Jimi Hendrix vs. Trinh Cong Son

You must be thinking that I am out of my mind for associating two totally unrelated artists. Sure, Trinh Cong Son has been dubbed as Vietnamese’s Bob Dylan for his war-protested songs, but Jimi Hendrix? What’s the connection? If you listen to Hendrix’s Axis: Bold as Love, you’ll see where I am getting at. While both Trinh and Hendrix seemed to live in their own world, their worlds wouldn’t exist without earth, moon, and women. And we could see them in their whimsical lyrics. For some reasons, the fairy image in Hendrix’s “Little Wing” shares some similarities with Trinh’s “Ru Em Tung Ngon Xuan Nong,” particularly lines such as: “Well she’s walking through the clouds… / When I’m sad, she comes to me / With a thousand smiles, she gives to me free.” If that’s not convincing enough, how about Hendrix’s poetic description in “She’s so Fine” with “The sun from a cloud sinks into her eyes / The rain from a tree soaks into her mind?” Do these lines ring a bell? Trinh’s “Nhu Canh Vac Bay,” maybe? While Trinh’s philosophy is to live a happy life (“Hay yeu ngay toi / Du qua met kiep nguoi / Con cuoc doi ta cu vui”), Hendrix’s view is to live your own life. In the ending of “If 6 was 9,” he spoke softly, “I’m the one that’s gonna die when it’s time for me to die / So let me live my life the way I want to.” Alright, maybe I’ve been drawn way too deep into Hendrix’s psychedelic mind and soul. Maybe you’re right. I am out of my fucking mind.