I’m posting a holiday song a day from my personal collection until Christmas day … and today is a Jimi Hendrix medley of “Little Drummer Boy,” “Silent Night,” and “Auld Lang Syne.” Jimi was rehearsing in December 1969 for some shows at Fillmore East with drummer Buddy Miles and bassist Billy Cox (aka The Band of Gypsys). The space didn’t have soundboard so think of the medley, recorded on a two-track tape recorder, as more an official bootleg than a polished single. I can’t find a YouTube link, and the Vimeo link isn’t won’t embed, so instead, you’ll have to click on this bit of run-on typing to hear it.
The pic of Santa Jimi on the cover is from a 1967 photo shoot to promote “Axis: Bold As Love” in the UK’s “Record Mirror” weekly paper. Another photo from that shoot is at the top of the post.
“The Little Drummer Boy” is not my favorite Christmas song, but here’s a second version I can get behind – a revved-up surf rock take by Los Straitjackets,