Steveauxe

Jimi Hendrix’s "My Friend" is a satirical yet stark look at himself and his only friend, who is actually really himself.  Initially not well received when Hendrix became a solo act in New York, he achieved recognition when he moved to England and broke out with The Jimi Hendrix Experience.  Returning to New York brought a mix bag; his now famous persona also brought the hangers on and the personalities that come with it.  The song recorded in New York during the Electric Lady Land sessions is hyperbole for his feeling the stress of personal and professional commitments; he starts the blues riff with a party in the background then describes his feelings of Harlem.

Well I'm looking through Harlem,
My stomach squeals just a little more
A stagecoach full of feathers and footprints
Pulls up to my soap-box door

               Jimi uses the antithesis of his shanty ‘box’ he is living in and an ornate stagecoach that pulls up to his door.  The imagery of the ‘lady’ he uses is all business, like the pearl-handles of gun she wears as necktie.  She asks a rhetorical question have we met before, the analogy here is probably Hell’s Kitchen a part of Manhattan in New York City.

Now a lady with a pearl-handled necktie
Tied to the driver's fence
Breathes in my face
Bourbon and coke possessed words
Haven't I seen you somewhere in hell
Or was it just an accident?

                    He tries to ask her which side of hell, but is rolled over by her bandwagon.  Here Jimi uses rhyme and simile to relate the physical as well as his mental pain of her off handed rejection.

Before I could ask was it the east or west side?
My feet they howled in pain
The wheels of a bandwagon cut very deep
But not as deep in my mind as the rain

               He continues; using personification on the invitation, she leaves him with as it ‘stagger and fall’ he picks them up, brushes them off to see what they say. 

And as they pulled away I could see her words

Stagger and fallin' on my muddy tent

Well I picked them up brushed them off

To see what they say And you wouldn't believe

                     To his surprise, the invitation comes with conditions for Jimi bring the party and the money, having not found a reference for ‘tooth in the middle’ but one allusion is a bed in the middle of a room maybe the ‘lady’ is a prostitute.  

'come around to my room with the tooth in the middle

And bring along the bottle and a president'

               The chorus gives Jimi’s ironic point of view as his only friend he discovers his himself.

And-eh sometimes it's not so easy, baby
Especially when your only friend
Talks sees looks and feels like you
And you do just the same as him

               The second verse puts Jimi in Los Angeles; he uses a poetic twist on the standard “Bicycle built for two,” with the symbolism of him riding as the fool.  He meets a friend that says he does not look his usual self, indicating the stress of touring and other demands.

Well I'm riding through L A ha
On a bicycle built for fools
And I seen one of my old buddies
And he say 'you don't look the way you use to do’

               His characterization of looking like a ‘coin-box’ or made of money, but the reply reveals he looks not only broke but also broken; he shies off the comment with another personification picking up his pride and ‘combed’ the comment out of his hair.

I say ' well some people look like a coin-box'
He say 'look like you ain't got no coins to spare'
And I laid back and I thought to myself, and I said this
I just picked up my pride from underneath the pay phone
And combed his breath right out of my hair

               The chorus repeats, sadly finding that his only friend that he has is the one who talks, looks, feels like him.

And sometimes it's not so easy

Especially when your only friend

Talks sees looks and feels like you

And you do just the same as him

              

Well I just got out of a Scandinavian jail

And I'm on my way straight home to you

But I feel so dizzy I take a quick look in the mirror

To make sure my friend's here with me too

The final verse is more on a personal note: Jimi having been released from jail, apparently goes home to his girl but looks in the mirror to see if his friend is still there.  Then goes into the bridge with metaphor of what it feels like when he does get home: ‘cup full of sand.’  Realizing that his shadow, who ‘comes in line before you,’ is the only one who is his only friend.

And you know good well I don't drink coffee

So you fill my cup full of sand

And the frozen tea leaves on the bottom

Sharing lipstick around the broken edge

And my coat that you let your dog lay by the fire on

And your cat he attacks me from his pill-box ledge

And I thought you were my friend too

Man, my shadow comes in line before you

I'm finding out that it's eh not so easy

Specially when your only friend

Talks, looks, sees, and feels like you

And you do the same just like him

               The twist and turns of "My Friend" may look familiar, also on the album "Electric Lady Land" is Bob Dylan’s "All Along The Watch Tower." The slight Dylanesque word play that Jimi Hendrix uses in his music  is also indicative of the music both have made.