If 6 Was 9

Infobox Song
Name =If 6 Was 9


Border =
Caption =album cover
Type =
Artist =The Jimi Hendrix Experience
alt Artist =
Album =
Published =
Released =1 December 1967 (UK)
15 January 1968 (US)
track_no =
Recorded =
Genre =psychedelic rock, hard rock
Length =5:32
Writer =Jimi Hendrix
Composer =
Label =MCA (reissues)
Producer =Chas Chandler
Tracks =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"
Misc =
Audio sample? ="If 6 Was 9" is a song written by Jimi Hendrix and recorded by The Jimi Hendrix Experience. It appeared on the release of their 1967 album "" and on the soundtrack for the 1969 film "Easy Rider".

tyle and instrumentation

The style of the song has been referred to as "acid-fueled blues",cite book
last = Newquist
first = Harvey P.
title = The Blues-Rock Masters
publisher = Backbeat Books
date = 2003
pages = 32
isbn = 0879307358 ] The guitar solo is noteworthy for making innovative use of studio technology for the time, with stereo panning from left to right and vice versa, along with other effects, such as slap echo, fuzzbox distortion, and reverb. cite book
last = Prown
first = Pete
coauthors = Harvey P. Newquist
title = Legends of Rock Guitar: The Essential Reference of Rock's Greatest Guitarists
publisher = Hal Leonard
date = 1997
pages = p. 50
isbn = 0793540429 ]

There is some confusion as to whether Hendrix played a flute or a soprano recorder on this track. The credits list Hendrix as playing flute, but recorder player Rodney Waterman and Joe Vanderford of "Independent Weekly" refer to Hendrix's instrument as a recorder. Early music enthusiast Nicholas S. Lander maintains that "the high tessitura, the typical 'breaking' between octaves, and other characteristics are more suggestive of a soprano recorder."cite web
last = Lander
first = Nicholas S.
title = Recordings
work = Recorder Home Page: Instrument of Torture or Instrument of Music?
publisher =
date =
url = http://www.recorderhomepage.net/torture5.html
accessdate = 2007-07-16
quote = Most of this article was previously published in the "Australian Journal of Musical Education". From an interview with Lander in " [http://www.recorderhomepage.net/interview.html Recorder and Music] ". 20, 2: 50-53 (2000). ]

Interpretation

The theme has been described as an "individualist anthem".cite encyclopedia
last = Pendergast
first = Sara
title = Jimi Hendrix
url = http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g1epc/is_bio/ai_2419200532
encyclopedia = St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture
publisher = St. James Press
date = 2000
accessdate = 2007-06-18 ] The lyrics portray the underlying conflict of the counterculture of the 1960s: the "social and cultural dichotomies" between the hippies and the "white collared conservative" business world of the establishment. Beginning with a blues riff, the lyrics accompany a "spacey" free-form jam, with Hendrix epitomizing the existentialist voice of the youth movement: "I'm the one that's got to die when it's time for me to die/so let me live my life/the way I want to."cite book
last = Vincent
first = Ricky
title = Funk: The Music, the People, and the Rhythm of the One
publisher = St. Martin's Press
date = 1996
pages = p. 107
isbn = 0312134991 ]

The title, "If 6 was 9", may stem from the fact that an inverted figure 6 becomes a 9, and reflects many of the lyrics in the song, which assert that even if basic things about the world were suddenly completely different, the narrator intends to continue living his life uninfluenced by outside forces.

Author Harry Shapiro believes the lyrics, "if the mountains fell into the sea" are a reference to the creation myth of the second world of Hopi mythology. Frank Waters' "Book of the Hopi" (1963) was known to have influenced Hendrix, and many of his songs contain mythological themes and images related to Native Americans in the United States; Hendrix himself was part Cherokee.cite book
last = Shapiro
first = Harry
coauthors = Caesar Glebbeek
title = Jimi Hendrix, Electric Gypsy
publisher = St. Martin's Press
date = 1995
pages = p. 225
isbn = 0312130627 ]

Urban legend

Various urban legends based on numerology have developed around the meaning of number 9 in the song and Hendrix's subseqent accidental death from asphyxiating on his vomit after taking a mixture of Secobarbital and alcohol in 1970.cite book
last = Patterson
first = Gary R.
title = Take a Walk on the Dark Side: Rock and Roll Myths, Legends, and Curses
publisher = Simon and Schuster
date = 2004
pages = p. 200
isbn = 0743244230 ]

Cover versions

Notable cover versions include the 1992 release by Bootsy Collins with guitarist Buckethead on "Funkcronomicon" and Todd Rundgren's cover on the 1976 album Faithful. Punk-rock band Fifteen also quotes the 'White Collared Conservative Businessman' verse in their song "Brian's Song." Tori Amos covered this song on the CD Single of Cornflake Girl. In 1994, the band Beautiful People did a remixed version of the song called "If 60's Were 90's" on their album by the same name.

References