Book: Hendrix Used Gay Ruse To Avoid Vietnam

[mattclearing]

Billboard link here: http://www.billboard.com/bb/daily/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001000875

"Jimi Hendrix might have stayed in the Army. He might have been sent to Vietnam. Instead, he pretended he was gay. And with that, he was discharged from the 101st Airborne in 1962, launching a musical career that would redefine the guitar, leave other rock heroes of the day speechless and culminate with his headlining performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Woodstock in 1969."

"Hendrix's subterfuge, contained in his military medical records, is revealed for the first time in Charles R. Cross' new biography, 'Room Full of Mirrors.' Publicly, Hendrix always claimed he was discharged after breaking his ankle on a parachute jump, but his medical records do not mention such an injury."

"In regular visits to the base psychiatrist at Fort Campbell, Ky., in spring 1962, Hendrix complained that he was in love with one of his squad mates and that he had become addicted to masturbating, Cross writes. Finally, Capt. John Halbert recommended him for discharge, citing his 'homosexual tendencies.'"

"Hendrix's legendary appetite for women negates the notion that he might have been gay, Cross writes. Nor, Cross says, was his stunt politically motivated: Contrary to his later image, Hendrix was an avowed anti-communist who exhibited little unease about the escalating U.S. role in Vietnam."

[Algorem]

1. "Scuse me while I kiss this guy"?

"evil man make me kill you":That's "little unease"?

[Deja Q]

3. Yeah, baby!

:woohoo:

[NNN0LHI]

7. 'scuse me while I kiss the sky'

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/312750.html

Meaning

Misheard lyric.

Origin

The correct lyric from Jimi Hendrix's Purple Haze is 'scuse me while I kiss the sky'. Actually, even after knowing the authorised version of the lyric, it still sounds to me that Hendrix is singing 'kiss this guy'. It is possible that he phrased it ambiguously. He certainly played around with the lyric in later live performances, once the misheard version became well known.

[Igel]

21. No, you're not mishearing it.

We don't aspirate voiceless stop consonants after /s/ in a word, or when a stressless word ending in /s/ precedes an initial voiceless stop. Compare "Curt" and "skirt", and listen for the h-like sound after the /k/ in "Curt": it's all but missing in "skirt".

We also don't actually voice our "voiced" stops: our voiceless stops are aspirated, our "voiced" ones aren't aspirated. 'guy' vs. 'Kai' different not in voicing, but in aspiration.

This means that if we lose the aspiration of the /k/ in "skirt" it can't be distinguished from how a /g/ sounds, except in really careful pronunciation: "this guy" versus "this Kai".

Same with 'the sky'or 'this sky' and 'this guy'. Without the aspiration marking the /k/ in 'sky' as voiceless, it sounds like the /g/ in 'guy'. The difference is neutralized.

And you'll be happy to know that the standard example from general education linguistics textbooks is precisely "this guy" vs. "the sky" (even though for a lot of Americans the schwa in 'this' and the schwa in 'the' are different).

[Walt Starr]

It was, " 'Scuse me while I kiss the sky."

{cough? }
Purple haze all in my brain
Lately things just don’t seem the same
Actin’ funny, but I don’t know why
’scuse me while I kiss the sky
Purple haze all around
Don’t know if I’m comin’ up or down
Am I happy or in misery?
What ever it is, that girl put a spell on me
Help me
Help me
Oh, no, no

Hammerin’
Talkin’ ’bout heart ’n’...s-soul
I’m talkin’ about hard stuff
If everbodys still around, fluff and ease, if
So far out my mind
Somethings happening, somethings happening
Ooo, ahhh
Ooo, {click} ahhh,
Ooo, ahhh
Ooo, ahhh, yeah!
Purple haze all in my eyes, uhh
Don’t know if it’s day or night
You got me blowin’, blowin’ my mind
Is it tomorrow, or just the end of time?
Ooo
Help me
Ahh, yea-yeah, purple haze, yeah
Oh, no, oh
Oh, help me
Purple haze, tell me, baby, tell me
I can’t go on like this
Purple haze
You’re makin’ me blow my mind...mama
Purple haze, n-no, nooo
Purple haze, no, it’s painful, baby

[evlbstrd]

18. Nope.

"'Scuse me while I kiss the sky."

[Deja Q]

2. Holy Jack Tripper, batman!

:wow:

Ranks right up there with rush limbaugh, doesn't he? Lying to get out of vietnam.

Not that I can blame Jimi... unless he was alive today and pushing to attack other countries, of course...

[Buns_of_Fire]

4. "'Scuse me, while I kiss this guy..."

Maybe those lyrics weren't misheard, after all? :shrug:

(On edit: Durn. Two minutes too slow, as usual. Durn, durn, heckydurn...)

[underpants]

5. What did W use?

Just asking

[Bridget Burke]

6. He had the connections to save himself "legally"

Too bad that he couldn't even complete his safer obligations honorably.

[crikkett]

15. cocaine, i heard

:evilgrin:

[atreides1]

8. And What About Ted Nugent

Remember Ted, avoided getting drafted by living in his own feces and urine before reporting to the draft board.

[mattclearing]

9. Glad to see people appreciate this as much as I do.

Just warms my heart that Jimi used the Army's homophobia for his escape clause. Brilliant.

[getmeouttahere]

12. Definitely, whatever it takes...

I hope we see more of that when BushCo re-instates the draft

[Teaser]

10. Purportedly, Jimi was a chickenhawk

that actually supported the Vietnam war.

Don't know if I believe it, but anything's possible.

[mattclearing]

11. In 1962, perhaps, but by the time of Woodstock...n/t

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

20. Chickenhawks have not served in the military

Hendricks Did.

[Talismom]

13. He was a genius on many fronts! n/t

[Toucano]

14. He "pretended" he was gay?

Okay.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

16. Hendrix gave little anti Vietnam war speeches at 3 concerts I attended

in 1968 and 1969, as well as statements in support of the Black Panthers. They weren't long or particularly dramatic, as Jimi seemed very shy when speaking into the microphone between songs. The Star Spangled Banner was itself an anti-war anthem, with sonic images of shock and awe, strafing, and destruction, with Jimi mocking the "bombs burning in air" during the Vietnam war leaving no doubt what his version of the national anthem was all about. And there's the tune "Machine Gun" with more sonic images of screaming, crying, and death with his guitar, as Hendrix soloed on this tune live.

Machine gun,
tearin' my body all apart.
Machine gun,yeah,
tearin' my body all apart.
Evil man make me kill you.
Evil man make you kill me.
Evil man make me kill you,
even though were only famlies apart.

I was a big supporter of the military in the beginning. I was an Air Force brat and my father was in Vietnam in 1965. But by 1968, I think an entire generation of young, naive Americans woke up.

[MnFats]

24. thanks. this should be cleared up.

Jimi used to make some sly digs at hippies but he disliked poseurs all around and there were a few of those among the hippies.
he matured into a clear antiwar voice.
there are some bootleg recordings of Jimi playing "machine gun' with Band of Gypsies in which this is made crystal clear.

as far as faking gayness to get out of Vietnam, more power to him.
even Springsteen used to talk about trying to fuck up his draft physical.

[Felix Mala]

17. This is pretty old news. Didn't Jim Morrison do something similar?

[acmavm]

19. I don't care what ploy anybody used to get out of Viet Nam. It was another

immoral war that we just couldn't win. Hell, they didn't want us over there with the CIA killing their leaders and then trying to hijack the government. Not anymore than the Iraqis want the neocons pulling the same shit in their country.

54 thousand plus dead, for nothing.

[Zorra]

22. So? Big deal. Our pResident went AWOL. n/t

[progressivebydesign]

23. Umm. Has anyone heard of BISEXUALITY?

I mean.. it's entirely possible that he was attracted to men and women. I thought we were progressive around here. Being attracted to other men does not preclude a guy from being with women. Before we trash someone who cannot defend themselves from a book...

[Toucano]

25. I've heard of Santa Claus, too! Doesn't make him real.

I'm just teasing, of course.