Jimi Hendrix’s 1967 classic “The Wind Cries Mary” holds a secret. Buried within the song’s whimsical images of jacks, clowns, kings, and queens, beneath its stirring blues textures and head-swimming guitar solo, lies an apology.
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It’s not so much about the song’s meaning – each verse dissected and lyric prodded – but rather what it meant to the artist. The tune, with its dreamy narrative spun from arresting vocals, was the guitar god’s real-life attempt to make amends.
The Origins
“The Wind Cries Mary” was inspired by Hendrix’s then-girlfriend Kathy Etchingham, who is also thought to have been the muse for the guitarist’s acclaimed “Foxy Lady.” However, “The Wind Cries Mary” wasn’t born from Etchingham simply being “foxy,” it came from her deserving an apology.
In her account to the BBC, their relationship was beautiful, but at times turbulent, turning ugly with vicious arguments occasionally breaking out. One such row led to a hit song. Etchingham recalled trying to make mashed potatoes one night, but they apparently weren’t up to the musician’s specs.
“He comes along and tastes them with a fork and says they’re all lumpy,” she told the outlet. “I knew he couldn’t cook himself and that’s how the argument started. It ended with my screaming and shouting, throwing the plates on the floor, and marching out.”
That night she slept at a friend’s house. While she was away, Hendrix sat down and wrote her what would be “The Wind Cries Mary.” Mary, Etchingham’s middle name, was something Hendrix apparently called her from time to time as a way of pushing her buttons.
When he first played the song for her, she described not knowing what to think. “It was just the twanging of an electric guitar disconnected,” she said. “It was only when it was recorded that I realized it was a nice, sad song – he was obviously a bit upset.”
“The Wind Cries Mary” was released on the U.S. version of Hendrix’s 1967 debut album Are You Experienced and would be one of the songs that secured his place at the top.
The Lyrics
Etchingham further detailed that fated feud in an interview with BBC Sounds, breaking down the verses of “The Wind Cries Mary” in order to explain how they poetically map out the night’s events.
During the argument, Hendrix allegedly told Etchingham she was playing games, hence the song’s opening line, After all the jacks are in their boxes. She also detailed how he would write songs late at night. “In those days… when the television finished at about 11 o’clock, there was a test card with a clown and a girl,” she said. She guessed he was probably watching that test card on the screen when he penned the line, The clowns have all gone to bed.
You can hear happiness staggering on down the street, the verse continues, illustrating Etchingham leaving, Footprints dressed in red … And the wind whispers, “Mary.”
Etchingham also explained that Hendrix was cleaning up the shattered dishes she’d thrown as she left, crying, a parallel to the verse, 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!”
The next verse illustrates a half-empty bed as the wind screams, “Mary!” And the song comes to a close with the wind remembering only that one name forever.
(Photo by Bob Baker/Redferns)
