He was born “starting at age zero”.
“People ask me whether I dress and do my hair like this just for effect, but it’s not true. This is me. I don’t like to be misunderstood by anything or anybody, so if I want to wear a red bandana and turquoise slacks and if I want hair down to my ankles, well, that’s me. All those photographs you might have seen of me in a tuxedo and a bow tie playing in Wilson Pickett’s backing group were me when I was shy, scared and afraid to be myself. I had my hair slicked back and my mind combed out.”
Interviewer: “Do you comb your hair?”
Jimi: “No, I use a brush. A comb would get stuck. A girl asked me if she could comb my hair. NOBODY can comb my hair. I can’t even comb my hair. But I think this hairstyle is groovy. A mod Shirley Temple. A frizzy permanent. Anyway, it’s better than having dull, straight hair. The strands, you see, are vibrations. If your hair is straight and pointing to the ground you don’t get many vibrations. This way, though, I’ve got vibrations shooting out all ways.”
Interviewer: “Why is it necessary to be dressed peculiarly?”
Jimi: “Well, I don’t consider it actually necessary. This is the way I like to dress and look, off stage and on. I like shades of color that clash. I always wanted to be a cowboy, or Hadji Baba, [*Haji Baba Sheikh was the prime minister of the Republic of Mahabad. After the republic was conquered by the Iranian army in 1947, he was not executed. He was immune because of his religious standing.] or the Prisoner of Zenda [*an adventure novel, 1894, by Anthony Hope, in which the King of fictional Ruritania is drugged on the eve of his coronation, and is therefore unable to attend the ceremony and take the crown.] Before I go onstage my road manager says to me, ‘Jimi, you scruffy looking git, you’re not going on looking like that tonight, are you?’ And I say, ‘As soon as I’ve put out this cigarette – I’m fully dressed.’ I feel comfortable like this.”
Interviewer: “Where is fashion going?”
Jimi: “I don’t know, and I don’t care, really. Maybe people will wear different colored sheets, like in the olden days. And don’t ask me those silly questions about whether I wear underwear. I swear you should have gotten someone else for this interview.”
Wisdom, from the mouth of a babe.
Excerpts from: Jimi Hendrix, Starting at Zero: His Own Story *Haji Baba Sheikh information from Wikipedia. *Prisoner of Zenda information found on feedbooks.com. Hand stamped metal necklace on Etsy by AmbeauLynn. Color photo link: http://www.vintag.es/2015/04/sept-17th-1970-samarkand-hotel-london.html. Black and white photo link: https://www.google.com/urlsa=i&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwi5hZyil6vNAhWIKWMKHSDyBnsQjB0IBg&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com%2Fpin%2F395190936031096556%2F&psig=AFQjCNFISkt2hezhCNDfUCh6S2eHBnaHvQ&ust=1466117790086842&rct=j
Somebody Else's Wisdom 