Bleeding Heart (song)
| "Bleeding Heart" | |
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| Single by Elmore James | |
| Released | April 1965 |
| Format | 7-inch 45 rpm |
| Recorded | late February – early March 1961 |
| Studio | Beltone, New York City |
| Genre | Blues |
| Length | 2:37 |
| Label | Enjoy |
| Songwriter(s) | Elmore James |
| Producer(s) | Bobby Robinson |
| "Bleeding Heart" | ||||
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| Single by Jimi Hendrix | ||||
| from the album Valleys of Neptune | ||||
| B-side | "Peace in Mississippi" | |||
| Released | March 1, 2010 (digital), March 8, 2010 (record) | |||
| Format | Digital download, 7-inch 45 rpm | |||
| Recorded | April 24, 1969 | |||
| Studio | Record Plant, New York City | |||
| Genre | Funk rock | |||
| Length | 6:20 | |||
| Label | Legacy | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Elmore James | |||
| Producer(s) | Jimi Hendrix | |||
| Jimi Hendrix singles chronology | ||||
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"Bleeding Heart" (sometimes called "(My) Bleeding Heart") is a song written and recorded by American blues musician Elmore James in 1961. Considered "among the greatest of James' songs", "Bleeding Heart" was later popularized by Jimi Hendrix, who recorded several versions of the song.
"Bleeding Heart" is a slow-tempo twelve-bar blues that features Elmore James' vocal and slide guitar. It was recorded during one of his last recording sessions and has session musicians providing accompaniment, instead of James' regular band the "Broomdusters". According to producer Bobby Robinson, it was his idea to record James with a "big band sound" and to hire band leader Paul Williams to arrange the horn section. The song contains some of James' more memorable verses:
People, people, people, you know what it means to be left alone (2×)
No letter today, not even a call on my telephone ...
Misunderstanding and a no-good woman
They have both caused my heart to bleed
Although recorded in 1961, "Bleeding Heart" was not released until 1965, two years after James' death. It was first issued as the B-side to the first pressing of "It Hurts Me Too" (Enjoy 2015), which became a Billboard R&B chart hit and made an appearance in the pop chart. "Bleeding Heart" was later released with "Mean Mistreatin' Mama" (Enjoy 2020). These single versions were edited to 2:37; a 3:05 version later appeared on the Elmore James Memorial Album and various compilation albums, sometimes with the title "(My) Bleeding Heart".
Jimi Hendrix, who frequently cited Elmore James as an influence, recorded several different arrangements of "Bleeding Heart". An early performance with Hendrix on vocal and guitar was recorded with Curtis Knight and the Squires in 1965 or 1966. It followed James' version. In 1968, a live version of the song was recorded at a jam session at the Scene Club in New York and later released on several bootleg and gray-market albums, including Bleeding Heart. Again Hendrix used some new lyrics, but the performance was marred by "a very drunken Jim Morrison ... burbling a combination of lyrics and obscenities over the jamming musicians" for half of the song.
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Wikipedia