Jimi Hendrix – Hey Joe
About The Song
“Hey Joe” is an American song from the 1960s that has become a rock standard and has been performed in many musical styles by hundreds of different artists. In October 1966, Jimi Hendrix recorded “Hey Joe” for his first single with the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
The song gained so much popularity that people lost track of its origin and considered it to be a traditional song. While the track certainly helped the legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix to peak the charts with what was his band’s, The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s first single release, its history goes far back. A horde of musicians before and of course after him covered the versatile classic. The song, which passed from one genre to another, appropriated its mood and colour accordingly but never lost its charm.
‘Hey Joe’ centres on a husband heading to Mexico having shot his wife due to her unfaithfulness. There has been a lot of confusion regarding the authorship of the song. Early in the days, some credited it to the American folk-musician Billy Roberts, some to Robert’s close pal, singer-songwriter Dino Valenti while some preferred to list it as a traditional song. It wasn’t until 1962 that Billy Roberts claimed its copyright. But even after that, there were several contradictory narratives about the source of the lyrics.
Jim Hendrix’s cover was inspired by Tim Rose’s 1966 slower version of the song. Rose also reportedly asserted the lyrics to be traditional and acknowledged having learned the song from folk-singer Vince Martin. Hendrix’s version became a hit among London’s growing subculture of the swinging sixties ranking number six in the UK Singles Chart. ‘Hey Joe’ gained more significance as it was the last song performed by Hendrix at the Woodstock festival in 1969 and also the final song of the whole event which was performed on the demand of 80,000 audience members.
