If 6 Was 9
| "If 6 Was 9" | |
|---|---|
| Single by The Jimi Hendrix Experience | |
| from the album Axis: Bold as Love | |
| A-side | "Stone Free" |
| Released | September 15, 1969 (US) |
| Format | Seven-inch 45 rpm record |
| Recorded | Olympic Studios, London, May 4–5, 1967 |
| Genre | Blues rock |
| Length | 5:32 |
| Label | Reprise (no. 0853) |
| Writer(s) | Jimi Hendrix |
| Producer(s) | Chas Chandler |
| "If 60's Was 90's" | |
|---|---|
| Single by Beautiful People | |
| Released | 1994 |
| Format | CD, Single, Vinyl, 12", Promo, 33 ⅓ RPM |
| Genre | House, breaks, techno |
| Label | Essential Records |
| Writer(s) | Du Kane, Luke Baldry |
| Producer(s) | Ben Mitchell |
"If 6 Was 9" is a song written by Jimi Hendrix and recorded by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. It appeared on the release of their 1967 album Axis: Bold as Love and on the soundtrack for the 1969 film Easy Rider and the soundtrack for the 1991 film Point Break.
The style of the song has been referred to as "acid-fueled blues". The guitar solo is noteworthy for making innovative use of studio technology for the time, with stereo panning from left to right and vice versa, along with other effects, such as slap echo, fuzzbox distortion, and reverb.
There is some confusion as to whether Hendrix played a flute or a soprano recorder on this track. The credits list Hendrix as playing flute, but recorder player Rodney Waterman and Joe Vanderford of Independent Weekly refer to Hendrix's instrument as a recorder. Early music enthusiast Nicholas S. Lander maintains that "the high tessitura, the typical 'breaking' between octaves, and other characteristics are more suggestive of a soprano recorder."
Compared to the other tracks on Axis: Bold As Love, "If 6 Was 9" suffers from an unusually large amount of tape noise, dropouts, and overall "rough" sound quality. According to Hendrix biographer John McDermott, the master tape used for the album was a quarter-inch open-reel tape belonging to bassist Noel Redding, containing an early rough mix of the song. This technically inferior copy (intended for a home tape player) had to be used at the last minute since the album's final stereo master tape had been accidentally lost, and "If 6 Was 9" was the one song that Hendrix and engineer Eddie Kramer could not satisfactorily remix. They reportedly had to use a clothes iron to remove wrinkles in the badly mishandled tape, copied it onto new studio-quality tape, and inserted it into the final album master with no further modification.
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