ARE YOU EXPERIENCED?

“Are You Experienced?” is the 11th and last track on The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s first LP, named “Are You Experienced” without a question mark. “Are You Experienced?” is a pertinent question in many an instance, but often refers to a specific situation or discipline. Without reference to a skill or circumstance, the enquiry is rendered obsolete, almost surreal. So, what was Mr Hendrix referring to? He follows the question “Are You Experienced?” with “Have You Ever Been Experienced?” in which lies the quandry that shall eventually lead us to the answer we seek.

“Have You Ever Been Experienced?” is an incongruous question: it is impossible to lose experience once it has been gained. You either are, or are not, experienced. If, however, we were to take the liberty to assume for a moment that the Experience Jimi Hendrix is referring to, is a euphemism for a very specific experience, it is not unreasonable that the song, the band and the experiences of the individuals in that band, are all linked. Perhaps “Have You Ever Been Experienced?” is equivalent to “being tangoed” – a transcendental, albeit unpleasant and uncanny experience[1]. Perhaps it alludes to a parallel realm where one’s accumulation of experiences are different, and while those experiences are not entirely yours and can only be lived fleetingly – it would allow you to once have been experienced, but alas no longer. Or would it? Because, beyond this life of course, one’s experiences were once, but are no longer…

After meeting Linda Keith in 1966, Jimi began adding LSD to his habitual intake of alcohol and cannabis. Perhaps the intake of this new stimulant and its hallucinogenic properties allowed Jimi to journey beyond this particular life and genuinely inhabit a different set of experiences in a way that does not rely on having to have acquired experience in the confines of reality as we know it. Psychedelic in sound, fashion, sight and mind, Jimi’s life turned into one big trip, and not on the kind where you play giant Ludo on the top deck of an ocean liner, travel down the Amalfi Coast on a Vespa or walk the Inca Trail, but rather the hallucinogenic kind, where a different kind of boundary and border are traversed – not geographical, but mental journeys. And what is a trip, whether actual or virtual, if not an experience?

“Are You Experienced?” asks Hendrix, “Have You Ever Been Experienced?” he insists further, but what does this mean in light of his relationship with psychotropics? Well, if a Trip is equivalent to an Experience, then what Jimi Hendrix is really asking is whether or not the audience is currently “tripping balls”, or indeed has ever “tripped balls”. In another interpretation, perhaps the “experience” Hendrix is referring to is carnal, in which case “Are You Experienced?” becomes a reasonable (albeit a very personal) question anchored in a specific discipline and referring to a range of teachable skills. Again, it is the subsequent “Have You Ever Been Experienced?” which is problematic: the question becomes “Have You Ever Been Experienced by Another?”, ostensibly equating to “Are You a Virgin?” which in itself can be a reasonable thing to ask within a very specific context; but one that is otherwise an impertinent, creepy and wholly unacceptable question.

Firstly, if the question does refer to the sexual past of another, phrasing the question in the passive is questionable in every conceivable way[2], as it implies that the person being asked to divulge intimate details about their past lacks both autonomy and agency. Secondly, the erotic reading is at odds lyrically with the rest of “Are You Experienced?” and renders the entire second verse extremely sinister. A third possibility is that Hendrix is referring to a pure aesthetic experience, and the song’s last line does indeed allude to this possibility: “Not necessarily stoned, but beautiful.” However, this line equally supports the first interpretation: “not necessarily stoned” surely implies “probably stoned”? And while “stoned” usually applies to the effects of weed, it also applies to being under the influence of any drug apart from alcohol.

In summary, it is my interpretation that Hendrix is asking a wider question about the listener’s attitude towards a transcendental experience and where we draw the borders of our perception of reality. However, Hendrix’s own drug use does imply that he is through his music, an active proponent of chemical aids in achieving these states.

In conclusion: “Are You Experienced?” – No, not right now. And, “Have You Ever Been Experienced?” – Yes.

Originally written on Tuesday, August 18, 2009

[1] Please see the television advertising campaign for Tango Orange in the early 1990’s.

[2] Language, it is complicated. Here are just some things to consider.