Hey Joe

Hey Joe is probably a traditional American song but the first known copyright of it was by an song writer called Billy Roberts from South Carolina in 1962.  The inspiration for Hey Joe possibly came from 3 sources:

• Billy Robert's girlfriend sand a song called "baby, please don't go to town" which uses similar chord progression
• Carl Smiths country hit "hey joe" in 1953 which has the same question and answer format
• The folk song "little Sadie" which tells the same story as Hey joe.  Little Sadie has been sung under many titles and by many artists

Hey Joe tells the story of a man fleeing to Mexico after shooting his wife whilst under the influence of drink and drugs.

Hey Joe, 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've caught her messin' around with another man 

I'm going down to shoot my old lady 

You know, I've caught her messin' around with another man 

And that ain't too cool 

Hey Joe, I've heard you shot your woman down, 

shot her down, now 

I said I've 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! 

Hey Joe, alright 

Shoot her one more time, baby 

Hey Joe, said now 

Where you gonna run to now? 

Where you gonna run to? 

Hey Joe, I said where you gonna run to now? 

Where you, where 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 Joe, you better run on down 

Good by everybody 

Hey Joe, uhh 

Run on down 

It was a hit in the mid 1960 with various  rock bands  including

• The Leaves who reached number 40 in the Billborad charts, 
• The Music Machine whose version was slow and fuzzy and probably influenced the Jimi Hendrix version 
• The Standwells 
• The Byrds. 

• Tim Rose

Hey Joe was the first hit single for Jimi Hendrix in 1966 after Chas Chandler of the animals saw Tim Rose performing the slower version  in New York.  The song became the making of Jimi Hendrix

The song has been recorded many times after by artists including :

• Deep Purple
• Frank Zappa released a version of the song called "Flower Punk"
• Patti Smith
• The Who sometimes played a version of the song
• Soft Cell in 1983 on 
• Body Count and Eddy Murphy  in 1993
• Robert Plant in 2002
• Guitar Shorty in 2006 (Jimi Hendrix brother-in-law)

The Jimi Hendrix version of Hey Joe has also been played in the movies including

• Forest Gump
• Waynes World 2