The classic 1968 Jimi Hendrix song that Brian May was too afraid to cover: “How can I possibly do it”
There’s the god tier, and then there’s a place in which Jimi Hendrix resides.
The power of Hendrix’s legacy exists on a level all of its own. From the second he burst onto the scene after being plucked from obscurity, spotted in a New York bar, he was instantly heralded as a kind of musical messiah. He could play in a way that no one had ever seen before, and quickly, all the legends of the time, like Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones and The Beatles were flocking to his shows, standing awestruck as the young artist played.
He was writing himself into history in real time, with moments like his performance at Woodstock already iconic as they unfolded. Even though the day ran hours behind schedule, Hendrix was determined to play, eventually taking the stage in the morning to a much smaller crowd. Despite that, the moment he launched into the national anthem, it was clear to anyone there that something extraordinary was happening. It carried the same sense of impact as the first time he set his guitar on fire.
Some argue that part of his looming legacy comes simply from the fact that he died young and in his prime. His musical reputation is golden because he didn’t have any chance to muddy it during his tragically short life. However, if you ask any guitar player, they’d probably argue against that.
If you ask Brian May, though, someone well regarded as one of history’s best players, he’d chalk Hendrix’s icon status solely up to the playing. In fact, it’s playing so well that even the Queen guitarist is intimidated by those tunes.
“Somebody asked me to do a tribute to Hendrix, and I think they asked me to do something like ‘Burning of the Midnight Lamp’ or something,” May recalled. He outright refused, thinking no way.
“I thought ‘Oh please, how can I possibly do it when it’s been done perfect by the master?’” he said.
There was no way he was going to go head-to-head with Hendrix on a track like that 1968 one. Released as a B-side to ‘All Along the Watchtower’ and featuring on what would be his final album, Electric Ladyland, it’s one of those songs that captures Hendrix at his peak, basking in the glory he was living in right as he died.
It’s also just such a thorough song. Moving through different parts, layered to perfection and clearly finished to a point where Hendrix was happy with it, it’s not that this is just a loose jam that May could have played around with. There was a clear golden standard, and he wasn’t sure he could even meet it.
“So I said, ‘Can I choose my own track?’ and they said OK. So I chose ‘One Rainy Wish’ because I think it was done really quickly by Jimi Hendrix, it’s something he put down in ten minutes, and the lyric, I think, is genuinely a dream,” he said, going for a song that felt more spontaneous, with more space in it for him to work with it without feeling the insane pressure of living up to a legend.
But it says a lot. Despite May’s technical abilities and his own skills that generations of players revere and are inspired by, the Queen player still doesn’t think he can touch Hendrix on his lofty throne.
