"Wait Until Tomorrow" | |
---|---|
Song by the Jimi Hendrix Experience | |
from the album Axis: Bold as Love | |
Released | December 1, 1967 |
Recorded | October 26, 1967 |
Studio | Olympic Sound, London |
Genre | Rhythm and blues [1] |
Length | 3:00 |
Label | Track |
Songwriter(s) | Jimi Hendrix |
Producer(s) | Chas Chandler |
"Wait Until Tomorrow" is a song by the Jimi Hendrix Experience from their 1967 second album Axis: Bold as Love. Written by Jimi Hendrix, the song details the scenario of a male protagonist addressing his female love with whom he plans to leave home, only to be shot dead by her father. Despite not being released as a single, "Wait Until Tomorrow" has been recognized as one of the strongest songs on the album. [2] [3]
"Wait Until Tomorrow" was one of the first "situation song[s]" written by Hendrix and is said to be influenced by soul artists such as the Isley Brothers (with whom Hendrix performed before forming the Experience) [2] and stylistically similar to guitarist Steve Cropper. [4] A "head-on boy–girl song", [4] "Wait Until Tomorrow" was one of the final songs recorded for the album on October 26, 1967, before the album was completed with the recording of title track " Bold as Love" three days later. [4] In an AllMusic review, Matthew Greenwald described the progression and style of the song:
A great bass and guitar duet is the core riff, and, as usual, Hendrix builds up to gentle and entertaining crescendos from there. Lyrically, the song finds Hendrix writing a situation song, creating characters in the first person. This was one of his first attempts at this, and it's fun listening to him stretch his songwriting abilities. [2]
Reviews of Axis: Bold as Love have generally mentioned "Wait Until Tomorrow" in a positive light. Matthew Greenwald of allmusic identifies the "playful song" as "one of the low-key highlights" of the album, [2] while Parke Puterbaugh of Rolling Stone describes it as a "taut, funky, could've-been-hit." [3] In reviewing the album for the BBC, Chris Jones summarised "Wait Until Tomorrow" as "a wry, funky little tale", [5] while Sputnikmusic reviewer "Broken Arrow" comments:
The intro is light and quick, [with a] guitar part and a real heavy bass [line] that only consists of one note but really adds to the intro. As Jimi [Hendrix]'s vocals and Mitch [Mitchell]'s drums come in the band goes into more of a groove. After a nice guitar fill that resembles the intro the extremely catchy chorus comes with some nice background vocals. The intro theme gets repeated a few times in the song before every verse. Mitch plays some very nice fills in this song and keeps a solid beat throughout [it]. 4/5 [6]