In a completely incomprehensible way, some songs become world hits, despite the primitive lyrics and not the most original melody. An excellent example of this is the composition Hey, Joe. Hundreds of covers have been recorded on it in different styles and directions, and the version of the cult guitarist Jimi Hendrix became the most famous.
The history of creation and the meaning of the song Hey, Joe
The storyline of the song is simple and banal: a husband killed an unfaithful wife and is going to flee justice to Mexico. But if everything is clear with the text, then the early history of Hey, Joe is shrouded in fog. To this day, researchers have not come to a consensus on who wrote it, although Billy Roberts is listed as the official author.
However, Tim Rose, one of the original performers of Hey, Joe, considered it folk music. On the cover of Are You Experienced? rock band The Jimi Hendrix Experience says it’s “a bluesy arrangement of an old cowboy song about a hundred years old”. Chester Powers, known by the pseudonyms Dino Valenti and Jesse Farrow, sang it, passing it off as his own. In a word, the origin of the song is not completely clear.
The first song Hey, Joe was recorded by The Leaves in 1965. She released three different versions, and one of them reached number 31 on the Billboard Hot 100.
But the really popular Hey, Joe became two years later, when she released a single from The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Chas Chandler, the former bassist of The Animals who became a producer after the band broke up, heard Hey, Joe Tim Rose sing and thought the song would sound great in a rock arrangement. He began to look for a worthy musician and found Jimi Hendrix, who performed at the Wha? and among other compositions played Hey, Joe. Chandler convinced Jimi to go to England with him to record a single, and that was the beginning of Hendrix’s journey to worldwide recognition.
Jimi Hendrix’s “Hey, Joe” is full of glorious events going forward: No. 6 on the UK Singles Chart, crowds at the Monterey Rock Festival and Woodstock, No. 201 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and No. 22 on VH1’s Greatest Hard Rock Songs.
Hey, Joe still continues to be covered by various artists and bands. It is hardly possible to calculate the total number of covers for the song, but it is known that there are more than four hundred of them.
Interesting Facts
- Hey, Joe, Jimi Hendrix and the Gypsy Sun & Rainbows closed the Woodstock rock festival in 1969.
- On one of the early demos, Jimi can be heard uttering a curse word and then asking Chas Chandler to turn down his voice and turn up the music.
- A Deep Purple version of the song is featured in the computer game Vietcong (2003).
- Played by Jimi Hendrix, Hey, Joe is featured in many famous films, including Forrest Gump and others.
- During the Vietnam War, the first line of the song was used as an appeal to the President of the United States.
- In the Philippines, the phrase Hey, Joe is often used by locals to greet Americans.
- Every year, since 2006, in Wroclaw, Poland, thousands of guitarists gather on the city square and play Hey, Joe at the same time. In 2012, 7273 musicians took part in the action.
Hey Joe Lyrics Jimi Hendrix
Hey Joe, a-where you goin’ with that gun in your hand?
Hey Joe, I said where you goin’ with that gun in your hand?
I’m going down to shoot my old lady
You know I caught her messin’ around with another man
I’m going down to shoot my old lady
You know I caught her messin’ around with another man
And that ain’t too cool brother
Hey Joe, I heard you shot your woman down,
You shot her down, now
Hey Joe, I heard you shot your old lady down,
You shot her down to the ground
Yes I did, I shot her
You know I caught her messin’ round, messin’ round town
Yes I did, I shot her
You know I caught my old lady messin’ around town
And I gave her the gun
I shot her!
Alright, shoot her one more time again for me
Hey Joe, say now where are you gonna run to now?
Where are you gonna run to?
Hey Joe, I said where are you gonna run to now?
Where are you, where are you gonna go?
Well, dig it
I’m goin’ way down south
Way down to Mexico way, alright
I’m goin’ way down south
Way down where I can be free
Ain’t no one gonna find me
Ain’t no hangman gonna
He ain’t gonna put a rope around me
You better believe it right now
I gotta go now
Hey, Hey Joe, you better run on down
good by everybody
Hey Joe,
Run on down
Hey Joe Lyrics Jimi Hendrix
Hey Joe, where are you going with that gun in your hand?
Hey Joe, I’m saying, where are you going with that gun in your hand?
I’m going to dump my old lady
See, I found out that she’s messing with another guy.
I’m going to dump my old lady
See, I found out that she’s messing with another guy.
And this, brother, I do not like
Hey Joe, I heard you flunked your woman
You flunked her
Hey Joe, I heard you flunked your old lady
You shot her Yes, that’s right, I shot her
You see, I found out that she’s confused, confused with the whole city
Yes it is, I shot her
You see, I found out that my old woman is confused with the whole city
And I gave her the heat
I shot her!
Well done, shoot her one more time from me
Hey Joe, tell me, where are you going to run now?
Where will you run?
Hey Joe, I say where are you going to run now?
Where are you, where are you going to run?
Well you see
I’m going south
Straight to Mexico
I’m going south
Right where I can stay free
And no one will find me
The executioner will not succeed
He won’t be able to throw a noose around my neck
Believe me,
I’ll run away right now
Hey Joe you better run
Goodbye everyone
Hey Joe
run
