Tonight’s song is less than two and a half minutes long, and most of it is guitar. But the words paint a picture of a person.
Learn from Songs · Unit 10: Relative clauses · B1–B2
Little Wing
A short, dreamlike song about a girl who comes to comfort the singer: describing people with relative clauses (a girl who…, the place where…, a friend whose…), participle clauses (a girl walking through the clouds), and with + noun (a girl with a circus mind), with Philo, Sophia, Marcos and Demetria.
SOPHIA
DEMETRIA
Who is she?
SOPHIA
That’s the mystery. Listen to how Hendrix describes her: what she is doing, what she is like, what she thinks about.
PHILO
A description, like the clues in a riddle.
Before you listen: the song
London, 1967
Jimi Hendrix was an American guitarist who became famous in London in 1966 and 1967 with his band, The Jimi Hendrix Experience. He played the guitar in ways nobody had heard before. “Little Wing” is on his second album, Axis: Bold as Love (December 1967).
Hendrix said the idea came to him at the Monterey Pop Festival in California in 1967, where everything seemed to be floating and flying in the air. He turned that feeling into a gentle girl. The song is very short, but it has become a classic, and many great guitarists have recorded it, among them Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Sting.
In the song, a girl is walking through the clouds. She thinks about butterflies, zebras, moonbeams and fairy tales. When the singer is sad, she comes to him and gives him everything she has. Then she flies away, like a little wing.
Who is the friend who comes when you are sad?
Listen: who is she?
PHILO
Listen once. Where is she? What does she think about? What does she do when he is sad?
SOPHIA
Then answer Section A. Notice how each line adds a detail to the picture.
🦋 Listen to the song: “Little Wing” (Jimi Hendrix, 1967), by The Jimi Hendrix Experience.Listen to the official recording →
📜 Read the words while you listen: “Little Wing”, Jimi Hendrix.Read the lyrics →
Relative clauses: who, which, that, where, whose
MARCOS
She’s a girl who lives in the clouds. It’s a song that everybody loves. This is the place where she plays.
SOPHIA
who (people), which (things), that (people or things), where (places), whose (possession: a friend whose wings are blue). In defining clauses, no commas.
Leaving out the relative pronoun
DEMETRIA
She gives him everything she has. (= everything that she has)
SOPHIA
When the pronoun is the object of the clause, we can leave it out: the song (that) I love, the girl (who) I met. But not when it is the subject: the girl who lives here, never “the girl lives here”.
Participle clauses and with
PHILO
A girl walking through the clouds. A mind running round. A girl with a circus mind.
SOPHIA
A shorter way to describe: noun + -ing = who is / was doing: the man sitting by the door. noun + past participle = which was done: a song written in 1967. And with + noun for features: a girl with blue wings.
Sophia’s comparison: Psyche
SOPHIA
In Greek, the same word, psyche, means the soul and a butterfly. Painters show Psyche, the soul, as a girl with butterfly wings.
PHILO
And the psalm says that God covers us with his feathers, and that under his wings we find refuge.
DEMETRIA
So a little wing is something that comes to protect you.
Sophia’s summary
| Words and forms | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| who / which / that / where / whose | defining relative clauses | a girl who lives in the clouds |
| (that / who) + subject + verb | leaving out object pronouns | everything (that) she has |
| noun + -ing | = who is / was doing | a girl walking through the clouds |
| noun + past participle | = which was done | a song written in 1967 |
| with + noun | describing features | a girl with a circus mind |
Practice
Listen to the song for Section A, then do the rest. Press “Check my answers” at the end. You can try again as many times as you like.
A · Listen: the song
Listen to the song and choose the best answer.
1. Where is the girl walking?
2. What kind of things does she think about?
3. What does she do when the singer is sad?
4. What does she give him?
5. What does she do at the end?
6. Where did Hendrix get the idea?
B · Grammar and vocabulary
Write the missing word or words.
7. She’s a girl lives in the clouds.
8. It’s a song everybody loves.
9. This is the place she plays.
10. I have a friend wings are blue.
11. Do you know the man by the door? (sit)
12. It’s a song in 1967. (write)
C · Right or wrong?
Is the sentence correct English?
13. “She’s the girl which lives in the clouds.”
14. “Everything she has, she gives to him.”
15. “I know a man whose sings very well.”
16. “Do you see the boy wearing the blue hat?”
Talk and write
Discussion and writing
Who am I? Describe a famous person or a character from a story using three relative clauses: I’m a man who… I live in a place where… I have a friend whose… The class guesses.
Discuss. 1. Who do you think the girl in the song is: a real person, a dream, an angel? 2. Why do short songs sometimes stay in our minds longer? 3. Who comes to help you when you are sad?
Write (120–150 words). Little Wing. Describe a person who has helped you, real or imaginary. Use who, where, whose, one participle clause (a woman sitting…) and with + noun.
Now play the gamebook: the little girl with butterfly wings.Play the gamebook →