Kiss the Sky

This morning I caught myself singing, "...excuse me while I kiss the sky." It's a phrase I have had in the recesses of my brain since I was a ten year-old learning to play the electric guitar. I admire Jimi Hendrix as a musician and gain more respect for his music as I get older. He made an astonishing contribution to the art of rock guitar and his playing continues to sound fresh, modern and unique.

After Brenda heard me sing the phrase from Hendrix' Purple Haze, she was compelled to do a Google search on the song. To her surprise, she came across something that the world may never know about Jimi.

Hendrix, according to his manager Chas Chandler, was said to have written the song after a troubling dream. In it he was walking under the sea where a purple haze surrounded him and he became lost. The interesting part is that in his dream his faith in Jesus saved him. At one point, according to the story, Hendrix wrote the chorus as "Purple Haze, Jesus Saves," but decided against it.

Of course, a Google search isn't the end-all to a quest for facts. One is required to dig, verify and confirm again and again a claim purported to be truth. In this case, outside of a memoir, we may never know. I even read a few years back that Stevie Ray Vaughan had a spiritual awakening before he died.

I can only hope that Jimi and Stevie looked beyond their incredible musical gifts to the Gift Giver. Even though I cannot know for certain, my imagination takes over and I see these two geniuses kneeling at the throne, playing their Fender Strats, singing, "Purple Haze, Jesus Saves!"