"Bleeding Heart" (sometimes listed as "(My) Bleeding Heart") is a song written and recorded by American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

musician

Elmore James Elmore James ( Brooks; January 27, 1918 – May 24, 1963) was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and bandleader. Noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice, James was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fam ...

in 1961. Considered "among the greatest of James' songs", "Bleeding Heart" was later popularized by

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

, who recorded several versions of the song.

Original song

"Bleeding Heart" is a slow-tempo twelve-bar blues that features Elmore James' vocal and

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos tha ...

. It was recorded during one of his last recording sessions and has session musicians providing accompaniment, instead of James' regular band the "Broomdusters". According to producer Bobby Robinson, it was his idea to record James with a "big band sound" and to hire band leader Paul Williams to arrange the horn section. The song contains some of James' more memorable verses: Although recorded in 1961, "Bleeding Heart" was not released until 1965, two years after James' death. It was first issued as the B-side to the first pressing of "

It Hurts Me Too "It Hurts Me Too" is a blues standard that is "one of the most interpreted blues ongs. First recorded in 1940 by American blues musician Tampa Red, the song is a mid-tempo eight-bar blues that features slide guitar. It borrows from earlier blue ...

", which became a

Billboard R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

hit and made an appearance in the

pop chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include rec ...

. "Bleeding Heart" was later released with "Mean Mistreatin' Mama". These single versions were edited to 2:37; a 3:05 version later appeared on the ''Elmore James Memorial Album'' and various compilation albums, sometimes with the title "(My) Bleeding Heart". Personnel *

vocals,

Paul "Hucklebuck" Williams Paul "Hucklebuck" Williams (July 13, 1915 – September 14, 2002) was an American jazz and blues saxophonist, bandleader, and songwriter. His record "The Huckle-Buck", recorded in December 1948, was one of the most successful R&B records of ...

baritone saxophone *

George Coleman George Edward Coleman (born March 8, 1935) is an American jazz saxophonist known for his work with Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock in the 1960s. In 2015, he was named an NEA Jazz Master. Early life Coleman was born in Memphis, Tennessee. He was ...

(probably)tenor saxophone *Danny Mooretrumpet *Dickie Harris (probably)trombone *Nehemiah "Riff" Ruffinguitar *Johnny Aceypiano *Unknownbass *Johnny or Earl Williamsdrums

Jimi Hendrix versions

Background and performances

Jimi Hendrix, who frequently cited Elmore James as an influence, recorded several different arrangements of "Bleeding Heart". An early performance with Hendrix on vocal and guitar, which follows James' version, was recorded with

Curtis Knight and the Squires Curtis Knight and the Squires were a New York band that was fronted by singer and guitarist Curtis Knight in the mid-1960s. Both Jimi Hendrix and sax player Lonnie Youngblood were members for a while. Background The band is referred to as a worka ...

in 1965 or 1966. In 1968, a live version of the song was recorded at a jam session at the Scene Club in New York and later released on several bootleg and gray-market albums, including '' Bleeding Heart''. Hendrix used some new lyrics, but the performance was marred by "a very drunken

Jim Morrison James Douglas Morrison (December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971) was an American singer, poet and songwriter who was the lead vocalist of the Rock music, rock band the Doors. Due to his wild personality, poetic lyrics, distinctive voice, unpredicta ...

... burbling a combination of lyrics and obscenities over the jamming musicians" for half of the song. On February 24, 1969, a live version was performed by the

Jimi Hendrix Experience James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

for possible inclusion in a concert film. The film has not been released, although "Bleeding Heart" appeared on a purported soundtrack album ''

Experience Experience refers to conscious events in general, more specifically to perceptions, or to the practical knowledge and familiarity that is produced by these conscious processes. Understood as a conscious event in the widest sense, experience involv ...

''. Hendrix with the

Band of Gypsys ''Band of Gypsys'' is a live album by Jimi Hendrix and the first without his original group, the Jimi Hendrix Experience. It was recorded on January 1, 1970, at the Fillmore East in New York City with Billy Cox on bass and Buddy Miles on drums, ...

recorded a live version of "Bleeding Heart" on December 31, 1969 at the

Fillmore East The Fillmore East was rock promoter Bill Graham's rock venue on Second Avenue near East 6th Street in the (at the time) Lower East Side neighborhood, now called the East Village neighborhood of the borough of Manhattan of New York City. ...

in New York. It appears on '' Machine Gun: The Fillmore East First Show'' (2016).

Studio versions

In 1969, Hendrix recorded at least three different studio arrangements of "Bleeding Heart" at the

Record Plant The Record Plant is a recording studio established in New York City in 1968 and currently operating in Los Angeles, California. Known for innovations in the recording artists' workspace, it has produced highly influential albums, including Blon ...

in New York that showed Hendrix moving away from an Elmore James-style blues arrangement and using different backing musiciansa more modern blues recorded March 18 appeared on ''

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

''; an uptempo version recorded April 24 that is featured on his 2010 posthumous studio album ''

Valleys of Neptune ''Valleys of Neptune'' is a posthumous compilation album by the American rock musician Jimi Hendrix. Released in the United States on March 9, 2010, the album was promoted as having "12 previously unreleased studio recordings", including the titl ...

''; and a slower funk-influenced version recorded May 21 which is included on ''

People, Hell and Angels ''People, Hell and Angels'' is a posthumous compilation album by the American rock musician Jimi Hendrix. The fourth release under the Experience Hendrix deal with Legacy Recordings, it contains twelve previously unreleased recordings of track ...

''. With

Billy Cox William Cox (born October 18, 1941) is an American bassist, best known for performing with Jimi Hendrix. Cox is the only surviving musician to have regularly played with Hendrix: first with the experimental group that backed Hendrix at Woodstoc ...

and

Mitch Mitchell John Graham "Mitch" Mitchell (9 July 194612 November 2008)In his book about the Experience, Mitchell states he celebrated his 21st birthday while on tour on 9 July 1967, which makes his birth year 1946.Mitchell's obituaries in ''Billboard' ''T ...

, the basic track for a new studio version which moved even further away from the blues was completed March 24, 1970 at the Record Plant, with additional recording at the recently finished

Electric Lady Studios Electric Lady Studios is a recording studio in Greenwich Village, New York City. It was commissioned by rock musician Jimi Hendrix in 1968 and designed by architect John Storyk and audio engineer Eddie Kramer by 1970. Hendrix spent only ten ...

in June 1970. Further developments to the song were made and a rough mix was prepared by Hendrix and engineer

Eddie Kramer Edwin H. Kramer (born 19 April 1942) is a British recording producer and engineer. He has collaborated with several artists now in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, including Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, David Bowie, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppel ...

. This version was later remixed by Kramer and released on the 1972 album ''

War Heroes ''War Heroes'' is a compilation album by American guitarist Jimi Hendrix. Released in the UK on October 1, 1972, and in December 1972 in the US, it was the third album of mostly unreleased studio recordings to be issued after Hendrix's death. ...

'' and later on ''

South Saturn Delta ''South Saturn Delta'' is a posthumous compilation album by American rock musician Jimi Hendrix. Released in 1997 by Experience Hendrix (operated by his estate), it consists of material such as demo tapes, unfinished takes and alternate mixes, a ...

''.

Single and music video

The ''Valleys of Neptune'' version was released as the second single from the album on March 1 (digital download) and March 8, 2010 (7-inch single) and is backed with a previously unreleased version of the song "Peace in Mississippi". An alternative single was released that includes "Jam 292" from the

Dagger Records Dagger Records is an American record label based in Seattle, Washington. Dagger produces and releases, in conjunction with Experience Hendrix, L.L.C. and MCA Records, official Jimi Hendrix bootlegs and collections of rare studio recordings. The fi ...

album ''

Hear My Music ''Hear My Music'' is a posthumous compilation album by Jimi Hendrix, released on November 30, 2004 by Dagger Records. The album contains instrumental studio jams and demos recorded in early 1969. Track listing All songs were written by Jimi H ...

'' (2004). The music video for "Bleeding Heart", directed by

Julien Temple Julien Temple (born 26 November 1953) is a British film, documentary and music video director. He began his career with short films featuring the Sex Pistols, and has continued with various off-beat projects, including ''The Great Rock 'n' Roll ...

, debuted on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

on February 25, 2010. Personnel Single version: *

vocals, guitars, production *

bass guitar *Rocky Isaacdrums *Chris Grimestambourine *Al Marks

maraca A maraca (), sometimes called shaker or chac-chac, is a rattle which appears in many genres of Caribbean and Latin music. It is shaken by a handle and usually played as part of a pair. Maracas (from Guaraní ), also known as tamaracas, were r ...

Notes

References

* * * *

External links

* !-- This is a licensed stream for the song, which is allowed under Wikipedia polices -->https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COsVgbAJ8B8 "Bleeding Heart" (official video) on Vevo ''Valleys of Neptune'' version recorded at the Record Plant, New York City, on April 24, 1969 {{authority control 1961 songs 1965 singles Elmore James songs Blues songs Jimi Hendrix songs 2010 singles Songs released posthumously Songs written by Elmore James Song recordings produced by Jimi Hendrix