he could achieve that lyrical feeling with a fatter sound on his Strat than you could get with a regular hollow-bodied jazz guitar.[3]

”

In the Hendrix biography Jimi Hendrix: Electric Gypsy, the song is described as "creak[ing] with radical harmonies and rhythmic concepts, not least the fact that the verse is in 3/4 time while the chorus is in 4/4."^[1] "One Rainy Wish" was recorded sometime midway through the Axis: Bold as Love sessions, in October 1967, at Olympic Sound Studios with producer Chas Chandler and engineer Eddie Kramer.^[4]

Reception

In reviews of Axis: Bold as Love, "One Rainy Wish" has generally been positively regarded. In a review for the BBC, critic Chris Jones noted the song as one of the album's examples of Hendrix's "loveliest lyrics,"^[5] while allmusic reviewer Cub Koda described the song as a "beautiful, wistful ballad."^[6]

Personnel

Musicians Jimi Hendrix – vocals, guitars Noel Redding – bass Mitch Mitchell – drums

Additional personnel Chas Chandler – production Eddie Kramer – engineering

References

• Shapiro, Harry; Glebbeek, Caesar (1995). Jimi Hendrix: Electric Gypsy. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 0312130627. 

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c} Shapiro & Glebbeek 1995, p. 229
2. ^ Shapiro & Glebbeek 1995, p. 529
3. ^ Shapiro & Glebbeek 1995, p. 228
4. ^ Shapiro & Glebbeek 1995, p. 528
5. ^ Jones, Chris (April 24, 2007). "Review of The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Axis Bold As Love". Music. BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/rmjw/. Retrieved May 24, 2009. 
6. ^ Koda, Cub. "Axis: Bold as Love > Review". allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r9210/review. Retrieved May 24, 2009.