"Manic Depression" is a song written and recorded by Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix

James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...

 and first released in 1967

1967 in music

The summer of 1967 is "The Summer of Love" in San Francisco. It also became an important year for psychedelic rock, with releases from The Beatles The summer of 1967 is "The Summer of Love" in San Francisco. It also became an important year for psychedelic rock, with releases from The Beatles The...

 on the Are You Experienced

Are You Experienced

Are You Experienced is the debut album by English/American rock band The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Released in 1967, it was the first LP for Track Records...

album.

Overview

The song's name is an old name for bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder or bipolar affective disorder, historically known as manic–depressive disorder, is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a category of mood disorders defined by the presence of one or more episodes of abnormally elevated energy levels, cognition, and mood with or without one or...

, a mental health disorder. There is no evidence that Hendrix ever suffered from (or did not suffer from) bipolar disorder himself, but when he was doing a press conference in London his manager at the time, Chas Chandler

Chas Chandler

Bryan James "Chas" Chandler was an English musician, record producer and manager of several successful music acts....

, told him that he sounded like a manic depressive. So the next day Hendrix wrote this tune. One interesting aspect to the song is that it is in 3/4 time signature.

At Winterland in 1968, Jimi explains to the crowd:
"I'd like to do a frustrating type of song for you, it's called Manic Depression, a story about a cat wishing he could make love to music, instead of the same old everyday woman."

Covers

"Manic Depression" has been covered by the Red Hot Chili Peppers

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Red Hot Chili Peppers is an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1983. The group's musical style primarily consists of rock with an emphasis on funk, as well as elements from other genres such as punk, hip hop and psychedelic rock...

; Styx

Styx (band)

Styx is an American rock band that became famous for its albums from the late 1970s and early 1980s. The Chicago band is known for melding the style of prog-rock with the power of hard rock guitar, strong ballads, and elements of American musical theater....

; Blood, Sweat and Tears; Tanya Donelly

Tanya Donelly

Tanya Donelly is an American Grammy-nominated singer songwriter and guitarist based in New England who co-founded Throwing Muses with her stepsister Kristin Hersh. She then went on to work in The Breeders and Belly in the 1990s...

; Carnivore

Carnivore (band)

Carnivore was an American crossover thrash band formed in Brooklyn, New York by Peter Steele , and was formed out of the ruins of the Brooklyn hard rock group Fallout in 1982.-History:...

; Nomeansno

Nomeansno

NoMeansNo is a Canadian progressive punk rock music group originally from Victoria, British Columbia and now located in Vancouver.The band has never had, nor have they seemed to pursue, strong mainstream success, but they do have a devoted underground following in North America and Europe...

; David Ryan Harris

David Ryan Harris

David Ryan Harris is an Atlanta, Georgia based singer-songwriter. Born in Evanston, Illinois, Harris moved to Atlanta at a young age. Harris has had a varied career as a musician. He is married and has 4 sons: Miles, Life, River, and Truman.-Influences:...

; Jeff Beck

Jeff Beck

Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He is one of three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds...

 and Seal

Seal (musician)

Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel , known simply as Seal, is a British soul and R&B singer-songwriter, of Nigerian and Brazilian background. Seal has won numerous music awards throughout his career, including three Brit Awards—winning Best British Male in 1992, four Grammy Awards, and an...

; Clawfinger

Clawfinger

Clawfinger is a rap metal band from Sweden and was one of the earliest bands to adopt this sound. Clawfinger is known for aggressive but melodic music and tackling political and anti-racist themes in their songs.-Band history:...

; Jan Hammer

Jan Hammer

Jan Hammer is a composer, pianist and keyboardist. He first gained his most visible audience while playing keyboards with the Mahavishnu Orchestra in the early 1970s, as well as his film scores for television and film including "Miami Vice Theme" and "Crockett's Theme", from the popular 1980s...

; Katharina Franck

Katharina Franck

Katharina Franck is German singer who became famous with her band Rainbirds and has produced several solo albums.-Biography:...

; King's X

King's X

King's X is an American hard rock band that combines progressive metal, funk and soul with vocal arrangements influenced by gospel, blues, and British Invasion rock groups. The band's lyrics are largely based on the members' struggles with religion and self-acceptance...

; Stevie Ray Vaughan

Stevie Ray Vaughan

Stephen Ray "Stevie Ray" Vaughan was an American electric blues guitarist and singer. He was the younger brother of Jimmie Vaughan and frontman for Double Trouble, a band that included bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Chris Layton. Born in Dallas, Vaughan moved to Austin at the age of 17 and...

; Yngwie J. Malmsteen

Yngwie J. Malmsteen

Yngwie Johann Malmsteen is a Swedish guitarist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and bandleader. Malmsteen became known for his neo-classical playing approach in heavy metal music which became a new musical style in the early 1980s.- Early life :...

; Type O Negative

Type O Negative

Type O Negative was a gothic metal band from Brooklyn, New York City. The band also incorporated elements of doom metal and thrash metal. Their dramatic lyrical emphasis on themes of romance, depression, and death resulted in the nickname "The Drab Four"...

; et al. The Hungarian

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

 Gypsy band Besh O Drom

Besh O Drom

Besh o droM is a Hungarian music group. Their music blends folk and contemporary instruments , in styles ranging from jazz to world music...

 have a track called "Mániás Depresszió" on their album Gyi! which uses Hendrix's tune. Rozz Williams

Rozz Williams

Rozz Williams was an American vocalist and musician of several varieties, most famous for fronting the band Christian Death, then later Shadow Project with musician Eva O, though his main project throughout his career was the industrial, Premature Ejaculation...

 and Gitane Demone

Gitane Demone

Gitane Demone is a singer and musician. She was a member of Christian Death in the 1980s, and is currently a solo artist.-Pompeii 99 and Christian Death:...

 released a very different version of "Manic Depression" on their album Dream Home Heartache

Dream Home Heartache

Dream Home Heartache is an experimental dark cabaret collaboration album featuring Rozz Williams and Gitane Demone, both former members of Christian Death. It was released in late 1995 by Triple X Records after being recorded between March 28 and April 5, 1995 in the Netherlands...

. Singer/comedian Sandra Bernhard

Sandra Bernhard

Sandra Bernhard is an American comedian, singer, actress and author. She first gained attention in the late 1970s with her stand-up comedy in which she often bitterly critiques celebrity culture and political figures. Bernhard is number 97 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 greatest standups of...

 combined the song with the song "Everything's Alright" from the musical Jesus Christ Superstar

Jesus Christ Superstar

Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with lyrics by Tim Rice. The musical started off as a rock opera concept recording before its first staging on Broadway in 1971...

to create the song "Manic Superstar" on her album Excuses For Bad Behavior (Part One).

In 2006, jazz fusion

Jazz fusion

Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...

 guitarist Larry Coryell

Larry Coryell

Larry Coryell is an American jazz fusion guitarist.-Biography:Coryell was born in Galveston, Texas. He graduated from Richland High School, in Richland, Washington, where he played in local bands The Jailers, The Rumblers, The Royals, and The Flames. He also played with The Checkers from nearby...

 covered the song on his album Traffic.

There is also an unrelated song called "Manic Depression (Jimi)" by Ian Dury

Ian Dury

Ian Robins Dury was an English rock and roll singer, lyricist, bandleader and actor who initially rose to fame during the late 1970s, during the punk and New Wave era of rock music...

 and the Blockheads on their album Laughter

Laughter (album)

Laughter is an album by Ian Dury & The Blockheads; released in 1980, it was the last studio album Dury made for Stiff Records. It was also the last studio album he made with The Blockheads, until 1998's Mr...

. The distinctive first three notes were sampled

Sampling (music)

In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...

into MC Twix's 1989 song "Devastatin 2 Yo Ear."