Songfacts®:

• This is a straightforward requiem for Jimi Hendrix. Released on Patti Smith's debut album, Horses, she recorded the song on September 18, 1975, the anniversary of the rock guitarist's death. She told The Observer: "'The last lines - 'I think it's sad, just too bad, that all our friends can't be with us today' - are borrowed from '1983... (A Merman I Should Turn to Be).' I didn't think Jimi would mind!'"
• Patti Smith told Mojo in 2015 that this Horses track is increasingly harder for her to sing. She said: "It was originally for Hendrix, also Brian Jones, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, these people we felt a loss for. It was written with (one time boyfriend and Blue Oyster Cult member) Allen Lanier, who was a beautiful person - he passed away recently."
• Patti Smith wanted jazz trumpeter Chet Baker to improvise for a few minutes at the end of the track, but she couldn't afford the fee.