"Spanish Castle Magic" is a song written by Jimi Hendrix and performed by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Produced by Chas Chandler, it is the third track from the album . The lyrics refer to a club near Seattle, where Hendrix sometimes played early in his career. The song was a staple of live shows. Several live recordings were released after Hendrix's death.
Background
The lyrics were inspired by Hendrix's high school years, when he regularly visited a roadhouse called "The Spanish Castle". The club was south of Seattle in what was then unincorporated King County. It was built in the 1930s to avoid Seattle's then restrictive nightclub laws. By 1959, the club began featuring top local rock groups such as The Fabulous Wailers and occasional touring stars. Events were hosted by Pat O'Day, Seattle's best known disc jockey of the era. Hendrix performed at the Spanish Castle on several occasions. He later described his frustration getting to the club: " in the band had this beat-up car, and it would break down every other block, on the way there and back". This is referenced in the line "Takes 'bout a half a day to get there". The Spanish Castle was demolished in April 1968. According to rock criticDave Marsh, "Once you knowthe legend of the Wailers at the Castle and the facts of Jimi’s attendance there, the lyrics of his 'Spanish Castle Magic' seem haunted by homesick nostalgia: 'It’s very far away, it takes about half a day to get there if we travel by my...uh...dragonfly,' he sings, in the voice of a kid stranded a couple continents from home". The song features Noel Redding playing an eight-string Hagstrom bass routed through an Octavia effects unit, which Hendrix later overdubbed using the same bass. Hendrix also overdubbed some jazz chords on piano, which he had heard sound engineerEddie Kramer playing. Hendrix biographer Harry Shapiro commented on the song's instrumentation: " guitar and bass in unison has the immediate effect of locking up a song in a strong rhythmic voice ... some unusual chord progressions and a large number of bend in the solo ending up with a crazy double-stop." AllMusic's Matthew Greenwald calls the progression "proto-heavy metal" and compares it to the earlier Experience song, "Foxy Lady". "Spanish Castle Magic" is one of the few songs from Axis: Bold as Love that Hendrix regularly performed in concert. Live recordings of the song are found on BBC Sessions, Live at the Oakland Coliseum, Stages, Live in Ottawa, Live at Woodstock, , Winterland, and The Jimi Hendrix Experience box set.
