Signed Contract between Jimi Hendrix and Pall Music Ltd. for the Publication of "Stone Free," December 2, 1966

This is a contract between Jimi Hendrix and Pall Music Ltd. for the publication of the song, “Stone Free,” dated December 2, 1966. 

Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970) was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter who gained mainstream prominence in the late 1960s with hits such as “Hey Joe,” “Purple Haze,” “All Along the Watchtower,” and “Fire,” and is now celebrated as one of the most influential electric guitarists of all time. 

On October 23, 1966, a week after the Experience had returned from their short French tour with Johnny Hallyday, the Jimi Hendrix Experience went to De Lane Lea Studios in London and recorded their first song, “Hey Joe”. Manager Chas Chandler and Jimi Hendrix knew that “Hey Joe” would be the A side of the Experience’s first single, but there was a little debate about the B side. 

Hendrix was intent on recording a cover version of Wilson Picket’s huge hit, “Land of a Thousand Dances,” but Chandler argued for Hendrix to write and record his own song, to establish the guitarist as an original songwriter, and to maximize the profits if the song was a success. “Stone Free,” a blues-inflected, upbeat rocker, was the result—Hendrix’s first original composition with the Experience. Released on December 16, 1966, the single marked the start of an enduring fascination for many Londoners with the Jimi Hendrix Experience.