"The Stars That Play with Laughing Sam's Dice", also known as "STP with LSD", is a song by

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

the Jimi Hendrix Experience James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...

. It was released in 1967 as the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

to their fourth single "

Burning of the Midnight Lamp "Burning of the Midnight Lamp" is a song recorded by English-American rock trio the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Written by frontman Jimi Hendrix and produced by band manager Chas Chandler, it features R&B group Sweet Inspirations on backing vocals. ...

". Written by vocalist and guitarist

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...

, the song was later included on the UK edition of the compilation album ''

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand ...

'' (1968) and the posthumous '' Loose Ends'' (1974) and '' South Saturn Delta'' (1997) compilations.

Recording

Demos for "The Stars That Play..." were first recorded by the Experience at Houston Studios in Los Angeles, California, between June 28 and 30, 1967. Later in New York City, the basic track was recorded on July 19, with additional overdubs and mixing on July 29. The track includes a largely unidentified group of people referred to as "the

Milky Way The Milky Way or Milky Way Galaxy is the galaxy that includes the Solar System, with the name describing the #Appearance, galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars in other arms of the galax ...

Express" providing backing vocals, whistles and other sounds, which may include musician

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestra ...

. The song was also the first recording released by Hendrix to feature his subsequently characteristic wah-wah sound.

Background and release

According to biographers Harry Shapiro and Ceasr Glebbeek, "...Laughing Sam's Dice" was "hardly commented upon at the time f the release of "The Burning of the Midnight Lamp" singleismissed as a good-time joke with lots of guitar to fill up the B-side." Due to its title, it has been suggested in later years that the song is a reference to (and possibly even influenced by) the hallucinogenics

STP STP may refer to: Places * São Tomé and Príncipe (ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 code, IOC country code, and FIFA country code STP) * St Pancras railway station (National Rail code STP) * St. Paul Downtown Airport (IATA airport code STP) in Saint Paul, Mi ...

("Stars That Play") and

LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly known as LSD (from German ; often referred to as acid or lucy), is a semisynthetic, hallucinogenic compound derived from ergot, known for its powerful psychological effects and serotonergic activity. I ...

("Laughing Sam's Dice"), which were associated with

psychedelic music Psychedelic music (sometimes called psychedelia) is a wide range of popular music styles and genres influenced by 1960s psychedelia, a subculture of people who used psychedelic drugs such as Dmt, DMT, Lysergic acid diethylamide, LSD, mescaline, ...

. Further on the background of the song, the following has been proposed: "The Stars..." has also been compared to "

Spanish Castle Magic "Spanish Castle Magic" is a song written by Jimi Hendrix and performed by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Produced by Chas Chandler, it is the third track from the album '' Axis: Bold as Love''. The lyrics refer to a club near Seattle, where Hendrix s ...

" and "

Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland) "Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland)" is a song by written by American musician Jimi Hendrix and performed with his band the Jimi Hendrix Experience, featured on their 1968 third album ''Electric Ladyland''. The song acts as the title track o ...

", as a song which embodies a "magical mystery tour spirit." The song was originally released as the B-side to the "Burning of the Midnight Lamp" single in the UK and some areas of Europe on August 19, 1967 and reached number 18 on the UK Singles Chart. The song was later included on the international (non-North America) edition of the ''Smash Hits'' compilation released in April 1968, and posthumously on the 1974 ''Loose Ends'' and 1997 '' South Saturn Delta'' albums, and the 2000 ''The Jimi Hendrix Experience'' box set.

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stars That Play with Laughing Sam's Dice Stars That Play with Laughing Sam's Dice, The Stars That Play with Laughing Sam's Dice, The Stars That Play with Laughing Sam's Dice, The Song recordings produced by Chas Chandler