Wiki
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Length
13:39
This song is a daydream about wanting to escape a war-torn world.
Hendrix narrates a story about using a machine to transform he and his lover into merpeople.
They decide to leave "the out of style" to their destructive ways and travel down into the sea, to an Atlantis full of cheer.
The machine, which he and his lover uses to transform them self into merpeople, is not a metaphor for drug use, as many have theorized.
Hendrix stated in his book, Starting at 0:
"1983 is something to keep your mind off what’s happening today but not necessarily completely hiding away from it, like some people do with certain drugs and so forth.."
At the time of the songs conception, the Vietnam war was at its height, which undoubtably influenced Hendrix to write it.
The second verse starts of with a sarcastic parody of the first line of the American national anthem, likely a protest against the United States' involvement in the war.
Source: Song Facts
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