Fire (The Jimi Hendrix Experience Song) - Covers

Covers

"Fire" has been covered by many artists, including Alice Cooper; a Top Forty version of the song was released by the pop group Five By Five in 1968. It was used in TV commercials for the 1993 Chevrolet Camaro and the 1999 Pontiac Sunfire, and in 2007 for a commercial for Verizon's V-Cast.

A notable band to cover the song are longtime Hendrix fans, Red Hot Chili Peppers, who started playing it regularly from around March 1983. The band recorded the song in 1985 and it first appeared as a b-side on their Fight Like a Brave single in 1987 and a year later on The Abbey Road E.P.. When the band's original guitarist Hillel Slovak died in 1988, "Fire" was added as a tribute to their 1989 album, Mother's Milk and also released as a b-side to their 1992 single, "Behind the Sun". In their recorded version, they replaced "Oh, move over Rover, and Let Jimi take over" with "Oh, move over Mr. Rover, and let Mr. Huckleberry take over". Since Slovak's death, however, during live performances, Mr. Huckleberry, a nickname given to Slovak, has been replaced by "Mr. Frusciante", when Frusciante was part of the band though it has never been said in a recorded version. The Red Hot Chili Peppers were asked by Hendrix's sister to perform their version as the final song of their Woodstock '99 setlist (at Woodstock '94 the band came out for their encore dressed as Hendrix). The band at first declined the offer because they hadn't performed it in years though Hendrix's sister pleaded with them because no other artist during the event had paid tribute to her brother. The performance gained some minor controversay due to fires being set by angry concertgoers. Some alleged the band performing the song only helped encourage the angry crowd even more although the band had no idea what was happening during their performance and said had they known they would've never performed the song.

Nigel Kennedy performed a cover of "Fire" on the 1993 album Stone Free: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix

Another notable cover, by The Real McKenzies, was released on their debut album Real McKenzies in 1995, in a slightly faster tempo and with lyrics not related to those of "Fire".

Lupe Fiasco has also sampled the song for his own of the same name.

"Fire" was featured as a playable song in the game Lego Rock Band, and a live version was later released as downloadable content for the main series (ironically, the live version is unavailable for Lego Rock Band).