Jimi Hendrix - Castles Made Of Sand

"Castles Made of Sand" is a song written by Jimi Hendrix and recorded by the Jimi Hendrix Experience for their 1967 second album, Axis: Bold as Love. Produced by manager Chas Chandler, the song is a biographical story about Hendrix's childhood, and was recorded towards the end of the production cycle for Axis: Bold as Love.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience began and finished work on the recording for "Castles Made of Sand" at London's Olympic Sound Studios on October 29, 1967, the penultimate day of recording for Axis: Bold as Love on which the songs "Up from the Skies", "Bold as Love", "One Rainy Wish" and "EXP" were also completed. As with the rest of the album, "Castles Made of Sand" was produced by Chas Chandler and engineered by Eddie Kramer, and was mixed at Olympic on October 31.
It is claimed that "Castles Made of Sand" is one of Hendrix's more obviously biographical songs, said to be written about his uncertain and transitional childhood involving "different homes, different schools, different careers and a mother who was here one minute and gone the next". Hendrix's brother, Leon Hendrix, has commented that the lyrics allude to their father's alcoholism, Leon being taken away so suddenly by Child Protective Services without announcement, and the abusive relationship between their parents (or from stories told by their grandmother). Writer Tom Maginn for AllMusic outlines the lyrical delivery of the song:

Each verse contains separate descriptions of universal disappointments ... All is not lost, however, as in the last verse a suicidal girl who is "crippled for life," moving her wheelchair to the shore, is saved by a sort of optimistic epiphany – ... The band drops out as Hendrix speaks the final lines, his voice and slithering guitar circling and echoing up and away into the heavens.

Musically, "The track begins with overdubbed backwards guitar creeping in, as Hendrix lays down his signature clean guitar sound", drawing comparison with fellow Axis: Bold as Love track "Little Wing". According to Maginnis, "The backwards-recorded guitar ... creates a dreamy atmosphere and lends the song its distinctive character", with fellow band members Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding providing a "laid-back groove" with their "mid-tempo drum shuffle" and "concise bass line".

Lyrics:
[Verse 1]
Down the street you can hear her scream "You're a disgrace"
As she slams the door in his drunken face
And now he stands outside
And all the neighbors start to gossip and drool
He cries "Oh girl, you must be mad
What happened to the sweet love you and me had?"
Against the door he leans and starts a scene
And his tears fall and burn the garden green

[Chorus]
And so castles made of sand
Fall in the sea eventually

[Verse 2]
A little Indian brave who before he was ten
Played war games in the woods with his Indian friends
And he built a dream that when he grew up
He would be a fearless warrior, Indian Chief
Many moons passed, and more the dream grew strong
Until tomorrow he would sing his first war song
And fight his first battle
But something went wrong
Surprise attack killed him in his sleep that night

[Chorus]
And so castles made of sand
Melts into the sea eventually

[Verse 3]
There was a young girl whose heart was a frown
'Cause she was crippled for life and she couldn't speak a sound
And she wished and prayed she could stop living
So she decided to die
She drew her wheelchair to the edge of the shore
And to her legs she smiled, "You won't hurt me no more"
But then a sight she'd never seen made her jump and say
"Look, a golden winged ship is passing my way"
And it really didn't have to stop
It just kept on going

[Outro]
And so castles made of sand
Slips into the sea eventually
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Jimi Hendrix Playlist:
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