14 versions of "Little Wing"

One of my all-time favorite songs is Sting's version of the classic Jimi Hendrix song "Little Wing," which he recorded on Nothing Like the Sun. (The solo by Hiram Bullock Omar Hakim is one of the very best performances in the crowded rock pantheon of great guitar work.) It's also very different from the two best-known versions of the song, Hendrix's original and Derek and the Dominos' cover (each of which is very different from the other), much jazzier and quieter.

This evening, after a long meeting at my kids' school, I visited the Internet Archive's Live Music archive, and looked around for other versions of "Little Wing." The Internet Archive is a pretty remarkable resource: it has several thousand Grateful Dead concerts, for starters, and every song in the archive is free. Turns out there are about 50, recorded all around the U.S., spanning more than a decade, by a bunch of bands you've probably never heard of.

So I now have a playlist on my iPod that consists of nothing but different covers of "Little Wing:" acoustic folksy version, hard-edged blues versions, versions that were clearly derived from the Hendrix performance, versions that were clearly derived from the Derek and the Dominos (there are almost dueling interpretive schools devoted to this single song).... I could listen to the same song-- and yet not quite the same song-- for about three hours.

Oh, and I bought one version on iTunes, the Corrs' intimate, Celtic-inflected cover.

Strange? Slightly obsessed? Perhaps (and just the kind of behavior you want in a researcher). But I think the Internet Archive, and the relationship between its offerings and what's available on commercial services, tells us something about the future of user-created content and its relationship to more conventional media.

Blogs are not going to compete with newspapers; cell phone cameras aren't going to replace photojournalists; and the Internet Archive's music database isn't going to kill iTunes. Ultimately, they're going to occupy different niches, and play off each other, because user-created media is going to be best at capturing performances, events, conversations, and other things you might think of as valuable ephemera: things that can be quite worth preserving, but have an element of unpredictability about them.

For me, a great example is conference talks. There are lots of really mediocre conference talks, and some terrible ones; but there are some that are great, and a few that generate some terrific discussions afterwards. But what happens to that moment, or to those conversations? In the past, if you were lucky, the people who were in the room would remember what a great job you did, and how engaged and excited everyone was by your performance and the ideas that were generated. Now, though, thanks to the miracle of conference blogging, it's relatively easy to both record and retrieve such moments-- and to build on them later.

Likewise, 99.99% of cell phone camera pictures won't be newsworthy; even mobs of users aren't likely to put any photojournalists out of work. But they can have three virtues. One is immediacy-- the sense, reinforced by the very amateurishness of the production, that You Are There. Another is multiplicity-- having lots of cameras providing multiple perspectives on a single event. Third, and most important over the long run, is simple presence: just being at an event that a reporter isn't).

The same relationship will hold for music on sites like the Internet Archive. There are a million phenomenal concerts that live on in the memories of the people who were there, but are never heard by the rest of the world. To take one example more or less at random, one song I recently downloaded is a cover of "I Shall Be Released" by a performance by a folk/bluegrass/etc. band named Cornmeal, recorded at a memorial concert for a friend of theirs. I have no idea who the band is, and don't know if I'll go back and get more of their music, but this version of "I Shall Be Released," played in memory of a friend and fellow musician, is tremendous-- one of those small moments that deserves to be preserved. ABC will cover a presidential press conference, no matter how dull it is; on the other hand, Sony Music is never going to record a show in some small club in San Francisco (not to mention Asheville, Williamstown, Eugene, Biloxi, Austin, Lower Merion...), no matter how good it is. Likewise, Marcus Eaton's acoustic version of "Little Wing," or any of Zero's more free jazz/bluesy versions, aren't going to replace Derek and the Dominos: an individual performance may be terrific, and it's interesting to see how different artists reinterpret the same song, but Eaton and Zero need the classic recordings to, as it were, play off of.

All the talk of blogs replacing newspapers, or bottom-up media destroying top-down media, is wrong. Each can do things well that the other cannot; and ultimately they'll end up complementing each other more than they compete.

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Comments

[Victoria]

Is it correct to assume you also have Sting's "Mariposa Libre" version?

[Alex Soojung-Kim Pang]

Actually, no, I haven't heard it.... I'm now very intrigued....

[V. Rout]

I stopped at 11 :

Hendrix : "Axis : Bold as Love" "Paris Olympia 1967" "In the West" (=Royal Albert Hall 1969)

Pearl Jam Live in Milwaukee 1995

Gil Evans : studio 1974 (LP "There comes a time" or CD "Plays Hendrix) Cologne 1978 (LP "In Europe" / Circle Records) Bradford 1983 (LP "The British Orchestra / Mole Jazz) Montreux 1983 (CD "Take me the Sun" / Last Chance Music) Ravenne 1986 (Bootleg CD "We Rember Jimi" feat. J.McLaughlin) New-York, Sweet Basil 1986 (CD "Farewell" / Electric Bird") 1987 Perugia (Bootleg CD "Last sessions" with STING)

My favorite ones from Gil Evans' versions are Cologne 1978 (a long one, 26,5 mn, on a slow tempo, with a small "Big" Band of 8 musicians only, very intimate and sometimes minimalist) and Sweet Basil 1986 (with a regular band playing each week together : brilliant solos, changes of tempo and moods).

Minor nitpick: Omar Hakim was sting's *drummer* on the Blue Turtles album and the live double album Bring On The Night which followed. Manu Katche plays drums on most of this album, but the drummer on Little Wing is Kenwood Dennard, from Gil Evans' band.

The blazing guitar solos are played by Hiram Bullock (also from Gil Evans' orchestra at that time, I believe).

This is one of my 2-3 favorite Sting songs ever. Just amazing.

[Alex Soojung-Kim Pang]

Oops, you're absolutely right! Thanks for the correction. So stunning a piece of guitar work absolutely deserves to be properly credited.

[rodrigo quevedo]

I've heard a version of Little Wing where sings a
woman. It's a very rocker version,good guitar solos... never knew who made it. Somebody knows something about this version?
Thanks

[Alex Soojung-Kim Pang]

Chaka Kahn did a fabulous version that has some excellent guitar work, on the CD "The Power of Soul." The Corrs version is wonderful, but doesn't have any guitar solo.

[Carl Appellof]

There's a great version of "Castles Made of Sand/Little Wing" done by Tuck & Patti in the CD named "Love Warriors". Hard to believe Tuck only has 10 fingers after hearing this version.

[rodrigo quevedo]

I finally found it, but it's recorded in a tape. I'll make an mp3 of this song. If somebody wants to hear the version, there is my mail. Bye!

[Alex Soojung-Kim Pang]

It is also available on iTunes....

[ybn0rmal2]

In researching the artist for a song, i came across your 9/23/05 post about your collection of little wing covers. It just so happens that this is the song i'm trying to find the artist for. The only clues i have to it is the singer (who ever he is) says to the guitarist "Take it Mark" as he goes into the solo and it is performed live. Do you have any idea who is singing this version of it? Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

[JPierre]

Little wing is also one of my favorite song.

What I would like to know is the story of this song.

Hendrix did the original one which had lyrics.

Some very good covers are instrumental version.

For instance, Stevie Ray Vaughan played very offen it following by third stone from the sun.

Did Hendrix ever played the instrumental version?

If not, who did it for the first time?

[rd]

I've got about 250 (NOT a typo) versions of Little Wing (including about 30 by Jimi.)

I've also got about 300 version of Red House.

Who woulda thunk it.

[rd]

I've got about 250 (NOT a typo) versions of "Little Wing" (including about 30 by Jimi.)

I've also got about 300 versions of "Red House" (about 50 by Jimi.)

I've also done other songs-for example about 30 versions of "Honky Tonk Women."

It's a sickness, If anyone is remotely interested, I could put together a list.

subscriptions33@hotmail.com

[rd]

Reading this blog motivated me to consolidate my Little Wing collection from the 5 CDs it was spread out on. After eliminating duplicates (and songs labeled "Little Wing" that were not the Hendrix song), downloading new live versions from archive.org, and downloading a few other versions from torrent sources the Little Wing collection now numbers almost 350--comprising around 320 different bands and individuals. Then I visited allmusic.com and put together a list of 100 versions I DON'T have. Let this be a cautionary tale on complete-ism.

[Jesse]

I also have the "Take it Mark" version of Little Wing and cannot figure out who it it. It seems to be a fusion of Jimi's version with SRV's version. My song had the ID tage as G3/Joe Satriani, but this is incorrect, as every G3 version of this song I have heard is wrong.

Anyone have any ideas?

I have had the "Take it Mark" version of Little Wing for a couple years now and it is no mystery to me who the vocalist is, it is the opposite for me. I want to know who "Mark" is. The vocalist is Geoff Tate from Queensryche. Anyone who knows please let me know.

[Greg]

There is a version of Little Wing on YouTube by Mark Cole that sounds exactly like the "Take it Mark" version except there is no vocals.

[Greg]

I found it. The band is called Charge. You can download the song at http://chargeworld.com/

[rodrigo quevedo]

OK, i'finally after years, found the name of yhe band that plays the version: CONCRETE BLONDE. Is a non very ortodox version, but i like it a lot. Happy new year for all!!

[Vickie]

This is a remarkable find. I have been researching Littlewing for about 5 years, not avidly, but it started when i realized there were more than one version. My first husband said that song reminded him of me and now its a fav. Littlewing as I understand it may have been the name of a girlfriend of hendrix who was native american. I am trying to put together a disk with all the versions. anyone who has a list compiled and doesn't mind sharing...