While many things come to mind to that Jimi Hendrix was an expert at - electric guitar, showmanship, singing, and fashion - his songwriting seems to be disregarded as one of the best of it’s era. Voodoo Child, Purple Haze, Little Wing, Castles Made of Sand all written by Hendrix as the sole songwriter, yet his two biggest hits, the one’s synonymous with his name and legacy, were covers: the revolutionary rendition of Bob Dylan’s All Along the Watchtower and his first hit, the blues classic Hey, Joe.
Hey, Joe is what it is today because of Jimi Hendrix, there’s no question about that. The song was written in the early 1960s, being recorded here and there and learned at large by the majority of budding blues and rock musicians of its time. The songs authorship is muddy to figure out with many to have claimed writing the track. In 1962, Billy Roberts [folk musician from California] registered for copyright, then Scottish folk singer Len Partridge claimed he helped Roberts write the song back in the 1950s while they toured Scotland. That, and Robert’s has three clear streams of inspiration that when put together make the Hey, Joe known today. There’s the inspiration of the country song of the same name written by husband-wife writing duo Felice and Boudleaux Bryant [known for penning other standards such as Love Hurts and All I Have to Do is Dream], the ballad Little Sadie, and Baby, Please Don’t Go Downtown written by Niela Horn, Roberts ex-girlfriend whose song wasn’t released until 2009 despite the demo circulating since 1962. It was during the un-copyrighted years of the song that Pete Seegar, the infamous folk musician and activist known widely for his revolutionary work in support of civil rights, unions, the counterculture, and countless other causes, would hear both Horn and Roberts songs’, noting the similarities, and offering to testify with Horn for her to get writing credits on Hey, Joe but was declined. The song is widely considered to be written by Roberts, though Dino Valinti holds the copyright in California, as he claims he was gifted the rights by Roberts. In 1966, singer Tim Rose recorded a rendition of the song labeling it traditional, which is how most acredit the song now [though most would just credit the piece to Hendrix, who we get back to now.]
Very similar to the story of Hey, Joe, Hendrix was not an overnight success - especially not in the United States. He played the club circuit around New York City long before ever being discovered, and definitely long before even becoming a star that went to forever burn bright at 27. It was the Leaves, then the Byrds, then the Standells to record Hey, Joe in 1965 and 1966, bringing it to the wider audiences of the record buying public. David Crosby, then of the Byrds, soon apart of Crosby, Stills, and Nash [and sometimes Young] is said to have been the one that truly help popularize the song to the point of it getting so many covers so quickly, making it “a garage rock classic”. It was around this time the song would be implemented into the budding Hendrix, as he was known to perform the song during sets with his band Jimmy James and the Blue Flames in 1966 on the aforementioned NYC circuit using the tempo of the Tim Rose single while infusing his own signature touch. It was during one of these performances that Chas Chandler, former bassist of The Animals, would “discover” Hendrix while looking for acts to produce. It was Hendrix's rendition of Hey, Joe that sold Chandler, who would bring Hendrix to England in autumn of ‘66 to make headway on his first recording session.
Jimmy James and the Blue Flames in the early sixties, with the titular Jimmy James [Hendrix] to the left in photos
Three months later, Hey, Joe by the Jimi Hendrix Experience would be released as a single and become his first top 10 hit in the United Kingdom in January of the following year. It wouldn’t chart in the US when released in May of 1967, but the seed had been planted in the UK. Hendrix was on the up and up, exactly where he would stay for the next four years. He was a guitar hero from inception, making huge ways during performances across the UK, making the guitarists the country was producing at the time [little known guys like Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, or Jeff Beck, to name one or two] look like amateurs. There’s a story from Soft Machine’s Kevin Ayer about an early gig by the Experience in the UK, with the audience consisting of Ayer himself, Clapton, Beck, Pete Townshend, Lennon and McCartney, Brian Jones and Mick Jagger, where Ayer stated after the stunned silence that "All the stars were there, and I heard serious comments, you know 'shit', 'Jesus', 'damn' and other words worse than that." Hendrix was labeled as “Mr. Phenomenon” by the press, some stating he would be a “tornado” in the industry, uprooting everything once known about the very genre and instrument that would cease to exist without his name closely attached.
The Experience dressed to their typical nines in Hamburg, Germany, photographed in 1967 by Gunter Zint
Back to Hey, Joe, however, the song exemplified just how much Hendrix was unlike anyone quite before him, taking a song beaten to death with covers [and popular ones, at that] and making it not only stand out, but the definitive version as a debut single? What was so different about his take? Well, what was so different about Jimi Hendrix? Innovation, for starters. The song separated itself from the rest of its renditions, pushing the lyrics to duet with the soulful guitar solo placed right in the middle. It slowed the piece down, pulling the emotions out where they were otherwise buried deep. Starting with a stark, but separate, instrumental piece that draws in the attention before flowing into the pleading of the vocals, the characters are embodied by one man and his instrument, one drummer and one bassist. The crack of the voice of the Way Down to Mexico, to shoot my old lady down. The Breakaways choir like harmonies playing against the guitar as the solo breaks the song down into pieces. The lyrics are buried behind the instruments in some parts, the flip between the voice and guitar leading showcasing so much of what would come to be beloved about the man behind both. The final yelp of Hey, Joe… quite frankly what was dislikeable about the take on the song, what was dislikeable about Hendrix? It introduced a star, a rockstar, guitar hero, amicable singer, a stunning rhythm section with drummer Mitch Mitchell and bassist Noel Redding, and most importantly it gave life to a song that was going far beyond its expiration date in only a few short years. It was the magic of Hendrix in his first three minutes as a rockstar, making an irreplicable effect on the rock and music world. It set the standard for the next four years of Hendrix’s career, before the curtain sadly closed. But what Jimi Hendrix was able to do in those four years, for just his 27, was just enough for him to be considered the be-all, end-all for electric guitar and rock and roll at large, and it all started with a song he made his own, because what’s more rock ‘n’ roll than that?
The Jimi Hendrix Experience performing Hey, Joe in September 1966
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