Hey Joe

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"Hey Joe"
Single by The Leaves
from the album Hey Joe
B-side	"Be With You" (original) "Girl from the East" (re-release) "Funny Little World" (second re-release)
Released	November 1965 (1965-11) 1966 (1966) (re-releases)
Format	7" vinyl
Genre	Garage rock, folk rock
Length	2:52
Label	Mira
Writer(s)	Billy Roberts
Producer	Nick Venet (original) Norm Ratner (re-releases)
The Leaves singles chronology
"Love Minus Zero" (1965) "Hey Joe, Where You Gonna Go?" (1965) "You Better Move On" (1965)
The Leaves singles chronology
"Be With You" (1966) "Hey Joe, Where You Gonna Go?" (1966) "Hey Joe" (1966)
The Leaves singles chronology
"Hey Joe, Where You Gonna Go?" (1965) "Hey Joe" (1966) "Too Many People" (1965)
Hey Joe track listing
"He Was a Friend of Mine" (5) "Hey Joe" (6) "Words" (7)

"Hey Joe" is an American popular song from the 1960s that has become a rock standard,^[1] and as such has been performed in a multitude of musical styles. Diverse credits and claims have led to confusion as to its authorship and genesis. It tells the story of a man on the run after shooting his wife. The earliest known commercial recording, and the first hit version, is the late 1965 recording by the Los Angeles garage band, The Leaves, although currently the best-known version is the The Jimi Hendrix Experience's 1966 recording, their debut single. The song title is sometimes given as "Hey Joe, Where You Gonna Go?" or similar variations.^[2]

Contents 1 Authorship 2 First recordings 3 Rose, Hendrix and other recordings 4 Selected list of recorded versions 5 Trivia 6 In the media 7 Samples and quotes 8 References

[edit] Authorship

While claimed by some to be a traditional song,^[3] or often erroneously attributed to the pen of American musician Dino Valente (who also went by the names Chester or Chet Powers, and Jesse Farrow), "Hey Joe" was registered for copyright in the US in 1962 by Billy Roberts.^[4] Roberts is the author, and the song may have been written by him earlier. Scottish folk singer Len Partridge has claimed that he helped write the song with Roberts when they both performed in clubs in Edinburgh in 1956.^[5] Another source (singer Pat Craig), claims^[6] that Roberts assigned the rights to the song to his friend Valente while Valente was in jail, in order to give him some income upon release.

Roberts was a relatively obscure California-based folk singer, guitarist and harmonica player who performed on the West Coast coffee-house circuit. He later recorded the country rock album Thoughts of California with the band Grits in San Francisco in 1975, produced by Hillel Resner.^[7] Resner has stated that a live recording of Roberts performing "Hey Joe" dates from 1961.^[8]

Roberts possibly drew inspiration for "Hey Joe" from three earlier works: his girlfriend Niela Miller's 1955 song "Baby, Please Don’t Go To Town"^[9] (which uses a similar chord progression based on the circle of fifths); Carl Smith's 1953 US country hit "Hey Joe!" (written by Boudleaux Bryant), which shared the title and the "question and answer" format;^[10] and the early 20th century traditional ballad "Little Sadie", which tells of a man on the run after he has shot his wife.^[11] The lyrics to "Little Sadie" often locate the events in Thomasville, North Carolina, and Jericho, (near Hollywood, South Carolina). Roberts was himself born in South Carolina. Under various titles (including "Bad Lee Brown", "Penitentiary Blues", "Cocaine Blues", "Whiskey Blues") variations of "Little Sadie" have been recorded by many artists, including Clarence Ashley (1930)^[12], Johnny Cash (1960 & 1968),^[13][14] Slim Dusty (1961),^[15] and Bob Dylan (1970).^[16]

Despite extensive archives of US folk and blues music, and studies of the same, in the Library of Congress,^[17] the Smithsonian Institution,^[18] and other bodies, no documentary evidence has been provided to support the claim, by the late Tim Rose and others,^[19] that "Hey Joe" is a wholly traditional work. (see also the article on "Morning Dew" regarding Rose and song copyrights).

Rights to the song were administered by the music publisher Third Story Music from 1966 into the 2000s, they list the author as Billy Roberts. In recent years the publisher has changed to Third Palm Music.^[20].

[edit] First recordings

"Hey Joe"
Single by The Jimi Hendrix Experience
B-side	"Stone Free" (UK) "51st Anniversary" (US)
Released	December 16, 1966 (UK) May 1, 1967 (US)
Format	7" vinyl
Recorded	October 23, 1966 at De Lane Lea Studios, London, England
Genre	Rock, blues-rock
Length	3:30
Label	Polydor (UK) Reprise (US)
Writer(s)	Billy Roberts
Producer	Chas Chandler
The Jimi Hendrix Experience singles chronology
"Hey Joe" (1966) "Purple Haze" (1967)

"Hey Joe"
Song by Deep Purple
Album	Shades of Deep Purple
Released	June 1968 (1968-06) (US) September 1968 (1968-09) (UK)
Recorded	May 1968 at Pye Studios, London
Genre	Hard rock, blues-rock
Length	7:33
Label	Tetragrammaton (US) Parlophone (UK)
Writer	Billy Roberts
Producer	Derek Lawrence
Shades of Deep Purple track listing
"Love Help Me" (7) "Hey Joe" (8) "Shadows" (9)

"Hey Joe"
Single by Patti Smith
B-side	"Piss Factory"
Released	1974 (1974)
Format	Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM
Recorded	Electric Lady Studios, June 5, 1974
Genre	Protopunk
Length	5:05
Label	Mer
Writer(s)	Patti Smith, Billy Roberts
Producer	Lenny Kaye
Patti Smith singles chronology
"Hey Joe" (1974) "Gloria" (1976)

Roberts’ song gained many fans in the Los Angeles music scene, which led to fast-paced recordings in 1965 and 1966 by The Leaves, The Standells, The Surfaris, Love and The Byrds, swiftly becoming a garage rock classic. Both Dino Valente and The Byrds' David Crosby have been reported as helping to popularize the song before it was recorded by The Leaves in December 1965. "Hey Joe" has been recorded by hundreds of artists since.

The Leaves recorded and released three versions of "Hey Joe": the first version was released in November/December 1965; the third version was their hit in May/June 1966 (Billboard #31). The Surfaris version was released in June 1966, but some sources claim it was recorded in September 1965, before The Leaves' first version.

[edit] Rose, Hendrix and other recordings

Folk rock singer Tim Rose’s slow version, (recorded in 1966 and claimed to be Rose's arrangement of a wholly traditional song) inspired the first single by The Jimi Hendrix Experience. One documentary shows interviews with Chas Chandler, who, having just left The Animals, and was focusing on managing other acts. He had been seeking out an artist to record a full-on rock version of "Hey Joe", and Hendrix fit the bill. Chandler had seen Rose performing at the Cafe Wha? in New York City (Hendrix himself had recently played a few times in the same venue). Some accounts credit the slower version of the song by the British band The Creation as being the inspiration for Hendrix's version; Chandler and Hendrix eventually saw them perform the song after Jimi finally arrived in the UK along with Chandler although their version was not released until after Hendrix's. It is unclear if the members of the Creation had heard Rose's version. Released in December 1966, Hendrix's version became a worldwide hit, entering the UK top ten within the month in January 1967 and remains the best known recording of the song.^[21] The single was released in the United States on May 1, 1967 with the B-side "51st Anniversary". It is #198 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".^[22] In 2009 it was named the 22nd greatest hard rock song of all time by VH1.^[23]

Garage rock band The Music Machine recorded a slow, gothic, fuzz-laden version of the song in late 1966 which bears a strong resemblance to Hendrix's version.

Arthur Lee of the band Love claimed it was their version that turned Hendrix onto the song as well as most of the other Los Angeles acts (See Mojo Heroes - Arthur Lee biography).

According to guitarist Junior Campbell, quoted in the notes of their CD I See The Rain: The CBS Years, Marmalade recorded the song in 1968 as they needed a B-side to their single "Lovin' Things" in a hurry, and they did their arrangement of "Hey Joe" because they thought it was a traditional song and they would get the royalties. "Jimi Hendrix's version had already sold about 200,000 copies and then we sold about 300,000 on the flip of 'Lovin' Things'. But then the following year, the bloke who'd written the bloody song suddenly turned up out of the woodwork!".

Patti Smith released a cover of the song as the A-side of her first single, "Hey Joe/Piss Factory," in 1974. The arrangement of Smith's version is based on a recording by blues guitarist Roy Buchanan that was released the previous year (and dedicated to Hendrix). Smith's version is unique in that she includes a brief and salacious—some would say tasteless—monologue about fugitive heiress Patty Hearst and her kidnapping and participation with the Symbionese Liberation Army. Smith's version portrays Patty Hearst as Joe with a "gun in her hand."

Tim Rose re-recorded "Hey Joe" in the 1990s, re-titling it "Blue Steel .44" ^[24]and again falsely claiming it as his own work.

[edit] Selected list of recorded versions

A long list of versions of Hey Joe can be found at Hey Joe Versions)

The following versions of "Hey Joe" made the pop charts in the US or UK:

• The Leaves as "Hey Joe, Where You Gonna Go" (Mira 207, December 1965); re-recorded as "Hey Joe, Where You Gonna Go" (Mira 222, 1966), and then again as "Hey Joe" (Mira 222, May 1966). This last version charted, peaking at #31 in the US.
• The Jimi Hendrix Experience (1966) Peaked at UK #6. In 2000, Total Guitar magazine ranked it as the 13th greatest cover version of all time.^[25]
• Cher (1967) on her album With Love, Cher. Peaked at US #94.
• Wilson Pickett (Atlantic 2648, July 1969) Peaked at #29 on the US R&B charts, #59 on the US pop charts, and #16 on the UK charts. Featured Duane Allman on guitar.

Other recorded versions of "Hey Joe" include:

• The Surfaris as "Hey Joe, Where Are You Going" (Decca 31954, June 1966)
• Love (1966) on their album Love
• The Byrds on their album Fifth Dimension (1966) Album chart: US #24, UK #27
• The Standells (1966)
• The Music Machine (1966)
• The Shadows of Knight (1966)
• Warlocks (1966)
• Tim Rose (1966)
• The Cryan' Shames (1966) on their album Sugar & Spice
• Gonn (1966 or '67)
• The Hazards (1967) on the compilation CD Aliens, Psychos and Wild Things, Vol. 2
• Johnny Hallyday (1967) French lyrics by Gilles Thibault, on the album Olympia 67
• Martò (1967) Italian lyrics by Francesco Guccini
• Ant Trip Ceremony (1968) on their album 24 Hours
• The Golden Cups (1968) Japanese group
• The Creation (1968)
• Marmalade (1968)
• The Mothers of Invention (1968) parodied "Hey Joe" and took a satirical swipe at hippies in their song "Flower Punk" from We're Only In It For The Money
• Deep Purple (1968) on their first album, Shades of Deep Purple. While writing a new instrumental introduction to the song, the album credits mistakenly list "Deep Purple" as the song's author. This happened in the original edition of the album, and current versions have corrected credits.
• Johnny Rivers (1968) on the album Realization
• Band Of Joy (1968) demo version with Robert Plant issued in 2003 on the album Sixty Six to Timbuktu
• Fever Tree (1970) on For Sale
• The Les Humphries Singers (1971) on the album We'll Fly You to the Promised Land
• Roy Buchanan (1973)
• Patti Smith (1974) her first music single. This version is only available on the 2004 compilation album No Thanks!: The 70s Punk Rebellion.
• Spirit (1975) on the album Spirit of '76
• Suzie Hendrix 1978
• Alvin Lee (1979) on the album Ride On
• Buldožer (1982) on their live album Ako ste slobodni večeras
• Soft Cell (1983) as part of the B-side "Hendrix Medley", later re-issued on The Art of Falling Apart
• "Weird Al" Yankovic (1984) as part of the medley "Polkas on 45" on the album "Weird Al" Yankovic In 3-D
• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (1986) on the album Kicking Against the Pricks
• Francesco Di Giacomo (1989) on the album Non Mettere le Dita nel Naso in duet with Sam Moore
• Seal (1991) on the "Killer" single
• The Offspring (1991 and 1997) on their Baghdad EP and later as a B-side on their single "Gone Away"
• Willy DeVille (1992) on the album Backstreets of Desire
• Type O Negative (1992) as "Hey Pete" on the album The Origin of the Feces
• Jerry Douglas (1992) on the album Slide Rule. Vocals by Tim O'Brien
• Buckwheat Zydeco (1992) on the album On Track
• Body Count (1993) on the albums Born Dead and Stone Free
• Eddie Murphy (1993) on the album Love's Alright
• Mathilde Santing (1994) as "Hey Joan", where the woman shoots her man
• Lick the Tins (1995) on the album Blind Man on a Flying Horse
• O Rappa (1996) Portuguese version on the album Rappa Mundi. This version changed the original song idea. Here Joe is a poor boy, trying to become powerful by means of drug dealing.
• Fifteen (1996) on the EP There's No Place Like Home (Good Night)
• The Make-Up (1999)
• Axel Rudi Pell (1999) on the album The Ballads II
• Franco Battiato (2001) on the album Ferro Battuto
• Robert Plant (2002) on the album Dreamland and also earlier with the Band of Joy in 1967
• Brant Bjork (2004) on his album Local Angel
• Gabe Dixon Band (2005) on Live at World Cafe
• Cassie Steele (2005) on How Much For Happy
• Psychedelic Deja Vu (2006)
• Guitar Shorty (2006) Guitar Shorty is Jimi Hendrix's brother in law.* Insted (2008)
• Arklio Galia (2007) Lithuanian version called "Ei, Juozai" on their debut album.
• Bap Kennedy (2009) on Howl On

[edit] Trivia

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (March 2009)

• 1,572 guitarists played "Hey Joe" simultaneously in the town square of Wrocław, Poland on May 1, 2006, breaking a Guinness record ^[26] 1,881 guitarists played "Hey Joe" in Wrocław on May 1, 2007 to break the record again.^[27] 1,951 guitarists played "Hey Joe" in Wrocław on May 1, 2008, setting a new Guinness record.^[26] The record was further broken in Wroclaw on May 1, 2009, when 6346 guitarists played the song in the same venue.
• "Hey Joe" was the last song Jimi Hendrix played at Woodstock, it was played after the crowd, comprising the 80,000 who hadn't left, cheered for an encore. It was the last song of the festival.
• Sonic Youth's song "Hey Joni" is titled in reference to this song and to Joni Mitchell, but it shares no lyrical themes from Hendrix's version.
• Type O Negative re-titled it "Hey Pete" (in reference to frontman Peter Steele) and changed the song's protagonist to an axe-murderer. This fit the song into a story arc spanning several of the band's own compositions.
• The professional wrestling stable, known as the "b-team" nWo, used audio samples of "Hey Joe" in their entrance music.
• The rock band The Who occasionally performed "Hey Joe" during their 1989 tour. Their version was influenced by Jimi Hendrix's arrangement and was dedicated to him.
• The band Kusters Last Band has performed a punk version of the song
• The Red Hot Chili Peppers were seen in 2006 rehearsing the song on Live From Abbey Road on Channel 4.

[edit] In the media

The Hendrix version appears in the following films:

• Forrest Gump
• Empire Records
• Waynes World 2
• Death Sentence
• Reaper
• Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
• Crooklyn

A version sung by Michael Pitt with the band The Twins of Evil features in the film The Dreamers.

The Deep Purple version appears in Vietcong computer game.

"Hey Joe" appears in the Deep Space Nine episode "Future Tense".

[edit] Samples and quotes

• The T.I. song "What You Know" uses the same melody as "Hey Joe".^{[citation needed]}
• Mike Shinoda sampled Hendrix's version for his "Jimi Remix" of the Styles of Beyond's song "Bleach", which appeared on Fort Minor's We Major mixtape.
• Rapper Fat Joe samples the song from the use of the cover version by The Jimi Hendrix Experience for his song "Hey Joe" off of his 2009 album Jealous Ones Still Envy 2 (J.O.S.E. 2).

[edit] References

• Sixties Rock, Michael Hicks, University of Illinois Press, 2000
• Original Seeds Vol. 2: Songs that inspired Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Kim Beissel, CD liner notes, Rubber Records Australia, 2004

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