Hey Joe

HEY JOE

A controversial folk song made famous by Jimi Hendrix

The song ‘Hey Joe’ was recorded and copyrighted in 1962 by Billy Roberts and became a favourite among West Coast musicians by 1965-66.

It was recorded and released by Jimi Hendrix as his first single in December 1966 and quickly became a world hit. It was then covered by numerous bands and singers, some of whom claimed that the song was a traditional folk theme, as credited on the records of Tim Rose and Jimi Hendrix. In 2009, Niela Miller released her unpublished 1962 own recordings and asserted that Billy Roberts was indeed the original composer of  the song ‘Hey Joe’, which had drawn inspiration from her own song ‘Baby please don’t go to town’.

1961  ∙  Billy Roberts  ∙  1962  ∙  Billy Roberts  ∙  Nov. 1965  ∙  The Leaves  ∙  Apr. 1966  ∙  Love  ∙  May 1966  ∙  Tim Rose  ∙  The Standells  ∙  Jun. 1966  ∙  The Surfaris  ∙  Jul. 1966  ∙  The Byrds  ∙  Dec. 1966  ∙  The Jimi Hendrix Experience  ∙  The Roks  ∙  The Music Machine  ∙  1967  ∙  Cher  ∙  Johnny Halliday (French ver.)  ∙  1968  ∙  Deep Purple  ∙  1969  ∙  Wilson Pickett  ∙ 1974  ∙  Patti Smith  ∙  1983  ∙  Soft Cell  ∙  2011 ∙  Popa Chubby  ∙