Potential Questions for The Dick Cavett Show Handwritten by Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix first appeared on the US national television program The Dick Cavett Show on July 7, 1969 and then on September 9, 1969. Prior to his last appearance on the show, Hendrix wrote down these questions that host Dick Cavett might ask during the interview with the musician. 

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. 

Dick Cavett (b. 1936) was the host of several talk shows bearing his name from 1968-2007. Hendrix’s first appearance on the show featured a short interview followed by a performance playing and singing his Electric Blues number “Hear My Train A Comin’,” accompanied by the off-screen house band. His second appearance was three weeks after the Woodstock Music and Art Festival. Hendrix, along with bassist Billy Cox (b. 1939), drummer Mitch Mitchell (b.1946), and percussionist Juma Sultan (b. 1942) launched into shortened versions of “Izabella” and “Machine Gun,” and afterward an exhausted looking Hendrix sat down for an occasionally awkward interview.  

Of the questions that Hendrix wrote in these pages, host Dick Cavett only inquired about super groups and why they break up, along with Hendrix’s feelings about settling down and marriage. But he also asked Hendrix about the Woodstock Festival and controversy around the guitarist’s rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Hendrix seems surprised by that interpretation and responds, “I don’t know, man. All I did was play it. I’m American, so I played it.” Cavett presses, indicating that some folks might think Hendrix’s version was unorthodox, to which the musician replies, “That’s not unorthodox. I thought it was beautiful.” The studio audience erupts in applause, while Hendrix smiles and flashes a peace sign with his hand.