“Fire” by Jimi Hendrix

"Fire" dates from early 1967, when the Jimi Hendrix Experience cut it, and it's less a guitar showcase than a running argument between Hendrix and his drummer, Mitch Mitchell, which is why it has so often been called a duet. AllMusic's Matthew Greenwald heard soul and psychedelic rock in it, riding on drumming that borrowed its polyrhythms from jazz, and that about covers it: Hendrix's come-on vocal and choppy riffs on one side, Mitchell's rolls and crashes on the other, the whole thing barely lasting long enough to catch its breath.

It got a fresh stereo mix for its American album release, and in 1969 Britain got it as a stereo single titled "Let Me Light Your Fire". Hendrix leaned on it night after night in concert, and it has turned up on compilation after compilation, from Smash Hits to Fire: The Jimi Hendrix Collection.

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