Kathleen Mary Etchingham and Jimi Hendrix dated for several years. The legendary musician said about her: “Kathy is my past girlfriend, my real girlfriend and probably my future girlfriend; my mother, my sister and all that. My Yoko Ono. Jimi dedicated several famous works to his muse, including the famous song “The Wind Cries Mary”.
The story of the ballad began with an emotional scandal that broke out between lovers. Cathy Mary remembers:
We quarreled over food. Jimi didn’t like lumpy mashed potatoes. It came to breaking dishes, and I ran away. When I returned, he had already written this song about me. This flatters me greatly.
Q, 2013
Researchers of the great guitarist’s work suggest that Hendrix could also have been inspired by nineteenth-century English poet John Clare’s poem “To Mary” and Bob Dylan’s famous “Desolation Row”. Band of Gypsys bassist Billy Cox, who was friends with Jimi, claimed that Hendrix wrote the riff for the song under the influence of Curtis Mayfield’s music.
Jimi introduced the song to the band in January 1967 while The Jimi Hendrix Experience was in the studio working on the single “Fire”. They had half an hour of paid time, and he played a new song to his colleagues, which they then recorded. Subsequently, the group tried to make other versions, but they were all inferior to the first version.
The book “Jimi Hendrix: Electric Gypsy” states that the composition was originally very long. Later, Hendrix cut it down considerably to fit the radio format, although he was worried that listeners would not understand the main idea of the shortened song.
By the way, many really took it wrong, deciding that we are talking about marijuana, which is sometimes called “Mary Jane” in slang.
On May 5, 1967, “The Wind Cries Mary” was released as a single in the UK with “Highway Chile” on the back of the record. It climbed to number six on the UK Singles Chart. In the US, the song was released as a single from “Purple Haze” and was included on the US version of the “Are You Experienced” album.
Cover versions of the ballad were recorded by Sting, Richie Sambora, Pat Boone and other famous musicians.
Rolling Stone included it in their list of the 500 Greatest Songs.
Interesting Facts
- Pink Floyd’s “Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving With a Pict” ends with “and the wind cried Mary”.
The Wind Cries Mary lyricsThe Wind Cries Mary lyricsAfter all the jacks are in their boxes,
And the clowns have all gone to bed,
You can hear happiness
Staggering down the street
Footprints dress in red
And the wind whispers Mary
And the clowns went to sleep
You can hear down the street
Happiness walks unsteadily,
Leaving red marks
And the wind whispers “Mary” A broom is drearily sweeping
Up the broken pieces of yesterday’s life.
Somewhere a Queen is weeping
Somewhere a King has no wife
And the wind it cries Mary
Shards of yesterday’s life
Somewhere the Queen is crying
Somewhere the King was left without a wife,
And the wind cries “Mary” The traffic lights they turn blue tomorrow
And shine their emptiness down on my bed,
The tiny island sags downstream
‘Cos the life that they lived is dead
And the wind screams Mary
Lighting up my bed with its emptiness
A tiny island drifts with the tide
After all, their former life is over,
And the wind screams “Mary” Will the wind ever remember
The names it has blown in the past,
And with this crutch, its old age and its wisdom
It whispers, “No, this will be the last.”
And The Wind Cries Mary
Names that he carried into the past
Based on your ancient age and wisdom,
He whispers, “No, this one will be the last”
And the wind cries “Mary”
