Manic Depression

The song's name, "Manic Depression," is an old name for bipolar disorder, a mental health disorder. There is no evidence the Hendrix ever suffered from bipolar disorder himself. Hendrix was doing a press conference in London and his manager at the time, Chas Chandler, told him that he sounded like a manic depressive. So the next day Hendrix wrote this tune.

In this song, Hendrix sings of despair and confusion, and wonders just what kind of world this is anyway. His protective haven from the chaos is "music, sweet music."

This is one of the more unusual songs performed in 3/4 waltz time. The loping time signature gives the song a very unusual feel and contributes to the feeling of disorientation.

Introducing this song in concert, Jimi Hendrix said: "We'd like to do a frustrating kind of song for you. It's called 'Manic Depression' - it's a story 'bout a cat wishin' he could make love to music, instead of the same old everyday woman."

Seal and Jeff Beck teamed up to cover "Manic Depression" for the 1993 Stone Free: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix album.