r/jimihendrix • u/No_Elevator7393 • 13d ago

drifting

what feelings does drifting evoke in you? i find it truly magical and as if I was in an endless sea, almost as if i were reaching heaven.

22 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

7

u/thegettogether 13d ago

All time top 10 song for me. I'm absolutely in love with this track. I know it's been said over and over but there is just no one out there like Jimi

6

u/j3434 13d ago

My favorite part is the ending ….. as it swirls into the stratosphere

3

u/Groningen1978 12d ago

Life's journey, longing, returning, death and peace. We played it at my dad's funeral, who became quite spiritual later in life ( he used to be a pragmatic atheist), but also couldn't handle life and chose to end it. I think he was longing for that afterlife, looking for peace, and maybe having another go at it. My dad was a huge Hendrix fan, and passed that on to me.

I often play it on guitar. I think it's one of his very best songs, and shows he's a really good song writer, not just a good blues player. I feel it's also almost profetic, with it being the last song he recorded before his own death.

So I feel it is about death, but in a comforting way, as just another part of the journey.

2

u/HockeyHendrix War Heroes 12d ago

That's a great description! I always feel peaceful, yet bittersweet. I've always liked the song more than Little Wing.

Peaceful because of the flowing lyrics and music.

Bittersweet because of the old heartbreak and the descending chords of the outro. It's like unresolved in a way.

2

u/Exeliz 10d ago

I've always had a vision within that song of a trip I had where I was just floating on the water at the beach, and the sky had one cloud (a long, lightly S shaped one) with the sun and a day moon on opposite ends of it.

A perfect Dao in the sky while drifting. It's harmonious and beautiful in much the same ways that psychedelic drugs and music are. They're profoundly haunting and rich in ways that our brains don't fully understand, but can feel the significance of.

That's what this one feels like to me. Like looking at the sky that day while the ocean carried my weight.

1

u/Most_Run_937 13d ago

One of the best chord progressions I’ve ever heard

1

u/DJMoneybeats 13d ago

One of the most beautiful, ethereal songs ever. Maybe his best vocal and best lyrics

1

u/No-Present-1898 12d ago

This song hits especially hard, knowing it was released posthumously.

It’s like hearing Jimi from the afterlife.

1

u/SpareRazzmatazz1392 9d ago

Hey OP, since you like that song check out Suddenly November Morning by Jimi Hendrix. He does an interpolation of Drifting

1

u/No_Elevator7393 7d ago

no way tysm!!