"Like A Rolling Stone" - Jimi Hendrix (1967)

With temperatures soaring into the 90’s this week, I thought it was time for a bit of summertime music. This 1967 performance of “Like a Rolling Stone” by Jimi Hendrix certainly qualifies.  Even the dark of night can’t mask the seething delivery of Bob Dylan’s words. And nothing comes close to the mastery Jimi Hendrix had over his guitar. Both his playing, and singing, come across as one. Even at the beginning he is so carried away that he has to excuse himself “while I play my guitar.”

The Monterey Pop Festival was the real precursor to the Woodstock Festival 2 years later. It even had a larger crowd.  Listen carefully at about 5 minutes and 18 seconds into the video, as Hendrix drops an entire verse and comments on it to the rest of the band. This man was so into, and behind, the notes he was playing, that even his mistakes are triumphs.