Hey Joe
Encyclopedia
"Hey Joe" is an American popular song from the 1960s that has become a rock
standard
and as such, has been performed in a multitude of musical styles by hundreds of different artists since it was first written. "Hey Joe" tells the story of a man who is on the run and planning to head to Mexico after shooting his wife. However, diverse credits and claims have led to confusion as to the song's true authorship and genesis. The earliest known commercial recording of the song is the late 1965 single
by the Los Angeles garage band
, The Leaves
, who also had the first hit version of the song with a re-recording in 1966. Currently the best-known version is 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.
to be a traditional song
, or often erroneously attributed to the pen of American musician
Dino Valenti
(who also went by the names Chester or Chet Powers, and Jesse Farrow), "Hey Joe" was registered for copyright
in the U.S. in 1962 by Billy Roberts
. 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. Other sources (including singer Pat Craig), claim that Roberts assigned the rights to the song to his friend Valenti while Valenti 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
coffeehouse
circuit. He later recorded the country rock
album Thoughts of California with the band Grits in San Francisco in 1975, produced by Hillel Resner. Resner has stated that a live recording of Roberts performing "Hey Joe" exists, dating from 1961.
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" (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; and the early 20th century traditional ballad
"Little Sadie
", which tells of a man on the run after he has shot his wife. 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.
Variations of "Little Sadie" have been recorded under various titles (including "Bad Lee Brown", "Penitentiary Blues", "Cocaine Blues
", "Whiskey Blues") by many artists, including Clarence Ashley
(1930), Johnny Cash
(1960 & 1968), Slim Dusty
(1961), and Bob Dylan
(1970).
Despite extensive archives of U.S. folk and blues music, and studies of the same, in the Library of Congress
, the Smithsonian Institution
, and other bodies, no documentary evidence has been provided to support the claim, by the late Tim Rose and others, 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 from 1966 into the 2000s by the music publisher Third Story Music (now Third Palm Music); there the author is listed as Billy Roberts.
, The Standells
, The Surfaris
, Love
, The Music Machine
, and The Byrds
, swiftly making the song a garage rock
classic. Both Dino Valenti and The Byrds' David Crosby
have been reported as helping to popularize the song before it was recorded by The Leaves in December 1965.
The Leaves, who had been introduced to the song while attending live concerts
by The Byrds (who had yet to record their own version of the song) at Ciro's
on Sunset Boulevard
, recorded and released three versions of "Hey Joe" between 1965 and 1966. Their first version was released in November/December 1965 but sold poorly. The band's third recorded version of the song became a hit in May/June 1966, reaching #31 on the Billboard Hot 100
chart and #29 on the Canadian RPM Magazine
charts. The Leaves' version is notable for being the only recording of the song to reach the Top 40 of the Billboard chart.
The Surfaris
recording of the song, released on the B-side
of their "So Get Out" single, is sometimes cited as being the first rock
recording of the song but a number of reliable sources contend that, in fact, the Surfaris' version dates from 1966, well after The Leaves' original 1965 version. There is some dispute over exactly when The Surfaris' recording of the song was released. Some sources list its release date as being late 1965 but there are many other sources that list it as being June 1966. However, the catalogue number of The Surfari's single is Decca 31954, which when cross-referenced with other contemporaneous Decca single releases, allows the single to be conclusively dated to a May - June 1966 time frame. A June 1966 release date is further corroborated by the discographical information on Gary Usher
's website. Usher was the producer of The Surfaris' recording of the song and the discographical information on his website comes from the late producer's personal archives, as compiled by his biographer Stephen J. McParland at the request of the Usher family.
The Standells
also recorded a version of the song, titled "Hey Joe, Where You Gonna Go", which was included on their 1966 Dirty Water album. The garage rock band, The Music Machine
, recorded a slow, moody, fuzz-laden version of the song in late 1966 which bears a strong resemblance to Jimi Hendrix
's later version.
The Los Angeles band Love
included a version of "Hey Joe" on their debut album, Love
, released on Elektra Records
in April 1966. The song was brought to the band by guitarist and singer, Bryan MacLean
, who had been introduced to the song by David Crosby during 1965, while MacLean had been a roadie
for The Byrds. The band's lead vocalist, Arthur Lee
, claimed in later years that it was Love's version that turned Jimi Hendrix onto the song as well as most of the other Los Angeles acts who covered the song. Love's recording of "Hey Joe" features slightly different lyrics to most versions of the song; for example, the lyric "gun in your hand" became "money in your hand" in Love's version. The Byrds recording of the song also features the same altered lyrics as Love's version.
The Byrds included a recording of the song, titled "Hey Joe (Where You Gonna Go)", on their 1966 album, Fifth Dimension
. The lead vocalist on The Byrds' version was David Crosby, who was instrumental in bringing the song to the group and in popularising the song within the larger L.A. music community. Crosby had wanted to record the song almost since the band first formed in 1964 but the other members of The Byrds had been unenthusiastic toward the song. By the time of the recording sessions
for Fifth Dimension, several other bands had enjoyed success with covers of "Hey Joe", leaving Crosby angered by his bandmates' lack of faith in the song. In interview, Byrds' guitarist and band leader Roger McGuinn
recalled that "The reason Crosby did lead on 'Hey Joe' was because it was his song. He didn't write it but he was responsible for finding it. He'd wanted to do it for years but we would never let him. Then both Love and The Leaves had a minor hit with it and David got so angry that we had to let him do it."
General consensus within the band and among critics was that The Byrds' version wasn't an entirely successful reading of the song and was inferior to previous recordings of the song by Love and The Leaves. In later years, both McGuinn and the band's manager, Jim Dickson, criticised Crosby's vocal performance on the song for not being powerful enough to carry the aggressive subject matter and expressed regret that the song had been included on Fifth Dimension. Even Crosby himself later admitted that the recording of the song was an error on his part, stating "It was a mistake, I shouldn't have done it. Everybody makes mistakes."
The song would go on to become a staple of The Byrds' live concert repertoire during 1966 and 1967. The band also included the song in their performance at the Monterey Pop Festival
, which is included on the 2002 The Complete Monterey Pop Festival
DVD
box set as well as on the 1992 The Monterey International Pop Festival CD
box set.
singer Tim Rose
’s slower version of the song (recorded in 1966 and claimed to be Rose's arrangement of a wholly traditional song) inspired the first single by The Jimi Hendrix Experience
. The ex-bassist
for The Animals
, Chas Chandler
, who was now focusing on managing other acts, had also seen Rose performing the song at the Cafe Wha?
in New York City and was looking for an artist to record a rock version of "Hey Joe". Chandler discovered Jimi Hendrix
, who had also been playing at the Cafe Wha? in 1966 and performing an arrangement of "Hey Joe" inspired by Rose's rendition. Chandler decided to take Hendrix with him to England in September 1966, where he would subsequently turn the guitarist into a star. Tim Rose re-recorded "Hey Joe" in the 1990s, re-titling it "Blue Steel .44" and again claimed the song as his own arrangement of a traditional song.
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 saw them perform the song after Jimi arrived in the UK, although The Creation's version was not released until after Hendrix's. It is unclear if the members of The Creation had heard Tim Rose's version.
Released in December 1966, Hendrix's version became a hit
in the United Kingdom, entering the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart
in January 1967 and peaking at #6. The single was released in the United States on May 1, 1967 with the B-side "51st Anniversary" but failed to chart. "Hey Joe", as recorded by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, remains the best known version of the song and is listed as #198 on Rolling Stone
magazine's The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In 2009 it was named the 22nd greatest hard rock song of all time by VH1
. "Hey Joe" was the last song Jimi Hendrix
performed at the Woodstock festival in 1969 and as such, it was also the final song of the whole festival. The song was performed after the crowd, comprising the 80,000 who hadn't yet left the festival, cheered for an encore.
recorded a version of the song in 1968 because they needed a B-side to their single "Lovin' Things" in a hurry, and because they thought it was a traditional song and as such, the band would get the songwriting royalties
from it. Marmalade guitarist, Junior Campbell
, stated in interview that "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!".
The hard rock band Deep Purple
recorded a version of the song and included it on their first album, Shades of Deep Purple
in 1968. Original pressings of the album mistakenly credited Deep Purple as the songwriters. As was typical of early Deep Purple cover songs, the band added a lengthy intro and musical interludes, bringing the song's running time to over seven and a half minutes.
Frank Zappa
recorded a parody of the song, titled "Flower Punk", on The Mothers of Invention
album We're Only in It for the Money
in 1968. The song was one of several on the album that parodied the fashionable hippie
lifestyle. Lyrics in Zappa's version included "Hey Punk, where you goin' with that flower in your hand?/Well, I'm goin' up to Frisco to join a psychedelic band." Zappa also included the opening chord riff
of "Hey Joe" in the song "Honey, Don't You Want a Man Like Me?" from his Zappa in New York
album.
Patti Smith
released a cover of the song as the A-side
of her first single, "Hey Joe" b/w "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 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".
Sonic Youth
's song "Hey Joni", included on their 1988 album, Daydream Nation
, is titled in reference to "Hey Joe" and to Joni Mitchell
but it shares no lyrical themes with the Billy Roberts' song.
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.
Willy DeVille
recorded a mariachi
version of the song that was a hit in Europe in 1992, going to #1 in Spain. The song was released as a single in Europe and appeared on DeVille's Backstreets of Desire
album.
Type O Negative
re-titled the song as "Hey Pete" (in reference to frontman Peter Steele
) on their 1992 The Origin of the Feces
album 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 Red Hot Chili Peppers
were seen in 2006 rehearsing the song on the TV program Live From Abbey Road
on Channel 4
.
Bap Kennedy
, was so inspired by Hendrix's performance of "Hey Joe" as the closing song of the Woodstock Festival
that he released his own version forty years later on his 2009 album, Howl On
.
1,572 guitarists played "Hey Joe" simultaneously in the town square of Wrocław, Poland
on May 1, 2006, breaking a Guinness record
. A new record was set when 1,881 guitarists played "Hey Joe" in Wrocław on May 1, 2007. Then on May 1, 2008, 1,951 guitarists played "Hey Joe" in Wrocław to set a new world record. The record was further broken in Wroclaw on May 1, 2009, when 6346 guitarists played the song in the same venue.
Other recorded versions of "Hey Joe" include:
"Hey Joe" as performed by The Jimi Hendrix Experience also appears in the Deep Space Nine
episode "Past Tense".
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.
The Roger Waters
' song "Folded Flags" from the soundtrack to the film, When The Wind Blows, features a reference to "Hey Joe" in the lines "Hey Joe, where you goin' with that gun in your hand?" and "Hey Joe, where you goin' with that dogma in your head?"
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
standard
Standard (music)
In music, a standard is a tune or song of established popularity.-See also:* Blues standard* Jazz standard* Pop standard* Great American Songbook-Further reading:* Greatest Rock Standards, published by Hal Leonard ISBN 0793588391...
and as such, has been performed in a multitude of musical styles by hundreds of different artists since it was first written. "Hey Joe" tells the story of a man who is on the run and planning to head to Mexico after shooting his wife. However, diverse credits and claims have led to confusion as to the song's true authorship and genesis. The earliest known commercial recording of the song is the late 1965 single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
by the Los Angeles garage band
Garage band
The term garage band can refer to:* A band that performs garage rock* GarageBand, audio production software published by Apple Inc.* GarageBand.com, a website that helps publicize emerging bands...
, The Leaves
The Leaves
The Leaves were an American garage band formed in California in 1963. They are best known for their version of the song "Hey Joe", which was a hit in 1966. Theirs is the earliest release of this song, which became a rock standard.-History:...
, who also had the first hit version of the song with a re-recording in 1966. Currently the best-known version is The Jimi Hendrix Experience
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
The Jimi Hendrix Experience were an English-American psychedelic rock band that formed in London in October 1966. Comprising eponymous singer-songwriter and guitarist Jimi Hendrix, bassist and backing vocalist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell, the band was active until June 1969, in which...
's 1966 recording, their debut single. The song title is sometimes given as "Hey Joe, Where You Gonna Go?" or similar variations.
Authorship
While claimed by the late Tim RoseTim Rose
Timothy Alan Patrick Rose , best known professionally as Tim Rose, was an American singer-songwriter, who spent much of his life in London, England and had more success in Europe than in his native country...
to be a traditional song
Traditional music
Traditional music is the term increasingly used for folk music that is not contemporary folk music. More on this is at the terminology section of the World music article...
, or often erroneously attributed to the pen of American musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
Dino Valenti
Chet Powers
Chester William Powers, Jr. was an American singer-songwriter, and a member of the rock group Quicksilver Messenger Service. He was also known by the stage name "Dino Valenti" and, as a songwriter, as Jesse Oris Farrow...
(who also went by the names Chester or Chet Powers, and Jesse Farrow), "Hey Joe" was registered for copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
in the U.S. in 1962 by Billy Roberts
Billy Roberts
Billy Roberts is an American songwriter and musician credited with composing the 1960s rock music standard "Hey Joe"...
. 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. Other sources (including singer Pat Craig), claim that Roberts assigned the rights to the song to his friend Valenti while Valenti was in jail, in order to give him some income upon release.
Roberts was a relatively obscure California-based folk singer
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
and harmonica
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
player who performed on the West Coast
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
coffeehouse
Coffeehouse
A coffeehouse or coffee shop is an establishment which primarily serves prepared coffee or other hot beverages. It shares some of the characteristics of a bar, and some of the characteristics of a restaurant, but it is different from a cafeteria. As the name suggests, coffeehouses focus on...
circuit. He later recorded the country rock
Country rock
Country rock is sub-genre of popular music, formed from the fusion of rock with country. The term is generally used to refer to the wave of rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s, beginning with Bob Dylan and The Byrds; reaching its greatest...
album Thoughts of California with the band Grits in San Francisco in 1975, produced by Hillel Resner. Resner has stated that a live recording of Roberts performing "Hey Joe" exists, dating from 1961.
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" (which uses a similar chord progression
Chord progression
A chord progression is a series of musical chords, or chord changes that "aims for a definite goal" of establishing a tonality founded on a key, root or tonic chord. In other words, the succession of root relationships...
based on the circle of fifths
Circle of fifths
In music theory, the circle of fifths shows the relationships among the 12 tones of the chromatic scale, their corresponding key signatures, and the associated major and minor keys...
); Carl Smith
Carl Smith (country musician)
Carl Milton Smith was an American country music singer. Known as "Mister Country," Smith was the husband of June Carter and Goldie Hill, the drinking companion of Johnny Cash, and the father of Carlene Carter...
's 1953 US country hit "Hey Joe!
Hey Joe (1953 song)
"Hey Joe" is a 1953 popular song written by Boudleaux Bryant. It was recorded by Carl Smith for Columbia Records on 19 May 1953 and spent eight weeks at #1 on the U.S. country music chart...
" (written by Boudleaux Bryant), which shared the title and the "question and answer" format; and the early 20th century traditional ballad
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
"Little Sadie
Little Sadie
"Little Sadie" is a 20th Century American folk ballad in D Dorian mode. It is also known variously as "Bad Lee Brown", "Cocaine Blues", "Transfusion Blues", "East St. Louis Blues", "Late One Night", "Penitentiary Blues" and other titles. It tells the story of a man who is apprehended after shooting...
", which tells of a man on the run after he has shot his wife. 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.
Variations of "Little Sadie" have been recorded under various titles (including "Bad Lee Brown", "Penitentiary Blues", "Cocaine Blues
Cocaine Blues
"Cocaine Blues" is a Western Swing song written by T. J. "Red" Arnall, a reworking of the traditional song "Little Sadie". This song was originally recorded by W. A. Nichol's Western Aces on the S & G label, probably in 1947, and by Roy Hogsed and the Rainbow Riders May 25, 1947, at Universal...
", "Whiskey Blues") by many artists, including Clarence Ashley
Clarence Ashley
"Tom" Clarence Ashley was an American clawhammer banjo player, guitarist and singer. He began performing at medicine shows in the Southern Appalachian region as early as 1911, and gained initial fame during the late 1920s as both a solo recording artist and as a member of various string bands...
(1930), Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
(1960 & 1968), Slim Dusty
Slim Dusty
David Gordon "Slim Dusty " Kirkpatrick AO, MBE was an Australian country music singer-songwriter and producer, with a career spanning nearly eight decades. He was known to record songs in the legacy of Australian poets Henry Lawson and Banjo Patterson that represented the Australian Bush...
(1961), and Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
(1970).
Despite extensive archives of U.S. folk and blues music, and studies of the same, in the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
, the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
, and other bodies, no documentary evidence has been provided to support the claim, by the late Tim Rose and others, that "Hey Joe" is a wholly traditional work. (See also the article on "Morning Dew
Morning Dew
"Morning Dew", also known as " Morning Dew", is a post-apocalyptic folk-rock song written by Canadian singer Bonnie Dobson in 1962.According to Dobson in a 1993 interview, "Morning Dew" was inspired by the film On the Beach....
" regarding Rose and song copyrights.)
Rights to the song were administered from 1966 into the 2000s by the music publisher Third Story Music (now Third Palm Music); there the author is listed as Billy Roberts.
Early recordings (1965–1966)
Roberts' song gained fans in the Los Angeles music scene of the mid-1960s, which led to fast-paced recordings in 1965 and 1966 by The LeavesThe Leaves
The Leaves were an American garage band formed in California in 1963. They are best known for their version of the song "Hey Joe", which was a hit in 1966. Theirs is the earliest release of this song, which became a rock standard.-History:...
, The Standells
The Standells
The Standells are a garage rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in the 1960s, who have been referred to as the "Godfathers of Punk Rock", and are best known for their 1966 hit "Dirty Water," now the anthem of several Boston sports teams.-The 1960s:...
, The Surfaris
The Surfaris
The Surfaris were an American surf rock band formed in Glendora, California in 1962. They are best known for two songs that hit the charts in the Los Angeles, California area, and nationally by May 1963: "Surfer Joe" on the A-side and "Wipe Out" on the B-side of a 45 RPM single.-Career:The original...
, Love
Love (band)
Love was an American rock group of the late 1960s and early 1970s. They were led by singer/songwriter Arthur Lee and lead guitarist Johnny Echols...
, The Music Machine
The Music Machine
The Music Machine was an American garage rock and psychedelic band from the late 1960s, headed by singer-songwriter Sean Bonniwell and based in Los Angeles. The band sound was often defined by fuzzy guitars and a Farfisa organ...
, and The Byrds
The Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...
, swiftly making the song a garage rock
Garage rock
Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name...
classic. Both Dino Valenti and The Byrds' David Crosby
David Crosby
David Van Cortlandt Crosby is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of three bands: The Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash , and CPR...
have been reported as helping to popularize the song before it was recorded by The Leaves in December 1965.
The Leaves, who had been introduced to the song while attending live concerts
Rock concert
The term rock concert refers to a musical performance in the style of any one of many genres inspired by "rock and roll" music. While a variety of vocal and instrumental styles can constitute a rock concert, this phenomenon is typically characterized by bands playing at least one electric guitar,...
by The Byrds (who had yet to record their own version of the song) at Ciro's
Ciro's
Ciro's was a nightclub in West Hollywood, California, at 8433 Sunset Boulevard, on the Sunset Strip, opened in January 1940, by entrepreneur William Wilkerson. Herman Hover took over management of Ciro's in 1942 until it closed its doors in 1957...
on Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard is a street in the western part of Los Angeles County, California, that stretches from Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Coast Highway at the Pacific Ocean in the Pacific Palisades...
, recorded and released three versions of "Hey Joe" between 1965 and 1966. Their first version was released in November/December 1965 but sold poorly. The band's third recorded version of the song became a hit in May/June 1966, reaching #31 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart and #29 on the Canadian RPM Magazine
RPM (magazine)
RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,...
charts. The Leaves' version is notable for being the only recording of the song to reach the Top 40 of the Billboard chart.
The Surfaris
The Surfaris
The Surfaris were an American surf rock band formed in Glendora, California in 1962. They are best known for two songs that hit the charts in the Los Angeles, California area, and nationally by May 1963: "Surfer Joe" on the A-side and "Wipe Out" on the B-side of a 45 RPM single.-Career:The original...
recording of the song, released on the B-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
of their "So Get Out" single, is sometimes cited as being the first rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
recording of the song but a number of reliable sources contend that, in fact, the Surfaris' version dates from 1966, well after The Leaves' original 1965 version. There is some dispute over exactly when The Surfaris' recording of the song was released. Some sources list its release date as being late 1965 but there are many other sources that list it as being June 1966. However, the catalogue number of The Surfari's single is Decca 31954, which when cross-referenced with other contemporaneous Decca single releases, allows the single to be conclusively dated to a May - June 1966 time frame. A June 1966 release date is further corroborated by the discographical information on Gary Usher
Gary Usher
Gary Usher was an American surf rock musician, songwriter, and record producer.-Biography:Usher's early life was spent in Grafton, Massachusetts. He attended Norcross Grammar School with his sister, Sandra, who was in the same class and was likely his twin. Gary was kiddingly called "Chicken Feed"...
's website. Usher was the producer of The Surfaris' recording of the song and the discographical information on his website comes from the late producer's personal archives, as compiled by his biographer Stephen J. McParland at the request of the Usher family.
The Standells
The Standells
The Standells are a garage rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in the 1960s, who have been referred to as the "Godfathers of Punk Rock", and are best known for their 1966 hit "Dirty Water," now the anthem of several Boston sports teams.-The 1960s:...
also recorded a version of the song, titled "Hey Joe, Where You Gonna Go", which was included on their 1966 Dirty Water album. The garage rock band, The Music Machine
The Music Machine
The Music Machine was an American garage rock and psychedelic band from the late 1960s, headed by singer-songwriter Sean Bonniwell and based in Los Angeles. The band sound was often defined by fuzzy guitars and a Farfisa organ...
, recorded a slow, moody, fuzz-laden version of the song in late 1966 which bears a strong resemblance to Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
's later version.
The Los Angeles band Love
Love (band)
Love was an American rock group of the late 1960s and early 1970s. They were led by singer/songwriter Arthur Lee and lead guitarist Johnny Echols...
included a version of "Hey Joe" on their debut album, Love
Love (Love album)
Love is the eponymous debut by the Los Angeles-based rock band Love. Twelve of the album's fourteen tracks were recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders in Hollywood on January 24–27, 1966...
, released on Elektra Records
Elektra Records
Elektra Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group. In 2004, it was consolidated into WMG's Atlantic Records Group. After five years of dormancy, the label was revived by Atlantic in 2009....
in April 1966. The song was brought to the band by guitarist and singer, Bryan MacLean
Bryan MacLean
Bryan MacLean was an American singer, guitarist and songwriter, most known for his work with the influential rock band Love. His famous compositions for Love include "Alone Again Or" and "Old Man".-Early life:...
, who had been introduced to the song by David Crosby during 1965, while MacLean had been a roadie
Road crew
The road crew are the technicians or support personnel who travel with a band on tour, usually in sleeper buses, and handle every part of the concert productions except actually performing the music with the musicians...
for The Byrds. The band's lead vocalist, Arthur Lee
Arthur Lee (musician)
Arthur Lee was the frontman, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist of the Los Angeles rock band Love, best known for the critically acclaimed 1967 album, Forever Changes.-Early years:...
, claimed in later years that it was Love's version that turned Jimi Hendrix onto the song as well as most of the other Los Angeles acts who covered the song. Love's recording of "Hey Joe" features slightly different lyrics to most versions of the song; for example, the lyric "gun in your hand" became "money in your hand" in Love's version. The Byrds recording of the song also features the same altered lyrics as Love's version.
The Byrds included a recording of the song, titled "Hey Joe (Where You Gonna Go)", on their 1966 album, Fifth Dimension
Fifth Dimension (album)
Fifth Dimension is the third album by the American rock band The Byrds and was released in July 1966 on Columbia Records . Most of the album was recorded following the February 1966 departure of the band's principal songwriter Gene Clark...
. The lead vocalist on The Byrds' version was David Crosby, who was instrumental in bringing the song to the group and in popularising the song within the larger L.A. music community. Crosby had wanted to record the song almost since the band first formed in 1964 but the other members of The Byrds had been unenthusiastic toward the song. By the time of the recording sessions
Studio recording
The term studio recording means any recording made in a studio, as opposed to a live recording, which is usually made in a concert venue or a theatre, with an audience attending the performance.-Studio cast recordings:...
for Fifth Dimension, several other bands had enjoyed success with covers of "Hey Joe", leaving Crosby angered by his bandmates' lack of faith in the song. In interview, Byrds' guitarist and band leader Roger McGuinn
Roger McGuinn
James Roger McGuinn is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist on many of The Byrds' records...
recalled that "The reason Crosby did lead on 'Hey Joe' was because it was his song. He didn't write it but he was responsible for finding it. He'd wanted to do it for years but we would never let him. Then both Love and The Leaves had a minor hit with it and David got so angry that we had to let him do it."
General consensus within the band and among critics was that The Byrds' version wasn't an entirely successful reading of the song and was inferior to previous recordings of the song by Love and The Leaves. In later years, both McGuinn and the band's manager, Jim Dickson, criticised Crosby's vocal performance on the song for not being powerful enough to carry the aggressive subject matter and expressed regret that the song had been included on Fifth Dimension. Even Crosby himself later admitted that the recording of the song was an error on his part, stating "It was a mistake, I shouldn't have done it. Everybody makes mistakes."
The song would go on to become a staple of The Byrds' live concert repertoire during 1966 and 1967. The band also included the song in their performance at the Monterey Pop Festival
Monterey Pop Festival
The Monterey International Pop Music Festival was a three-day concert event held June 16 to June 18, 1967 at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California...
, which is included on the 2002 The Complete Monterey Pop Festival
Monterey Pop
Monterey Pop is a 1968 concert film by D. A. Pennebaker that documents the Monterey Pop Festival of 1967. Among Pennebaker's several camera operators were fellow documentarians Richard Leacock and Albert Maysles...
DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
box set as well as on the 1992 The Monterey International Pop Festival CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
box set.
Tim Rose and Jimi Hendrix (1966)
Folk rockFolk rock
Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
singer Tim Rose
Tim Rose
Timothy Alan Patrick Rose , best known professionally as Tim Rose, was an American singer-songwriter, who spent much of his life in London, England and had more success in Europe than in his native country...
’s slower version of the song (recorded in 1966 and claimed to be Rose's arrangement of a wholly traditional song) inspired the first single by The Jimi Hendrix Experience
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
The Jimi Hendrix Experience were an English-American psychedelic rock band that formed in London in October 1966. Comprising eponymous singer-songwriter and guitarist Jimi Hendrix, bassist and backing vocalist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell, the band was active until June 1969, in which...
. The ex-bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
for The Animals
The Animals
The Animals were an English music group of the 1960s formed in Newcastle upon Tyne during the early part of the decade, and later relocated to London...
, Chas Chandler
Chas Chandler
Bryan James "Chas" Chandler was an English musician, record producer and manager of several successful music acts....
, who was now focusing on managing other acts, had also seen Rose performing the song at the Cafe Wha?
Cafe Wha?
Cafe Wha? is a club in Greenwich Village in Manhattan, New York City that has been home to various musicians and comedians. Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Springsteen, The Velvet Underground, Cat Mother & the All Night Newsboys, Kool and the Gang, Peter, Paul & Mary, Woody Allen, Lenny Bruce, Joan...
in New York City and was looking for an artist to record a rock version of "Hey Joe". Chandler discovered Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
, who had also been playing at the Cafe Wha? in 1966 and performing an arrangement of "Hey Joe" inspired by Rose's rendition. Chandler decided to take Hendrix with him to England in September 1966, where he would subsequently turn the guitarist into a star. Tim Rose re-recorded "Hey Joe" in the 1990s, re-titling it "Blue Steel .44" and again claimed the song as his own arrangement of a traditional song.
Some accounts credit the slower version of the song by the British band The Creation
The Creation (band)
The Creation were an English rock band, formed in 1966. The most popular Creation song was "Painter Man", which made the Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart in late 1966, and reached #8 in the German chart in April 1967. It was later covered by Boney M in 1979, and reached the #10 position in the UK...
as being the inspiration for Hendrix's version; Chandler and Hendrix saw them perform the song after Jimi arrived in the UK, although The Creation's version was not released until after Hendrix's. It is unclear if the members of The Creation had heard Tim Rose's version.
Released in December 1966, Hendrix's version became a hit
Hit single
A hit single is a recorded song or instrumental released as a single that has become very popular. Although it is sometimes used to describe any widely-played or big-selling song, the term "hit" is usually reserved for a single that has appeared in an official music chart through repeated radio...
in the United Kingdom, entering the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
in January 1967 and peaking at #6. The single was released in the United States on May 1, 1967 with the B-side "51st Anniversary" but failed to chart. "Hey Joe", as recorded by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, remains the best known version of the song and is listed as #198 on Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine's The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In 2009 it was named the 22nd greatest hard rock song of all time by VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
. "Hey Joe" was the last song Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
performed at the Woodstock festival in 1969 and as such, it was also the final song of the whole festival. The song was performed after the crowd, comprising the 80,000 who hadn't yet left the festival, cheered for an encore.
Later recordings (1968–present)
MarmaladeMarmalade (band)
Marmalade were a successful Scottish pop rock group, from the east end of Glasgow, originally formed in 1961 as "The Gaylords", later "Dean Ford and The Gaylords". In 1966, they changed the group name to 'The Marmalade'. The most successful period for the band, in terms of UK chart success, was...
recorded a version of the song in 1968 because they needed a B-side to their single "Lovin' Things" in a hurry, and because they thought it was a traditional song and as such, the band would get the songwriting royalties
Royalties
Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...
from it. Marmalade guitarist, Junior Campbell
Junior Campbell
Junior Campbell is a Scottish composer, songwriter and musician. He was a founding member, lead guitarist, piano player, and singer with the Scottish band Marmalade and co-wrote and produced some of their biggest successes, including "Reflections of My Life", "I See The Rain" and "Rainbow".He...
, stated in interview that "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!".
The hard rock band Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...
recorded a version of the song and included it on their first album, Shades of Deep Purple
Shades of Deep Purple
Shades of Deep Purple is the debut album by English hard rock band Deep Purple, released in 1968 on Parlophone in the United Kingdom and Tetragrammaton in the United States....
in 1968. Original pressings of the album mistakenly credited Deep Purple as the songwriters. As was typical of early Deep Purple cover songs, the band added a lengthy intro and musical interludes, bringing the song's running time to over seven and a half minutes.
Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
recorded a parody of the song, titled "Flower Punk", on The Mothers of Invention
The Mothers of Invention
The Mothers of Invention were an American band active from 1964 to 1969, and again from 1970 to 1975.They mainly performed works by, and were the original recording group of, US composer and guitarist Frank Zappa , although other members have had the occasional writing credit...
album We're Only in It for the Money
We're Only in It for the Money
We're Only in It For the Money is the third studio album by The Mothers of Invention, released in March 1968. The album peaked at number thirty on the Billboard 200...
in 1968. The song was one of several on the album that parodied the fashionable hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
lifestyle. Lyrics in Zappa's version included "Hey Punk, where you goin' with that flower in your hand?/Well, I'm goin' up to Frisco to join a psychedelic band." Zappa also included the opening chord riff
RIFF
The Resource Interchange File Format is a generic file container format for storing data in tagged chunks. It is primarily used to store multimedia such as sound and video, though it may also be used to store any arbitrary data....
of "Hey Joe" in the song "Honey, Don't You Want a Man Like Me?" from his Zappa in New York
Zappa in New York
Zappa in New York is a live double album by Frank Zappa. It was recorded at a series of concerts at New York City's Palladium in December 1976. It was released by Zappa's DiscReet Records label in 1977, then quickly withdrawn. A second version was re-released in 1978 with changes ordered by...
album.
Patti Smith
Patti Smith
Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses....
released a cover of the song as the A-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
of her first single, "Hey Joe" b/w "Piss Factory
Piss Factory
"Piss Factory" is a protopunk song written by Patti Smith and Richard Sohl, and released as a B-side on Smith's debut single "Hey Joe" in 1974. In 1989, Dave Marsh placed the song on the list of The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made....
", in 1974. The arrangement of Smith's version is based on a recording by blues guitarist Roy Buchanan
Roy Buchanan
Roy Buchanan was an American guitarist and blues musician. A pioneer of the Telecaster sound, Buchanan was a sideman and solo artist, with two gold albums early in his career, and two later solo albums that made it on to the Billboard chart. Despite never having achieved stardom, he is still...
that was released the previous year (and dedicated to Hendrix). Smith's version is unique in that she includes a brief and salacious monologue about fugitive heiress Patty Hearst
Patty Hearst
Patricia Campbell Hearst , now known as Patricia Campbell Hearst Shaw, is an American newspaper heiress, socialite, actress, kidnap victim, and convicted bank robber....
and her kidnapping and participation with the Symbionese Liberation Army
Symbionese Liberation Army
The Symbionese Liberation Army was an American self-styled left-wing urban militant group active between 1973 and 1975 that considered itself a revolutionary vanguard army...
. Smith's version portrays Patty Hearst as Joe with a "gun in her hand".
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...
's song "Hey Joni", included on their 1988 album, Daydream Nation
Daydream Nation
Daydream Nation is the fifth studio album by the American alternative rock band Sonic Youth. It was released in October 1988 by Enigma Records in the United States, and by Blast First in the United Kingdom....
, is titled in reference to "Hey Joe" and to Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
but it shares no lyrical themes with the Billy Roberts' song.
The rock band The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
occasionally performed "Hey Joe" during their 1989 tour. Their version was influenced by Jimi Hendrix's arrangement and was dedicated to him.
Willy DeVille
Willy DeVille
Willy DeVille was an American singer and songwriter. During his thirty-five year career, first with his band Mink DeVille and later on his own, Deville created original songs rooted in traditional American musical styles. He worked with collaborators from across the spectrum of contemporary...
recorded a mariachi
Mariachi
Mariachi is a genre of music that originated in the State of Jalisco, in Mexico. It is an integration of stringed instruments highly influenced by the cultural impacts of the historical development of Western Mexico. Throughout the history of mariachi, musicians have experimented with brass, wind,...
version of the song that was a hit in Europe in 1992, going to #1 in Spain. The song was released as a single in Europe and appeared on DeVille's Backstreets of Desire
Backstreets of Desire
Backstreets of Desire is an album by Willy DeVille. It was recorded in various Los Angeles recording studios in 1992. To make the album, DeVille was joined by many prominent musicians, including Dr...
album.
Type O Negative
Type O Negative
Type O Negative was a gothic metal band from Brooklyn, New York City. The band also incorporated elements of doom metal and thrash metal. Their dramatic lyrical emphasis on themes of romance, depression, and death resulted in the nickname "The Drab Four"...
re-titled the song as "Hey Pete" (in reference to frontman Peter Steele
Peter Steele
Peter Thomas Ratajczyk , better known by his stage name Peter Steele, was the lead singer, bassist, and composer for the gothic metal band Type O Negative...
) on their 1992 The Origin of the Feces
The Origin of the Feces
The Origin of the Feces is the second album by Brooklyn band Type O Negative, which was released in 1992. The album was produced to sound as if it had been recorded at a live show by adding crowd noises, banter with the fictitious audience, and even a song stopping because the venue supposedly had...
album 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.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers is an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1983. The group's musical style primarily consists of rock with an emphasis on funk, as well as elements from other genres such as punk, hip hop and psychedelic rock...
were seen in 2006 rehearsing the song on the TV program Live From Abbey Road
Live from Abbey Road
Live from Abbey Road is a 12-part, one-hour performance series/documentary that began filming its first season during 2006 at Abbey Road Studios in London. Season 2 was filmed between 2007 and 2008, season 3 was filmed in 2009 and Season 4 was filmed in 2011...
on Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
.
Bap Kennedy
Bap Kennedy
Martin "Bap" Kennedy is a singer-songwriter from Belfast, Northern Ireland and older brother of singer Brian Kennedy. He is noted for writing the song "Moonlight Kiss" which was on the soundtrack for the film Serendipity .Kennedy was in a successful band, Energy Orchard for many years and has...
, was so inspired by Hendrix's performance of "Hey Joe" as the closing song of the Woodstock Festival
Woodstock Festival
Woodstock Music & Art Fair was a music festival, billed as "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music". It was held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm in the Catskills near the hamlet of White Lake in the town of Bethel, New York, from August 15 to August 18, 1969...
that he released his own version forty years later on his 2009 album, Howl On
Howl On
Howl On the fourth solo studio album by Bap Kennedy, was released on August 3, 2009 on Kennedy's new label, Lonely Street Discs. Excluding a cover of "Hey Joe", all songs on the album were written by Kennedy. This is the first album he has written and recorded in his native Northern Ireland...
.
1,572 guitarists played "Hey Joe" simultaneously in the town square of Wrocław, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
on May 1, 2006, breaking a Guinness record
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
. A new record was set when 1,881 guitarists played "Hey Joe" in Wrocław on May 1, 2007. Then on May 1, 2008, 1,951 guitarists played "Hey Joe" in Wrocław to set a new world record. The record was further broken in Wroclaw on May 1, 2009, when 6346 guitarists played the song in the same venue.
Selected list of recorded versions
The following versions of "Hey Joe" made the pop charts in the US or UK:- The LeavesThe LeavesThe Leaves were an American garage band formed in California in 1963. They are best known for their version of the song "Hey Joe", which was a hit in 1966. Theirs is the earliest release of this song, which became a rock standard.-History:...
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 ExperienceThe Jimi Hendrix ExperienceThe Jimi Hendrix Experience were an English-American psychedelic rock band that formed in London in October 1966. Comprising eponymous singer-songwriter and guitarist Jimi Hendrix, bassist and backing vocalist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell, the band was active until June 1969, in which...
(1966) Peaked at UK #6. In 2000, Total GuitarTotal GuitarTotal Guitar is a monthly magazine based in the United Kingdom. The magazine is the best selling guitar magazine in Europe.The magazine is owned by Future Publishing, who publish many other magazines ranging from drums and video games to mountain bikes and knitting magazines.Total Guitar regularly...
magazine ranked it as the 13th greatest cover version of all time. - CherCherCher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...
(1967) on her album With Love, CherWith Love, Cher-Credits:Personnel*Cher - lead vocalsProduction*Sonny Bono - record producer*Stan Ross - sound engineerDesign*Sonny Bono - photography*Woody Woodward - art direction- Chart positions :-External links:**...
. Peaked at US #94.
- Wilson PickettWilson PickettWilson Pickett was an American R&B/Soul singer and songwriter.A major figure in the development of American soul music, Pickett recorded over 50 songs which made the US R&B charts, and frequently crossed over to the US Billboard Hot 100...
(Atlantic 2648, July 1969) Peaked at #29 on the US R&B charts, #59 on the US pop charts, #42 on the Canadian RPM MagazineRPM (magazine)RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,...
charts, and #16 on the UK charts. Featured Duane AllmanDuane AllmanHoward Duane Allman was an American guitarist, session musician and the primary co-founder of the southern rock group The Allman Brothers Band...
on guitar.
Other recorded versions of "Hey Joe" include:
- The SurfarisThe SurfarisThe Surfaris were an American surf rock band formed in Glendora, California in 1962. They are best known for two songs that hit the charts in the Los Angeles, California area, and nationally by May 1963: "Surfer Joe" on the A-side and "Wipe Out" on the B-side of a 45 RPM single.-Career:The original...
as "Hey Joe, Where Are You Going" (Decca 31954, June 1966) - LoveLove (band)Love was an American rock group of the late 1960s and early 1970s. They were led by singer/songwriter Arthur Lee and lead guitarist Johnny Echols...
(1966) on their album LoveLove (Love album)Love is the eponymous debut by the Los Angeles-based rock band Love. Twelve of the album's fourteen tracks were recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders in Hollywood on January 24–27, 1966... - The ByrdsThe ByrdsThe Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...
on their album Fifth DimensionFifth Dimension (album)Fifth Dimension is the third album by the American rock band The Byrds and was released in July 1966 on Columbia Records . Most of the album was recorded following the February 1966 departure of the band's principal songwriter Gene Clark...
(1966) - The StandellsThe StandellsThe Standells are a garage rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in the 1960s, who have been referred to as the "Godfathers of Punk Rock", and are best known for their 1966 hit "Dirty Water," now the anthem of several Boston sports teams.-The 1960s:...
(1966) on their album Dirty Water - The Music MachineThe Music MachineThe Music Machine was an American garage rock and psychedelic band from the late 1960s, headed by singer-songwriter Sean Bonniwell and based in Los Angeles. The band sound was often defined by fuzzy guitars and a Farfisa organ...
(1966) on their album (Turn On) The Music Machine - The Shadows of Knight (1966) on their album Back Door MenBack Door MenBack Door Men is the second album by The Shadows of Knight. Both this album and its predecessor, Gloria, were released in 1966 and are considered to be seminal garage band albums. As noted by one reviewer, "The original LP version of this album, the second by the legendary white Chicago garage...
- Warlocks (1966)
- Tim RoseTim RoseTimothy Alan Patrick Rose , best known professionally as Tim Rose, was an American singer-songwriter, who spent much of his life in London, England and had more success in Europe than in his native country...
(1966) (re-recorded as "Blue Steel .44" on the album Haunted, 1997) - The Cryan' ShamesThe Cryan' ShamesThe Cryan' Shames is an American garage rock group from Hinsdale, Illinois. They originally formed as The Travelers, with founding members Tom Doody , Gerry Stone , Dave Purple of The Prowlers, Denny Conroy and Jim Fairs from The Roosters, Jim Pilster , and Bill Hughes...
(1966) on their album Sugar & Spice - GonnGONNGONN is a 1960s American garage rock band from Keokuk, Iowa whose signature song is "Blackout of Gretely". Although releasing only two singles in 1966-67, the band also recorded numerous other tracks that have been collected on three retrospective albums. Following a 1989 solo album released by...
(1966 or '67) - The SoulBenders (1967) on their album Can't Believe in Love
- The Stillroven (1967) scored a Midwest regional hit in early 1967 with their cover version
- The Hazards (1967) on the compilation CD Aliens, Psychos and Wild Things, Vol. 2
- Johnny HallydayJohnny HallydayJohnny Hallyday is a French singer and actor. An icon in the French-speaking world since the beginning of his career, he was considered by some to have been the French Elvis Presley. He was married for 15 years to one of the most popular French female singers: Sylvie Vartan...
(1967) FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
lyrics by Gilles Thibault, on the album Olympia 67 - Martò (1967) ItalianItalian languageItalian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
lyrics by Francesco GucciniFrancesco GucciniFrancesco Guccini is an Italian singer-songwriter, considered one of the most important Cantautori. During the five decades of his music career he has recorded 16 studio albums and collections, and 6 live albums. He is also a writer, having published autobiographic and noir novels, and a comics... - Los Locos (1967) MexicanSpanish languageSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
lyrics by Rafael Acosta, on the EPExtended playAn EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
Negro es Negro - Ant Trip Ceremony (1968) on their album 24 Hours
- The Golden CupsThe Golden Cupswere one of the top bands performing in Japan's Group Sounds scene in the late 1960s.Featuring singer Dave Hirao, guitarist Eddie Ban, and bassist Masayoshi "Mabo" Kabe, and made a number of hit singles in addition to many re-workings of international songs. A full length documentary film about the...
(1968) JapaneseJapanese peopleThe are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
group - The CreationThe Creation (band)The Creation were an English rock band, formed in 1966. The most popular Creation song was "Painter Man", which made the Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart in late 1966, and reached #8 in the German chart in April 1967. It was later covered by Boney M in 1979, and reached the #10 position in the UK...
(1968) - MarmaladeMarmalade (band)Marmalade were a successful Scottish pop rock group, from the east end of Glasgow, originally formed in 1961 as "The Gaylords", later "Dean Ford and The Gaylords". In 1966, they changed the group name to 'The Marmalade'. The most successful period for the band, in terms of UK chart success, was...
(1968) - The Mothers of InventionThe Mothers of InventionThe Mothers of Invention were an American band active from 1964 to 1969, and again from 1970 to 1975.They mainly performed works by, and were the original recording group of, US composer and guitarist Frank Zappa , although other members have had the occasional writing credit...
(1968) parodied "Hey Joe" and took a satirical swipe at hippies in their song "Flower Punk" from We're Only In It For The MoneyWe're Only in It for the MoneyWe're Only in It For the Money is the third studio album by The Mothers of Invention, released in March 1968. The album peaked at number thirty on the Billboard 200... - Deep PurpleDeep PurpleDeep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...
on their first album, Shades of Deep PurpleShades of Deep PurpleShades of Deep Purple is the debut album by English hard rock band Deep Purple, released in 1968 on Parlophone in the United Kingdom and Tetragrammaton in the United States....
(1968), which mistakenly credited them as the writers - Johnny RiversJohnny RiversJohnny Rivers is an American rock and roll singer, songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. His styles include folk songs, blues, and revivals of old-time rock 'n' roll songs and some original material...
(1968) on the album Realization - Band of JoyBand of JoyThe Band of Joy are a rock band from England. Various lineups of the group performed from 1965 to 1968 and from 1977 to 1983...
(1968) demo version with Robert PlantRobert PlantRobert Anthony Plant, CBE is an English singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career...
issued in 2003 on the album Sixty Six to TimbuktuSixty Six to TimbuktuSixty Six to Timbuktu is a greatest hits album and a history of the career of Robert Plant, from 1966 to a recording done at the Festival in the Desert in Mali. The album was released in 2003 and contains songs from Plant's eight solo albums up to the time of its release on its first disc, and... - Fever TreeFever TreeFever Tree is a former American psychedelic rock band of the 1960s, chiefly known for their anthemic 1968 hit, "San Francisco Girls ".-History:...
(1970) on For Sale - Lee MosesLee MosesLee Moses was an American R&B and soul singer and guitarist, whose recordings in the late 1960s, and his 1971 LP Time and Place, are highly regarded by fans of the deep soul genre....
(1971) on the album Time and Place - The Les Humphries SingersLes Humphries SingersThe Les Humphries Singers was a 1970s musical group formed in Hamburg, Germany in 1969 by the English born Les Humphries , who had been inspired to do his own version of the Edwin Hawkins Singers.The Les Humphries Singers dissolved at the end of the...
(1971) on the album We'll Fly You to the Promised Land - Carson (1973) on the album On the Air (recorded live at Sunbury Pop Festival)
- Roy BuchananRoy BuchananRoy Buchanan was an American guitarist and blues musician. A pioneer of the Telecaster sound, Buchanan was a sideman and solo artist, with two gold albums early in his career, and two later solo albums that made it on to the Billboard chart. Despite never having achieved stardom, he is still...
(1974) on the album That's What I Am Here For - Patti SmithPatti SmithPatricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses....
(1974) her first music single. - SpiritSpirit (band)Spirit was an American jazz/hard rock/progressive rock/psychedelic band founded in 1967, based in Los Angeles, California.- The original lineup :...
(1975) on the album Spirit of '76 - Alvin LeeAlvin LeeAlvin Lee is an English rock guitarist and singer. He began playing guitar at the age of 13, and with Leo Lyons formed the core of the band Ten Years After in 1960...
(1979) on the album Ride On - BuldožerBuldožerBuldožer was Yugoslav-Slovenian progressive rock band from 1970s and 1980s. They were one of the first bands in communist Yugoslavia that could be considered alternative, and forefathers of the Yugoslav New Wave...
(1982) on their live album Ako ste slobodni večeras - Soft CellSoft CellSoft Cell are an English synthpop duo who came to prominence in the early 1980s. They consist of vocalist Marc Almond and instrumentalist David Ball. The duo is most widely known for their 1981 worldwide hit version of "Tainted Love" and platinum debut Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret...
(1983) as part of the B-side "Hendrix Medley", later re-issued on The Art of Falling ApartThe Art of Falling ApartThe Art of Falling Apart is the second full-length album released in 1983 by Soft Cell, a pioneering synthpop/new wave duo which featured Marc Almond singing and David Ball playing synthesizers.... - "Weird Al" Yankovic"Weird Al" YankovicAlfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist. Yankovic is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts...
(1984) as part of the medley "Polkas on 45" on the album "Weird Al" Yankovic In 3-D"Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D"Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D is the second studio album by American signer-songwriter "Weird Al" Yankovic, released on February 28, 1984, by Rock 'n Roll Records. The album was one of many produced by former The McCoys guitarist Rick Derringer... - Nash The SlashNash the SlashNash the Slash is a Canadian musician. Though a multi-instrumentalist, he is known primarily for playing electric violin and mandolin, as well as harmonica, keyboards, glockenspiel, and other instruments .Nash worked as a solo artist beginning in 1975, then founded the progressive rock band FM in...
(1984) on the album American Bandages - Nick Cave and the Bad SeedsNick Cave and the Bad SeedsNick Cave and the Bad Seeds are an Australian alternative rock band, formed in Melbourne in 1983. The band is fronted by Nick Cave and has featured international personnel throughout their career.-Formation and early releases :...
(1986) on the album Kicking Against the PricksKicking Against the PricksKicking Against the Pricks is the third album released by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. First released in 1986, the album is a collection of cover versions... - Dead MoonDead MoonDead Moon was a United States punk rock band from 1987 to 2006, formed in Portland, Oregon. Fronted by singer/guitarist Fred Cole, the band also included bassist Toody Cole, Fred's wife, and drummer Andrew Loomis. Veterans of Portland's independent rock scene, Dead Moon combined dark and lovelorn...
(1988) on the album In The Graveyard - Francesco Di Giacomo (1989) on the album Non Mettere le Dita nel Naso in duet with Sam MooreSam MooreSamuel David Moore is an American Southern Soul and Rhythm & Blues singer who was the tenor vocalist for the soul vocal duo Sam & Dave from 1961 through 1981...
- SealSeal (musician)Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel , known simply as Seal, is a British soul and R&B singer-songwriter, of Nigerian and Brazilian background. Seal has won numerous music awards throughout his career, including three Brit Awards—winning Best British Male in 1992, four Grammy Awards, and an...
(1991) on the "Killer" single; later included on the Set It OffSet It Off (soundtrack)Set It Off: Music From the New Line Cinema Motion Picture is the soundtrack to the 1996 crime film, Set It Off. It was released on September 24, 1996 by Eastwest Records and featured production from several of hip hop and R&B's top producers such as Organized Noize, DJ U-Neek and DJ Rectangle...
Soundtrack album (1996). - The OffspringThe OffspringThe Offspring is an American punk rock band from Huntington Beach, California, formed in 1984. Known as Manic Subsidal until 1986, the band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Dexter Holland, lead guitarist Kevin "Noodles" Wasserman, bassist Greg K. and drummer Pete Parada...
(1991 and 1997) on their Baghdad EP and, in a different version, as a B-side on their "Gone AwayGone Away-Sales:The single reached Gold in Australia, selling 35,000 copies. It was the first single released by the Offspring to reach Gold status in any country.-Music video:...
" single - Willy DeVilleWilly DeVilleWilly DeVille was an American singer and songwriter. During his thirty-five year career, first with his band Mink DeVille and later on his own, Deville created original songs rooted in traditional American musical styles. He worked with collaborators from across the spectrum of contemporary...
(1992) on the album Backstreets of DesireBackstreets of DesireBackstreets of Desire is an album by Willy DeVille. It was recorded in various Los Angeles recording studios in 1992. To make the album, DeVille was joined by many prominent musicians, including Dr... - Type O NegativeType O NegativeType O Negative was a gothic metal band from Brooklyn, New York City. The band also incorporated elements of doom metal and thrash metal. Their dramatic lyrical emphasis on themes of romance, depression, and death resulted in the nickname "The Drab Four"...
(1992) as "Hey Pete" on the album The Origin of the Feces - Jerry DouglasJerry Douglas (musician)Jerry Douglas is an American record producer and resonator guitar player. Called "Dobro's matchless contemporary master," by The New York Times, and lauded as "my favorite musician" by John Fogerty, Douglas is one of the world’s most renowned Dobro players.-Career:In addition to his twelve solo...
(1992) on the album Slide Rule. Vocals by Tim O'BrienTim O'Brien (musician)Tim O'Brien is an American country and bluegrass musician. In addition to singing, he plays guitar, fiddle, mandolin, banjo, bouzouki and mandocello... - Buckwheat ZydecoBuckwheat ZydecoBuckwheat Zydeco is the stage name of Stanley Dural, Jr. , an American accordionist and zydeco musician. He is one of the few zydeco artists to achieve mainstream success...
(1992) on the album On Track - Roy BuchananRoy BuchananRoy Buchanan was an American guitarist and blues musician. A pioneer of the Telecaster sound, Buchanan was a sideman and solo artist, with two gold albums early in his career, and two later solo albums that made it on to the Billboard chart. Despite never having achieved stardom, he is still...
(1992) on the album The Best of Roy Buchanan - Body CountBody CountBody Count is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1990. The group is fronted by rapper and actor Ice-T, who founded the group out of his interest in heavy metal music, taking on the role of vocalist and writing the lyrics for most of the group's songs. Lead guitarist...
(1993) on the albums Born DeadBorn DeadBorn Dead is the second album released by Body Count. Among other tracks, the album features a cover of Billy Roberts' "Hey Joe," performed in the style of Jimi Hendrix' recording of the song, as originally featured on the Are You Experienced album. Body Count's cover of the song was first featured...
and Stone Free: A Tribute to Jimi HendrixStone Free: A Tribute to Jimi HendrixStone Free: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix is a 1993 album recorded by various artists in tribute to Jimi Hendrix. The artists were drawn from many genres of popular music. Contributors include his classic rock contemporaries Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, blues man Buddy Guy, classical violinist Nigel... - Eddie MurphyEddie MurphyEdward Regan "Eddie" Murphy is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, singer, director, and musician....
(1993) on the album Love's AlrightLove's AlrightLove's Alright is the third musical album by comedian and singer Eddie Murphy. The album was released on February 23, 1993 by Motown Records, and was produced by Murphy, David Allen Jones and Ralph Hawkins. It was a critical and commercial failure, only making it to #80 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop... - Captain SensibleCaptain SensibleCaptain Sensible is a singer, songwriter, guitarist who grew up in Croydon, England, and co-founded the punk rock band The Damned in 1976. After leaving the band, he reinvented himself as an alternative pop singer with a rebellious, self-conscious image...
(1994) on his live album Live at the Milky Way - Mathilde SantingMathilde SantingMathilde Santing is a Dutch singer .Santing was born in Amstelveen, The Netherlands. She started receiving national attention in 1981 after she appeared with Sonja Barend in a Dutch television programme called Sonja Op Maandag.Over the last 25 years she has released a steady stream of albums,...
(1994) as "Hey Joan", where the woman shoots her man - Lick the TinsLick the TinsLick the Tins was a mid to late 1980s Celtic/folk rock/indie band from London. The name was derived from a nickname given to an old tramp by the children from the home town of one of the band members, Ronan Heenan. They are best known for their cover version of "Can't Help Falling in...
(1995) on the album Blind Man on a Flying Horse - Brazilian Band O RappaO RappaO Rappa is a Brazilian reggae/rock band from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They combine many styles such as Rock, Reggae, Funk, Hip hop and Samba...
(1996) recorded a PortuguesePortuguese languagePortuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
version on the album Rappa Mundi, with considerably different lyrics and plot. - FifteenFifteen (band)Fifteen was a punk rock band formed by Jeff Ott. Ott was the group's main songwriter and only consistent member. According to Ott, the band had a total of fifteen members by the time it finally disbanded in 2000: Jack Curran, Mikey Mischief, Mark Moreno, Jean Repetto, Lucky Dog, Chris Flanagan,...
(1996) on the EP There's No Place Like Home (Good Night) - Otis TaylorOtis Taylor (musician)Otis Taylor is an American blues musician. He is a multi-instrumentalist whose talents include the guitar, banjo, mandolin, harmonica, and vocals. In 2001, he was awarded a fellowship to the Sundance Film Composers Laboratory.-Music:Taylor moved at a young age to Denver, Colorado where he grew up...
(1996) on the album Blue Eyed Monster. This version has slightly different lyrics, though. - Guitar ShortyGuitar ShortyGuitar Shorty is an American blues guitarist. He is well known for his explosive guitar style and wild stage antics. Billboard magazine said, “his galvanizing guitar work defines modern, top-of-the-line blues-rock. His vocals remain as forceful as ever...
(1996) on the album Billie Jean BluesBillie Jean BluesBillie Jean Blues is the first compilation album released by blues guitarist Guitar Shorty . The album was on CD by the label Collectables on August 27, 1996, the same day as the compilation album Blues Is All Right. The album was produced by Swamp Dogg at several club sessions...
. Guitar Shorty is Jimi Hendrix's brother in law. - The Make-Up (1999) on the album Save Yourself
- Axel Rudi PellAxel Rudi PellAxel Rudi Pell is a German guitar player, playing melodic heavy metal. He started off with the band Steeler before leaving to start his solo career in 1989 with the eponymous band Axel Rudi Pell...
(1999) on the album The Ballads II - Medeski Martin & WoodMedeski Martin & WoodMedeski Martin & Wood is an American jazz trio formed in 1991, consisting of John Medeski on keyboards and piano, Billy Martin on drums and percussion, and Chris Wood on double bass and bass guitar....
(2000) on the album Tonic - Franco BattiatoFranco BattiatoFrancesco Battiato is an Italian singer-songwriter, composer, filmmaker and, under the pseudonym Süphan Barzani, also a painter. Battiato's songs contain esoteric, philosophical and religious themes...
(2001) on the album Ferro Battuto - Robert PlantRobert PlantRobert Anthony Plant, CBE is an English singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career...
(2002) on the album DreamlandDreamland (Robert Plant album)Dreamland is singer Robert Plant's seventh solo album and the first with the band "Strange Sensation". The album was released in July 2002.Many of the songs are cover versions, mainly blues, but also some rock...
and also earlier with the Band of JoyBand of JoyThe Band of Joy are a rock band from England. Various lineups of the group performed from 1965 to 1968 and from 1977 to 1983...
in 1967 - Vijay IyerVijay IyerVijay Iyer is a jazz pianist, composer, bandleader, producer, electronic musician, and writer based in New York City.-Biography:Born in 1971 and raised in Rochester, New York, Vijay Iyer is the son of Indian Tamil immigrants to the US. He received 15 years of Western classical training on violin...
(2003) on the album Blood Sutra (titled Because of Guns) - Brant BjorkBrant BjorkBrant Bjork is an American musician from Palm Desert, California, who is a drummer, producer, guitarist and one of the more notable figures in the stoner rock and Palm Desert scenes.-Early career and Kyuss:...
(2004) on his album Local Angel - Gabe Dixon BandGabe Dixon BandThe Gabe Dixon Band is a three-piece band that was formed in the fall of 1998 at the University of Miami. Their music is piano-driven rock akin to Ben Folds Five with a more serious tone, Jackson Browne and early 70s Elton John. The band worked with producer/engineer Eddie Kramer on their...
(2005) on Live at World Cafe - Cassie SteeleCassie SteeleCassandra Rae "Cassie" Steele is a Canadian actress and singer-songwriter best known for portraying Manny Santos on Degrassi: The Next Generation.-Life and career:...
(2005) on How Much For Happy - Psychedelic Deja Vu (2006)
- Arklio Galia (2007) LithuaniaLithuaniaLithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
n version called "Ei, Juozai" on their debut album. - Bap KennedyBap KennedyMartin "Bap" Kennedy is a singer-songwriter from Belfast, Northern Ireland and older brother of singer Brian Kennedy. He is noted for writing the song "Moonlight Kiss" which was on the soundtrack for the film Serendipity .Kennedy was in a successful band, Energy Orchard for many years and has...
(2009) on Howl OnHowl OnHowl On the fourth solo studio album by Bap Kennedy, was released on August 3, 2009 on Kennedy's new label, Lonely Street Discs. Excluding a cover of "Hey Joe", all songs on the album were written by Kennedy. This is the first album he has written and recorded in his native Northern Ireland... - Brown Sugar (2009) as an extra on the cassette release of their Deportation EPExtended playAn EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
- Josh CharlesJosh Charles (musician)Josh Charles is an Traditional Country/ New Orleans - style inspired pianist and singer/songwriter who was mentored by the famous Dr. John. He has had TV spots on Good Morning America, Tavis Smiley, Voice of America, CNN, and more, and has also been a featured artist in USA Today, LA Weekly, The...
(2010) on the album Trippin the Keys: Music of Jimi Hendrix
In the media
The Jimi Hendrix Experience version appears in the following films:- Forrest GumpForrest GumpForrest Gump is a 1994 American epic comedy-drama romance film based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom. The film was directed by Robert Zemeckis, starring Tom Hanks, Robin Wright and Gary Sinise...
- Empire RecordsEmpire RecordsEmpire Records is a 1995 coming of age film that follows a group of record store employees over the course of one exceptional day. The employees of this independent music store try to fight off a large chain, all while learning about each other...
- Wayne's World 2Wayne's World 2Wayne's World 2 is a 1993 comedy film starring Mike Myers and Dana Carvey as hosts of a Public-access television cable TV show from Aurora, Illinois. The film was adapted from a sketch on NBC's Saturday Night Live and is the sequel to Wayne's World....
- Death SentenceDeath SentenceDeath Sentence is a short story by the American science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the November 1943 issue of Astounding Science Fiction and reprinted in the 1972 collection The Early Asimov.-Plot summary:...
- Reaper
- Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
- CrooklynCrooklynCrooklyn is a 1994 semi-autobiographical film co-written and directed by Spike Lee. The film takes place in Brooklyn, New York and the neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant during the summer of 1973. Its primary focus is a young girl, Troy , and her family...
"Hey Joe" as performed by The Jimi Hendrix Experience also appears in the Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe...
episode "Past Tense".
A version sung by Michael Pitt
Michael Pitt
Michael Carmen Pitt is an American actor and musician. Pitt is best known in film for his role in Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers, and in television for his portrayal of James "Jimmy" Darmody in the hit HBO series Boardwalk Empire.-Personal life:Pitt was born in West Orange, New Jersey, the...
with the band The Twins of Evil features in the film The Dreamers.
The Deep Purple version appears in Vietcong
Vietcong (computer game)
Vietcong is a 2003 tactical first-person shooter video game developed by Pterodon and 2K Czech, published by Gathering of Developers. It is set during the Vietnam War in 1967....
computer game.
The Roger Waters
Roger Waters
George Roger Waters is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. He was a founding member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd, serving as bassist and co-lead vocalist. Following the departure of bandmate Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became the band's lyricist, principal songwriter...
' song "Folded Flags" from the soundtrack to the film, When The Wind Blows, features a reference to "Hey Joe" in the lines "Hey Joe, where you goin' with that gun in your hand?" and "Hey Joe, where you goin' with that dogma in your head?"
Samples and quotes
- The 2006 T.I.T.I.Clifford Joseph Harris, Jr. , better known by his stage name T.I., is an American rap artist, film and music producer, actor and author. He is also the founder and co-chief executive officer of Grand Hustle Records....
song "What You KnowWhat You Know"What You Know" is a Grammy Award-winning multi platinum hip-hop song by the Southern hip-hop artist T.I., and the first official single from his 2006 album King. The song also serves as the theme song to the 2006 film ATL in which T.I. stars. The song peaked at number three in the US and was...
" uses the same chord progressionChord progressionA chord progression is a series of musical chords, or chord changes that "aims for a definite goal" of establishing a tonality founded on a key, root or tonic chord. In other words, the succession of root relationships...
as "Hey Joe". - Mike ShinodaMike ShinodaMichael "Mike" Kenji Shinoda is an American musician, record producer, and artist. He is best known as the rapper, principal songwriter, keyboardist, vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Linkin Park, along with his co-frontman and lead singer Chester Bennington, and as a solo rapper in...
sampled Hendrix's version for his "Jimi Remix" of the Styles of BeyondStyles of BeyondStyles of Beyond is an underground rap group from the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. The group consists of MCs Ryan Patrick Maginn and Takbir Bashir , Colton Raisin Fisher , and producer Jason Rabinowitz . They have released two LPs, one mixtape and were heavily featured on Mike...
's song "Bleach", which appeared on Fort MinorFort MinorFort Minor is a hip hop side-project of Mike Shinoda, who is better known as being a member of the American rock band Linkin Park. Shinoda's debut solo album as Fort Minor, The Rising Tied was released November 22, 2005.-History:...
's We Major mixtape. - Rapper Fat JoeFat JoeJoseph Antonio Cartagena , better known by his stage name Fat Joe, is an American rapper, CEO of Terror Squad Entertainment, and member of musical groups D.I.T.C. and Terror Squad....
sampled the Jimi Hendrix version for his song "Hey Joe" on his 2009 album Jealous Ones Still Envy 2 (J.O.S.E. 2)Jealous Ones Still Envy 2 (J.O.S.E. 2)Jealous Ones Still Envy 2 is the ninth solo studio album by American rapper Fat Joe, and is a sequel to his platinum album J.O.S.E.. It is also the third album in his Jealous One's Envy series. After several delays, the album was released on October 6, 2009...
. - The professional wrestlingProfessional wrestlingProfessional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
stable, known as the "b-team" nWoNew World Order (professional wrestling)The New World Order was a professional wrestling stable that originally wrestled for World Championship Wrestling . The group later appeared in the World Wrestling Federation after the purchase of WCW by the WWF...
, made use of several Hendrix samples, including a small section of "Hey Joe", in their entrance music.
Sources
- 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