Machine Gun is one of the masterpieces of the great rock guitar legend Jimi Hendrix. It is a song that beautifully demonstrates how art can be used to express the spoils of war.
Machine Gun exhibits Hendrix’s disapproval regarding the Vietnam War. It was never fully recorded on studio, however, it is part of the Band of Gypsys live album. There are also other recordings of live performances. Additionally, there is the edited version (featured on the video on top), part of the posthumous album Midnight Lightning released in 1975, made from an audio recording that Hendrix was working on before his death, for what would have been his fourth studio album.
Going back in history, the Vietnam War was fought between North and South Vietnam, with the United States supporting the Southern government with the intent to prevent the spreading of Communism that ruled in the Northern side of the country. This war, a.k.a Second Indochina War began in 1955 and lasted for twenty years.
Unfortunately, Hendrix did not live to see the war coming to an end as he died five years earlier, in September of 1970, at the age of 27. However, despite his relatively short career, Hendrix is still one of the most influential electric guitar players and widely acclaimed as one of the most exceptional instrumentalist in the history of rock.
During his career, Hendrix made sure to consecutively release songs that transmitted messages of spirituality and love. In this context, Machine Gun marked a twist in his repertoire. Nonetheless, the emotional aspect of this song is clearly expressed by the deep and complex guitar sounds that mimic machine guns, explosions, helicopters, among others, with some performances lasting up to twenty minutes of spectacular resonance.
On the other hand, the lyrics express Hendrix’s criticism against the death and suffering brought by the Vietnam War – “Tearing my body all apart […] Evil man make you kill me; Evil man make me kill you; Even though we’re only families apart; […]Yeah, machine gun; Tearing my family apart.“
Moreover, during concerts, while performing Machine Gun, he yelled “Well maybe I’ll pick up my axe and fight like a farmer”. For him, his weapon was his guitar, and he was fighting the way he knew and could – through the spectacular sound of his guitar.
As the renowned guitarist and musicologist Andy Aledort put it Machine Gun is the climax of Hendrix’s career and “the premiere example of [his] unparalleled genius as a rock guitarist … In this performance, Jimi transcended the medium of rock music, and set an entirely new standard for the potential of electric guitar.”
Machine gun
Tearing my body all apart
Machine gun
Tearing my body all apart
Evil man make me kill you
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
I ain’t afraid of your mess no more, babe
I ain’t afraid no more
After a while your, your cheap talk won’t even cause me pain
So let your bullets fly like rain
Because I know all the time you’re wrong baby
And you’ll be going 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 isn’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 want to hear anymore, alright
(No bullets)
At least here, huh huh
(No guns, no bombs)
Huh huh
No nothing, just let’s all live and live
You know instead of killing
