Red House (song)

"Red House"
Song by the Jimi Hendrix Experience
from the album Are You Experienced
ReleasedMay 12, 1967 (1967-05-12)
RecordedDecember 13, 1966
StudioCBS, London
GenreBlues[1]
Length3:45[2]
LabelTrack
Songwriter(s)Jimi Hendrix
Producer(s)Chas Chandler

"Red House" is a song written by Jimi Hendrix and one of the first songs recorded in 1966 by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. It has the musical form of a conventional twelve-bar blues and features Hendrix's guitar playing. He developed the song prior to forming the Experience and was inspired by earlier blues songs.

"Red House" was first released on the British edition of Hendrix's debut album Are You Experienced in May 1967 (for the American album release, previously released Experience singles were used in its place). A second similar take was eventually released in the US in July 1969 on the American Smash Hits compilation.

The song was a fixture of Hendrix concerts throughout his career. Although the lyrics and basic structure were followed, his performances usually varied from the original recording. Many were recorded and continue to be released officially for the first time, including on Freedom: Atlanta Pop Festival (2015) and Live in Maui (2020). "Red House" has also been performed and recorded by a variety of blues and other artists.

  1. ^ Carroll 2005, p. 107: "Hendrix playing 'Red House' in 1966 in England for his first album ... was not producing the hybrid of blues-rock, as he did later in live performance, but was instead producing an indigenous blues displaying those differences directly attributable to Hendrix's cultural life".
  2. ^ From Are You Experienced liner notes (original international Polydor edition)