Tuesday 10 July 1969
New York City, NBC TV Studios, New York, USA, JHE [II] with stand in drummer
Recording for the NBC TV Tonight Show with Billy Cox - bass, Ed Shaughnessy [of Doc Severinsens Tonight Show NBC Orchestra] – drums 
Songs: 1. Lover Man #1, 2. Lover Man #2
Interview by Flip Wilson
This is the appearance on the Tonight Show where Jimi’s amp blew during the first take and host Flip Wilson was left to amuse the audience while it was being replaced,

[Aud = Audience]

[Tape cut]
Flip  : …then Mr Jimi Hendrix
Aud : [Applause]
Flip  : And Mister Wilson Pickett*
Aud : [Applause]
Flip  : Mister Joe Tex1
Aud : [Applause]
Flip  : Comedian Jerry Shane
Aud : [Applause]
Flip  : And author Jacklynn Susanne
Aud : [Applause]
Flip  : Rrrrright Shorty! [band plays intro] Hey! Hey!
[Tape cut]
Flip  : …people give you a cookie this evening
Aud : [Laughter]
Flip  : You see. I’m gon’ put dat under dere…
[Tape cut]
Flip  : My next guest has one of the most unique and unusual styles on the music scene 
today, he’s featured in the current motion picture success ‘Monterey Pop’$ This is his first appearance on the Tonight Show, so will you please welcome the ‘Jimi Hendrix Experience’
Aud : [Applause]
Flip  : Jim!... Glad you could make it there
Jimi : Yeah
Flip  : Glad you could make it 
Jimi : I am too, it’s nice huh
Flip  : Fine, an’ I-I, I wanted to-uh, so many people have been asking, because they’ve 
heard…
Aud : [Laughter]
Flip  : …huh-wha’? No, no. So many people’s been asking because they’ve heard that 
you regard your, your performance as a spiritual experience…
Jimi : Hmm… [under his breath:] “Listen to him”
Flip  : …so, uh, if there’s, is there some comments you’d like to make about that we’d all 
be very interested 
Jimi : Yeah, let’s see now, spiritual 
Flip  : I can dig it, I can dig it, baby 
Aud : [Laughter]
Jimi : Ha-ha-ha-uh, yeah, somebody’s going to have to, heh, in here today 
Flip  : I’ll dig it.
Jimi : It’s a thing that, uh, it’s, I don’t know, after… goin’ to church for a few times an’ 
gettin’ thrown out o’ there because you’ve got tennis shoes on with a blue and black suit...brown shirt, the works…
Flip  : Yes
Jimi : …and then after politics tell you this hogwash about this and that, you know, you 
decide an’ say, “Well let me get my own thing together,” you know, and so music is my, my scene. My whole life is based around it. So quite naturally it comes to be even more than a religion. And so what I learn, through the experience of it, I try to pass on to other people, you know, through our music, so it won’t be so hard for them to go around. Like for instance all this violence, people runnin’ ‘round through the streets, you know. I can understand their point but, like, uh, if they dig the sounds and let the spiritual, look, it’s like church actually, you know
Flip  : Yes
Jimi : .. just like church, how you go to a gospel church and we’re tryin’ to get the same
thing through-uh, modern day music, you know...
Flip  : I can dig it, very easily, there’s no problem, no…  
Jimi : [In strange voice, under his breath:]  “Stupid jerrrrk”
Flip  : I was checking, I-I-I, I was checking, doing, doing a little research on you. You’re 
Saggitarian also..
Jimi : Constantly
Flip  : Yeah
Jimi : Yeah
Aud : [Laughter]
Flip  : I’m Saggitarian myself
Jimi : Yeah?
Flip  : Yeah
Jimi : Really?
Flip  : And, because, when I’m, when I’m very interested…
Jimi : Great to see you
Flip  : …in people, I try to check ‘em out, and find out as much as I can
Jimi : Choc-ices2 get stoned too. What day are you on?
Flip  : December eighth
Jimi : Yeah
Flip  : Ah
Jimi : Twenty seventh is mine
Flip  : Twenty seventh of November
Jimi : Mhh, yes
Flip  : Sammy Davis, myself. Let’s see, on December eighth is: Sammy Davis, Winston 
Churchill, Kirk Douglas, myself, Sinatra’s on the seventh…
Jimi : Mhh
Flip  : …and-uh, who else? Maurice Chevalier
Jimi : I know quite a few of ‘em
Flip  : Peace
Aud : [Laughter (at Jimi’s joke)]
Flip  : Yeah… 
Jimi : A-huh
Flip  : That’s the sign of great entertainers – Saggitarius
Jimi : Yeah… 
Flip  : That’s why I checked you out… I can dig it. I feel like we all got something to offer, 
you know, when we check to find our thing…
Jimi : All right, man
Flip  : .. and the-we represent, in my opinion, God, and what we give to each other…
Jimi : Right
Flip : …and we’re all supposed to come here and put something in the pot, and go 
?     : Yes!
Flip : You know
Jimi : [? in silly voice:] Yes!
?     : Yes!
Jimi : [? in silly voice:] Man!
Flip  : Don’t just come here, y’know…
Jimi : [? in silly voice:] Amen!
Flip  : …and suck up all the air! Y’know
Aud : [Laughter] 
Flip  : You loo’…
Jimi : …temple of God anyway, you know…
Flip  : I’d say
Jimi : …that’s why you have too have some kind o’ ideas [I-jeans?] on yourself, regardless 
of what you’re like outwards, you know?
Flip  : Yes
Jimi : And, like, once you carry God inside yourself4, well then you’re part off him, he’s part 
of you, you know?
Flip  : Well Jim, it’s my pleasure to extend an’ invitation to you to whip a light sermon on us
Jimi : Great
Aud : [Laughter]
Flip  : Yes. Jimi Hendrix! Ladies and gentlemen
Jimi : I’d like to say first of all this is Billy Cox our new3 bass player. We’ll do a thing called 
          ‘Here Comes Your Lover Man Out The Widow I Can See Him’..

* Jimi had backed him three years previously, as a member of the King Curtis band, at a launch party for  
  Percy Sledge’s ‘When A Man Loves A Woman’ LP. Buddy Miles was also Pickett’s drummer for a time.
$ Only had it’s premier on 26th Dec.’68, and was only on general release from January 1969
1Jimi had backed Curtis Knight singing two Joe Tex songs as a member of Curtis Knight and the Squires,
  three years previously. Mitch says in his autobiogaphy that Jimi and he sat in with the Joe Tex band at   
  “New York Town Hall… some kind of Black Panther benefit…
2Choc-ice: brown on the outside, white in the middle
3New member of the Jimi Hendrix Experience that is
4Listen to this untitled prayer (“Thank You God”) of Jimi’s during Voodoo Chile (SR) on 26-4-1969 at The 
 Forum, Inglewood, Los Angeles (not on the Alan Douglas ‘Lifelines release’ as he turned Jimi’s vocal track   
 right down at this point for some reason, and then had Michael Fairchild write a cover note saying that Jimi’s 
 mic’ had been turned off by the police!) and on  26-4-1970 at Dane Co. Memorial Coliseum, Madison. He 
 also wrote it down, see the book ‘Cherokee Mist’ 

1. LOVER MAN *

Here he comes, baby 
Here comes your lo-over man
Here he co-omes
Here comes your lover man
Yeah
I see, I got to leave out of here
My shoes as fast as you can 

Reach up baby-y
Hand me down my runnin’ shoe
Reach u-up baby
Hand me down my runnin’ shoe
I see your old-man comin’ out the window
I ain’t got too much time to lose

[Solo – Jimi’s amp breaks down- bass and drums play on to end]…

Ah-hah

Must be-ha-ha, thanks for stayin’ up with us

Ow!

?   : Turn up the amplifier

Aud : [Laughter & applause with a chorus of girls shouting:] Okay Jimi!
?  : Voodoo chile
?  : …gathered and then it started to rain over his head, we’ll be back in just a minute. Are 
        you back in business?
Flip  : We’re gonna, we’re gonna try to switch amps and get it back together…
?      : Okay
Flip  : … and Jimi will be back with us in a minute. Right?
?      : Right
Flip  : So we’ll just hold it here, and proceed with a commercial, and then that’ll take away 
later on, an’ it won’t interfere…
?      : You is the boss, hm, you’re a pro
Flip  : I’m glad you finally realised that 
?      : Ha-ha
Aud  : [Laughter & applause]
Flip  : The amplifier went out
?      : No. It didn’t?
Flip  : Yes, while he was cookin’ so hard 
?      : Yeah?-heh
Flip  : Then the service…
?      : Stand up Jimi…
Flip  : Yeah that’s…
?      : …let’s get hold of this
Flip  : …that’s right he burned it up…
?      : Hoo-hoo-hoo
Flip  : And-uh, we’re switchin’ amplifiers. Do we, do we? We’re just about ready?
Crew: No, we’re not, no
Flip  : Okay
Crew: Might take a minute
Flip  : Okay
Crew: …wait
Flip  : Well, I’m waiting a minute, you-ah. The main thing in…
?      : You’re takin’ off our money!
Flip  : …a situation like this, is to keep talkin’
Aud : [Laughter]
Flip  : See. So, I’m just continuing to talk, and you finish correcting that, and I’m gonna run 
         my mouth until the amplifier starts
Aud : [Laughter]
Flip  : I mean, because that’s all. People don’t wanna waste their time lookin’ in, and 
         nothin’s goin’ on
Aud : [Laughter]
Flip  : How’s the amplifier comin’ along?
Aud : [Laughter]
Flip  : Right, okay
Crew: Is the amplifier comin’ on?
Flip  : Ladies and gentlemen
Crew: Wait a moment
Flip  : What!?
Crew: Not ready yet
Aud  : [Laughter] Sore gums!
Jimi : [Plays some nasty feedback]
?      : Hey, you’re freaks heh-heh
Jimi : [Plays a heavy chord]
Flip  : You ask Jimi. I got to keep talkin’ to the people all-ha-ha-right. Don’t forget the Joey 
          Bishop Show is just a notch away!
Aud : [Laughter & big applause]
?      : Please!
Flip  : Pease-now-ha-ha-yeah 
?     : Pease!
Flip  : Y’all-huh. Jesus. We’d better not lose anybody. Maybe I’ve have cut this watermelon 
         up an’…
Aud : [Laughter]
Flip  : …passed it out, you know. We-Oh I think we’re just about set
?      : All right. Okay Jimi
Flip  : Right?
Jimi : [Dull static drone comes out of speakers]
Flip  : …passed it out, you know. We-Oh I think we’re just about set
Flip  : What’s that? Okay
?      : Commercial
Flip  : Okay, we’ll have a commercial, and then we’ll get things squared away, and then 
we’ll… screw up! Uh-we’ll return in just one minute, right after this word from the Renold…[tape cut]… part of it all, becase people understand, things like th’-this is what makes the, shows of this type exciting, because it’s real, and people want the truth, and the truth shall now be given to you, by way of a Jimi Hendrix experience
?     : Ha-ha, very good, you’re very good
Flip : Jimi Hendrix! 
Jimi : We have Billy Cox on the bass… 

2. LOVER MAN *

Here he comes, baby 
Here comes your lo-over man
Here he-e co-omes
Here comes your lover man
Yeah, baby
I think I’d better get out o’ here 
I’d better leave as fast as I can

Reach u-up baby
Hand me down my runnin’ shoe
Yeah
Reach u-up baby, now
Hand me down my runnin’ shoe
Yeah, baby
I see your old-man comin’
Lord, ain’t got no time to lose

[Solo]

Here he-e co-omes now
Here he-e comes now-ow
Here he-e comes now, baby
Here he-e co-omes now
I wanna love you stronger, chile
I wanna love you lo-o-onger, now
I got to hope

Lord here he comes 

* [Music: BB King’s ‘Rock Me Baby’. Lyrics are a mix of Elmore James’s ‘Look On Yonder Wall’ 
(Bill ‘Jazz’ Gillum) & Howlin’ Wolf’s ‘Meet Me In The Bottom (Willie Dixon), last verse is Jimi’s. Jimi related this song to the Vietnam war veterans returning, as Elmo’s version of ‘Look On Yonder Wall’ did to those of World War 2, the missing verse being: “Your husband went to the war, I know it was tough, I don’t know how many men’s he killed, but I know he done killed enough.” ]

Flip  : Jimi Hendrix ladies and gentlemen…
Aud : [Applause]
?     : That’s not Jimi Hendrix
?     : Yeah, it is
?     : [Laughter]
Jimi : You age…
Flip : [Over the top of Jimi]  He got a gig
Jimi : …right
Flip : Wow. Sorry about that little difficulty
Jimi : [Under breath:] “Do what you got to say”
Flip : Okay, fine, we don’t want you to forg’…
?     : Kill the experience, huh
Flip : Yeah, that’s right
?     : That was too much, gee
Jimi : Maybe too much for my snake pants, an’ they gonna jump up and bite you
Flip : I don’ know…
?     : Yeah, hee, hee, hee
Flip : No
Jimi : No
Flip : Because you’re an exponent of love, so I have nothing to fear from your snake pants
Aud : [Applause]
Jimi : This is true, man, every day for five years, man, I was scared to death of them
Flip : Snakes?
Jimi : Every day for five years, I used to follow ‘em, almost, in my dreams, you know
Flip : Yeah?
Jimi : What is that, what is that from, man
Flip : I don’ know…
Jimi : Hear about a snake…
Flip : …maybe a thing about Saggitarians…
Jimi : Dream about snakes
Flip  : …snakes… We’-well possibly, or…
?     : Weird
Flip  : …uh-horses are our thing
Jimi : Yeah
Flip  : We’re very closely related to the horse, an’ the horse is very much afraid of the 
snake 
Jimi : Some horses are my best friends
Flip  : Yeah, I love horses, because: they’re big, and they’re gentle, and they have all that 
strength, you know, and they’re so cool. That’s what I like about horses, you know. I 
like cows too
Aud : [Applause]
Jimi : They can’t fly
Flip  : Good gentle-huh, Cows can’t fly?
Jimi : I’m glad they can’t fly
Flip  : Yeah-but, cow can fly – if you put some LSD in the grass
Aud : [Applause]
Flip  : Okay then, ha-ha, Jimi. What was I doing? Okay, fine
?      : Ah our next guest…