“Crosstown Traffic” by Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix wrote "Crosstown Traffic" and cut it with the Experience for Electric Ladyland, their third album, in 1968, and unlike much of that guest-crowded record it's the trio on its own: Hendrix singing and playing guitar, Noel Redding on bass, Mitch Mitchell on drums, with Redding and Dave Mason on backing vocals. The secret weapon is a homemade kazoo, a comb and tissue paper, that Hendrix plays in tandem with his lead guitar at points.

Built on a hard rock riff, it stirs blues into acid rock and stands as an early sighting of psychedelic funk. As the follow-up single to "All Along the Watchtower" it reached number 52 in the US and 37 in the UK, and the trade papers were sold: Billboard called it a "pulsating swinger".

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.