"Spanish Castle Magic" is a song written 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 ...

and 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 ...

. Produced by

Chas Chandler Bryan James "Chas" Chandler (18 December 1938 – 17 July 1996) was an English musician, record producer and manager, best known as the original bassist in The Animals, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. He ...

, it is the third track from the album '' Axis: Bold as Love''. The lyrics refer to a club near

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, where Hendrix sometimes played early in his career. The song was a staple of live shows and several live recordings were released after Hendrix's death.

Background

The lyrics were inspired by Hendrix's high school years (roughly 1958–1961), when he regularly visited a roadhouse called "The Spanish Castle". The club was south of Seattle in what was then unincorporated

King County King County is located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Washington, and the 13th-most populous in the United States. The county seat is Seattle, also the st ...

(now the city of

Des Moines, Washington Des Moines ( ) is a city in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 32,888 as of the 2020 census. The city is located on the east shore of Puget Sound, near the center of the Seattle metropolitan area. It is bordered by the ...

). 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 The Wailers, often known as The Fabulous Wailers, were an American rock band from Tacoma, Washington. They became popular in the Pacific Northwest from the late 1950s to the early 1960s, performing saxophone-driven R&B and Chuck Berry rock and ...

and occasional touring stars. Events were hosted by

Pat O'Day Paul W. Berg (1934 – August 4, 2020), known professionally as Pat O'Day, was an American broadcaster and concert promoter in the Pacific Northwest. O'Day, born in Norfolk, Nebraska, is probably best known as the afternoon drive personality at S ...

, Seattle's best known disc jockey of the era.

Recording

The song features

Noel Redding David Noel Redding (25 December 1945 – 11 May 2003) was an English rock musician, best known as the bass player for the Jimi Hendrix Experience and guitarist/singer for Fat Mattress. Following his departure from the Experience in 1969 a ...

playing an eight-string Hagstrom bass routed through an Octavia effects unit, which Hendrix later

overdubbed Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more av ...

using the same bass. Hendrix also overdubbed some

jazz chords Jazz chords are chords, chord voicings and chord symbols that jazz musicians commonly use in composition, improvisation, and harmony. In jazz chords and theory, most triads that appear in lead sheets or fake books can have sevenths added to them ...

on piano, which he had heard sound 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 ...

playing. Hendrix biographer Harry Shapiro commented on the song's instrumentation: " heguitar and bass in unison has the immediate effect of locking up a song in a strong rhythmic voice ... endrix usessome unusual chord progressions and a large number of bend in the solo ending up with a crazy double-

stop Stop may refer to: Places * Stop, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the United States * Stop (Rogatica), a village in Rogatica, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina Facilities * Bus stop * Truck stop, a type of rest stop for truck d ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

's Matthew Greenwald calls the progression "proto- heavy metal" and compares it to the earlier Experience song, "

Foxy Lady "Foxy Lady" (or alternatively "Foxey Lady") is a song by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. It first appeared on their 1967 debut album ''Are You Experienced'' and was later issued as their third single in the U.S. with the alternate spelling. It is o ...

Live releases

"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 ''Live at the Oakland Coliseum'' is a two-disc posthumous live album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. It documents the group's performance at the Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, California, on April 27, 1969. The Experience broke up two months later, m ...

'', ''

Stages Stage or stages may refer to: Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly British theatre newspaper * S ...

'', ''

Live in Ottawa ''Live in Ottawa'' is a posthumous live album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, released on October 23, 2001 by Dagger Records. The album documents the band's second performance at the Capitol Theatre in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on March 19, 1968. ...

'', '' Live at Woodstock'', '' Blue Wild Angel: Live at the Isle of Wight'', ''

Winterland Winterland Ballroom (more commonly known as Winterland Arena or simply Winterland) was an ice skating rink and music venue in San Francisco, California. The arena was located at the corner of Post Street and Steiner Street. It was converted for ...

'', and ''

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 ...

'' box set.

References

{{Authority control 1967 songs The Jimi Hendrix Experience songs Songs based on actual events Songs written by Jimi Hendrix Song recordings produced by Chas Chandler