Hey Joe

"Hey Joe" is an American popular song from the 1960s that has become a rock standard and as such has been performed in many musical styles by hundreds of different artists. "Hey Joe" tells the story of a man who is on the run and planning to head to Mexico after shooting his unfaithful 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; the band then re-recorded the track and released it in 1966 as a follow-up single which became a hit. 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.

Authorship

While claimed by the late Tim Rose 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.

You Were Right, Joe (short story)

You Were Right, Joe is a 22 page Time travel short story by J. T. McIntosh, published in the November 1957 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction.

Style

The story is written in the first person, and is replete with colloquialisms suitable for an "Ordinary Joe."

Plot

An unnamed man has had his consciousness sent far into the future by a scientist named Joe. The story is told in the form of messages that are sent by the time traveler using a one-way communication link that exists between the time traveler and the scientist.

The time traveler tells Joe that some of his predictions about time travel and the future are correct. He has arrived in the future with an established identity and is able to speak the local language. The people of the time are friendly and simply dressed. Even though he is clearly in a city, there is little sign of impressive technology. He also reports that he is attracting a fair amount of attention because the body that he now inhabits is tall, strong, handsome and athletic whereas in our time he was something of a weakling.

Hey Joe (Carl Smith 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. Later in 1953, Kitty Wells recorded an answer record also titled "Hey Joe" which hit number eight on the Jukebox Country & Western chart.

Cover versions

A cover version, sung by Frankie Laine and produced by Mitch Miller, reached number one in the UK Singles Chart in October 1953.

It was Laine's second UK chart topper, but unlike his long-lasting "I Believe", it only stayed in the chart for eight weeks, after reaching number one in its second week on the chart. That week Laine had three singles in the chart, which at that time consisted only of twelve songs. The following week, Laine's third number one hit in the UK, "Answer Me" entered the chart, giving Laine one third of all records on the listing.

Moe Bandy and Joe Stampley recorded a new version of the song with the modified title: "Hey Joe, Hey Moe", with lyrics specially rewritten for the project by Boudleaux Bryant, as the title song to a duet album issued in 1981. The song, released as the lead single to the album, was a top-10 country hit that year.