To all intents and purposes, this book has been written by Jimmy Hendrix.

But since it has been compiled after his death, it seems only fair to offer an explanation

as to how the final text was arrived at.

It evolved out of a film biography of him that I was working on.

Not wishing to put words into Jimmy's mouth, we began experimenting with dialogue called from

records of things he had actually said. An enormous dossier was compiled from all the sources that could be definitively authenticated.

There was a super abundance of material, since during his four years in the spotlight he was constantly

giving interviews. He was also a compulsive writer using hotel stationary, scraps

of paper, cigarette cartons, napkins, anything that came to hand.

Funny, Jay-Z did the exact same thing when he was young as well.

That's episode 238 if you haven't listened to the

podcast I made on JC's autobiography. On reading through all the available

material, it is clear that Jimmy left behind his own remarkable and

comprehensive account of himself.

We felt it imperative that Jimmy should be allowed to offer his own personal version of his

life and music.

The fact that Jimmy's speech patterns are so rhythmic and his turns of phrase so visually

rich served to enhance this approach.

In a remarkable and haunting way, the book took on a life of its own.

He always claimed that for him, life and music were inseparable.

As the book progresses, it becomes less an account of external

events and more an exploration of an internal journey. That is an excerpt from the book that I'm going to talk to you about today which is

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