1983... (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)

"1983... (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)" is a song recorded in 1968 for the third studio album, Electric Ladyland, by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Written and produced by Jimi Hendrix, the song features flute player Chris Wood of the band Traffic, and at over 13 minutes in duration is the second longest track released by the group (after "Voodoo Chile"). Hendrix first recorded a private demo of "1983... (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)" in a New York apartment in March 1968. It is a solo performance with guitar and vocals. In 1995, this recording was included on the companion disc of a book titled Voodoo Child: The Illustrated Legend of Jimi Hendrix. In 2018, it was included on the additional disc of the 50th Anniversary Edition of Electric Ladyland. The first Experience recording of the song took place at New York's Sound Center Studios on March 13, 1968. On April 22, 1968, the backing track was completed at the Record Plant, with Hendrix, Mitch Mitchell on drums, and Chris Wood, then a member of Traffic, on flute. Additional overdubs were added on May 8, and the song was completed and mixed at the Record Plant on June 10. For the released version, Hendrix plays all guitars, vocals, percussion and bass (Noel Redding was absent from the track), with Mitchell on drums and Wood on flute. The track features backwards guitar and flute parts, the sounds of seagulls produced by manipulating microphone feedback, and a flexatone that makes a ringing bell sound. By this time, Chas Chandler had stepped down as Hendrix's producer. Instead, production was led by Hendrix, while the engineering was handled by Eddie Kramer and studio owner Gary Kellgren. In the book Jimi Hendrix: Electric Gypsy, Hendrix commentators Harry Shapiro and Caesar Glebbeek propose that "1983..." is "a song of firsts and lasts", describing the music as "Jimi's first piece of major orchestration, using the full capacities of the Record Plant's studio facilities", and contrasting the lyrical content as "the last of Jimi's surreal apocalypses; despairing of mankind, he finally returns to the sea, the source of all life".