This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
Purple Haze all in my brain,
Lately things don't seem the same,
Actin' funny but I don't know why
Excuse me while I kiss the sky.
Purple Haze all around,
Don't know if I'm coming up or down.
Am I happy or in misery?
Whatever it is, that girl put a spell on me.
Help me! Oh, no.
Purple Haze all in my eyes,
Don't know if it's day or night,
You've got me blowing, blowing my mind
Is it tomorrow or just the end of time?
Lately things don't seem the same,
Actin' funny but I don't know why
Excuse me while I kiss the sky.
Purple Haze all around,
Don't know if I'm coming up or down.
Am I happy or in misery?
Whatever it is, that girl put a spell on me.
Help me! Oh, no.
Purple Haze all in my eyes,
Don't know if it's day or night,
You've got me blowing, blowing my mind
Is it tomorrow or just the end of time?
Lyrics submitted by , edited by digitalmanMKII
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
Zombie
Cranberries, The
Cranberries, The
"Zombie" is about the ethno-political conflict in Ireland. This is obvious if you know anything of the singer (Dolores O'Riordan)'s Irish heritage and understood the "1916" Easter Rising reference.
"Another head hangs lowly
Child is slowly taken
And the violence caused such silence
Who are we mistaken
-
Another mother's breaking
Heart is taking over"
Laments the Warrington bomb attacks in which two children were fatally injured on March 23rd, 1993. Twelve year old Tim Parry was taken off life support with permission from his mother after five days in the hospital, virtually braindead.
"But you see it's not me
It's not my family"
References how people who are not directly involved with the violence feel about it. They are "zombies" without sympathy who refuse to take action while others suffer.
I really think that this song is about Jimi being lovestuck. I'd also believe it was a dream, because he said so. Honestly, do you guys really think Jimi would want all of you getting in these big fights because ou don't know what the songs mean. Maybe it is about drugs, but that would be too obvious. I'm just saying what I think, so don't go getting all mad at me or anything. I'd appreciate corrects though.
Two words: Acid trip.
Jimi did do heavy drugs, which is part of the reason why he played so well. He was awesome, but he said that the purple haze song was written about the science fiction scene. He said he was a big fan of science fiction and decided to write a song along those lines.
Like most of us, I thought for years that this is song about the person's feeling who took a strong dose of drugs.
But now I beleive this 'Purple Haze' is the love which bound Jimin in its spell. So he is so happy that he want to kiss the sky (to thank God may be), he is went in so crazy in true love that he lost his mind and cannot think if its day or night or end of time.
And a major clue to support my claim is what he said in the song "what ever this girl put a spell on me"
This is the beauty of many songs of western music that you can extract many meanings out of it and still can't be 100% assured after years that what is the original/real meaning behind the lyrics.
well kt, he was supposedly hung like godzilla................ he played guitar too, thats it in a nutshell
I refuse to look through a whole bunch of people whining about drugs... this song is about being in a daze whether from drugs or something else.. but I would assume it refers to being a stoner. who cares.. Jimi Hendrix was good. He played Woodstock bombed on LSD.
Acid trip is nowhere near my thoughts, it was actually about a dream he had. During the dream Jesus came to him almost as a prophet. Not only the original Song name was along the lines of, Baby Jesus, Purple Haze, it was along those lines so don't quote me on that. Hendrix did do acid but only once and he didn't do heavy drugs, hell he oculdn't even play when doing heavy drugs and don't say to me that he had over-dosed which is a major falsity. Finally, if you'rew going to commment make sure you know what the hell you're talking about.Buh-bye now.
Well I never thought of what maggot said, but thats kind of cool, because hendrix recieved a great gift from god
Maggot yeh you might know alot about Jimi but dont be stupid! Dont tell everyone yeh jimi only did acid once and didnt do hard drugs...just for some odd reason he was caught about 3 times by the police and in airports with herion! so maybe you need to read up!! and yeh he claims it wasnt his herion and that he didnt pack his back but everyone knows that he was a herion addict... so maybe the song isnt about an acid trip but dont say he didnt do hard drugs! and how the fuck would you know that stuff anyways..like yeh u know exactly how many times he has done acid!
This is a great song, and it sure sounds like he was on SOMETHING. The Jesus thing doesnt sound too plausible but i wouldnt know anyway.