[ ]   [ ]   [ ]                        [ ]      [ ]   [ ]
Jimi Hendrix — Machine Gun
Album: Band of Gypsys
Avg rating:
7.5

Your rating:
Total ratings: 483








Released: 1970
Length: 12:03
Plays (last 30 days): 0
Machine gun
Tearing my body all apart

Machine gun
Tearing my body all apart

Evil man make me kill ya
Evil man make you kill me
Evil man make me kill you
Even though we're only families apart

Well I pick up my axe and fight like a farmer
(You know what I mean)
Hey and your bullets keep knocking me down

Hey I pick up my axe and fight like a farmer now
Yeah but you still blast me down to the ground

The same way you shoot me down baby
You'll be going just the same
Three times the pain
And your own self to blame
Hey machine gun

Oooooooooo

I ain't afraid of your mess no more, babe
I ain't afraid no more
After a while your your cheap talk don't even cause me pain
So let your bullets fly like rain
'Cause I know all the time you're wrong baby
And you'll be goin' just the same
Yeah machine gun
Tearing my family apart
Yeah yeah alright
Tearing my family apart

Don't you shoot him down
He's about to leave here
Don't you shoot him down
He's got to stay here
He ain't going nowhere
He's been shot down to the ground
Oh where he can't survive no no

Yeah that's what we don't wanna hear any more, alright
No bullets
At least here, huh huh
No guns, no bombs
Huh huh
No nothin', just let's all live and live
You know instead of killin'
Comments (54)add comment
 lizardking wrote:

+1 to 9, mostly because it dawned on me how great this LIVE recording sounds, Jimi just had a supernatural ability to play his instrument, in fact Jimi is the one artist that I appreciate musically way more than I enjoy his music, so the +1 also recognizes to me how much more of a fan of Jimi I am.  

LLRP




YES!!
There is only ONE TUNE from this album on the RP playlist. PLEASE ADD MORE!!   Thank You!
+1 to 9, mostly because it dawned on me how great this LIVE recording sounds, Jimi just had a supernatural ability to play his instrument, in fact Jimi is the one artist that I appreciate musically way more than I enjoy his music, so the +1 also recognizes to me how much more of a fan of Jimi I am.  

LLRP
It is amazing how Buddy Miles was able to replicate the timing of short bursts of a 50cal machine gun!!  He must have studied a lot of Vietnam war footage!!
GREAT TUNE!  I bought this album, 2 weeks after it came out! I was 15yrs old! GREAT ALBUM!  Even better NOW in FLAC w/ great studio phones, amp & DAC!  Thanx RP!  
 iSoul wrote:

Well, it's Jimi, I know. But it sucks kind of.. 🤔




If you don't like it, hit the SKIP button and SHUT UP!!!
ICONIC! I have always LOVED this album, from the moment it was released!
Band o Gypsies is my fav here in 2021. I’ve heard the other albums too much. He is elegant, innovative and experimental. As I’ve said many times, ‘just try to imagine what rNr / contemporary music would have been had he not died …’ #JimiForEver
 iSoul wrote:
Well, it's Jimi, I know. But it sucks kind of.. 🤔
 

I'VE never really liked it nor understood the acclaim,  but after hearing it for 40+ years I appreciate it a little more than I did at first. 

Unbelievable! 
Well, it's Jimi, I know. But it sucks kind of.. 🤔

What an intro, I can't explain!
Haven't heard this in ages - thanks for spinning it!
Thanks SO MUCH for playing a Jimi tune OTHER THAN Watch Tower, Purple Haze, Hey Joe and all the other Jimi tunes that have been played to death!!  So refreshing to hear the amazing guitar work on this song!  Please play it again...and again.  Who's singing at the end?
You can hear some great bass and drum work in this song.  Shows how well the band played together.
 Spliff wrote:
I had been burned at a couple of Jimi's concerts in the early 70s, but remember when this came out, it reestablished him as the super talent he was.
 
Poor Jimi was actively using during that period. Sometimes couldn't make it and would just walk off the stage.
 Onogirl wrote:
key of E........................over & over..........meh

 
I can't listen to this as a musician (guitarist).  I just sit and let it wash over me..  He so far transcends the conventions of key signature, it just goes somewhere else.  the bass is meant to simply stay out of the way...  Sheer brilliance..
Ghostly, as if from another world.
Jimi was not happy with this performance. It was near the end and he often had trouble "keepin it together" and felt he was out of tune as well. Of course his playing is still brilliant and so very soulful. Much sadness to his playing and vocals during this period. All of it earned.
When that guitar solo kicks in at about 2 min or so, one realizes how far ahead he was.  All the stun guitar that came afterwards in the 70's has their roots from Jimi.  The first in your face guitar hero.
I absolutely agree!
———- 

hayduke2 wrote:
its not music man, its an experience  way 10 imo

key of E........................over & over..........meh
its not music man, its an experience  way 10 imo
 gresua wrote:
Who said that Jimi Hendrix, it's not Hardrock?
Not me.., Jimi is hardrock, is melody, is feeling, is the Einstein of music, the Beethoven of the gitar.


 


Jimi Hendrix, for ever..!!


This really song feeds it but more so back in '70 and '71,  when the brothers and sisters were coming back from Nam. 
Who said that Jimi Hendrix, it's not Hardrock?

.....8->>10.....
This post apparently contained an image that was dragged into the post editor. Sorry, but any text contained in the post after this point has been lost.
Nobody has ever played the guitar better, nobody!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Scrambleg eggs for brekky, yum! Sadly still relevent, perhaps even more so.
coccyx wrote:
I hate scrambled, screaming electric guitar noise to repetitive bass riff, no matter how exalted the "musician". Cmon people, unless you're turned on by technical mastery of the guitar (nothing wrong with that), this comes across as a heap of annoying noise.
I think this tune could have been a lot more with a better rhythm section. Buddy Miles was there for his vocals, but his drumming just ain't up to Mitch Mitchell's standard.
First song I have heard today that is actually revving up my brain to do some fantastic work at the job! Guess I have to have it!
I hate scrambled, screaming electric guitar noise to repetitive bass riff, no matter how exalted the "musician". Cmon people, unless you're turned on by technical mastery of the guitar (nothing wrong with that), this comes across as a heap of annoying noise.
This album is superb. "Who Knows" is great! For those looking to get closer to the experience there is a DVD available that is pretty amazing.
8. Probably would have been a 10 if Mitch Mitchell had played on it.
Wow. Just wow. 10, and easily; he deserves it.
A masterpiece the sounds he gets are simply incredible this is THE song I heard as a kid in 72' that simply blew me away and made me realize sometimes there is something even more too music.
diane wrote:
I've always liked Hendrix, but this is a stong exception. It starts out fine, but quickly starts to meander. Then it gets noisy, meanders more, gets rowdier, wanders some more, and finally, kind of dies.
The way you define the song it could very well be meant! A soldier going to war, feeling fine at first, etc.
I've always liked Hendrix, but this is a stong exception. It starts out fine, but quickly starts to meander. Then it gets noisy, meanders more, gets rowdier, wanders some more, and finally, kind of dies. Hmmm. Well, just doesn't work for me. I'll hold Mary up to Machine Gun any day, any way...
And this, people, was why he was the master
A generation later, still, sadly, pertinent.
I was reminded why I hated this LP. After "Electric Ladyland", Jimi had pretty much covered it. I would have given it a 1 but it is, after all, Jimi. So he gets a 2 on this effort. Anything from the Experience releases, though -- THAT'S a different story. Oh, and I WAS there.
some of the guitar in this sounds like the freaky guitar part in PF's "echoes". Not much, but a little bit.
This is great, but I'm sure it doesn't even hold a candle up to the real experience of having seen it live. Wish I could have been there.
MisterVErb wrote:
what a miserable existence the person who rated this a one must live. what can I say, "your cheap talk don't even cause me pain, so let your bullets fly like rain"
you know what, forget that hippie crap - come out here and explain yourself!
what a miserable existence the person who rated this a one must live. what can I say, "your cheap talk don't even cause me pain, so let your bullets fly like rain"
I had been burned at a couple of Jimi's concerts in the early 70s, but remember when this came out, it reestablished him as the super talent he was.
:nodhead: :sunny.gif:
Must have been some New Years Show!!! Can't even imagine!
I first heard this over 20 years ago when I was 16 and I never recovered. Absolutely amazing!
I remember being completely blown away by this song the first time I heard it at a party in Wichita Falls, Texas in 1976.
I had to, of course, give this a "10" as I will never forget the buzz back when this came out...oh yeah...still rockin'
love BoG.