Readers' Poll: The 10 Best Jimi Hendrix Songs

"Castles Made of Sand" is a sad commentary on the futility of life. The first verse is about a formerly loving couple reduced to a screaming, drunken mess. The second is about a brave Indian chief who gets slaughtered in his sleep the night before a battle. It ends with the slightly more uplifting tale of a handicapped little girl who rolls her wheelchair to a cliff and nearly rolls it off until the sight of a "golden winged ship" makes her reconsider. Many have argued that this song is Jimi reflecting on painful memories from his childhood, including his parents' separation and his mother's illness, though Hendrix himself never confirmed that.