This piece traces the story of Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)", the 1968 track famed for its pioneering use of the then-new wah-wah pedal and for cementing Hendrix's reputation as a guitarist who treated his instrument as an extension of himself. The song matters as one of rock's defining guitar performances, with Hendrix switching fluidly between rhythm and lead playing while bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell provide steady support, and its influence continues to be felt across genres and generations of musicians.

The track appeared on The Jimi Hendrix Experience's final album, Electric Ladyland, released as part of a single/EP alongside "Hey Joe" and a cover of Bob Dylan's "All Along The Watchtower". Engineer Eddie Kramer has described capturing the song's live, room-filling sound using multiple microphones. It is often confused with the longer, bluesier "Voodoo Chile", from which it was derived, and has since been covered by artists including Stevie Ray Vaughan, Yngwie Malmsteen and Mick Mars, as well as sampled by hip-hop acts such as the Beastie Boys, Ice-T and Mos Def.