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Hey Joe !
“.....there was this song called ‘Hey Joe’ that everybody and his fuckin’ brother not only recorded but claimed to have written even though it was obviously the psychedelic mutation of some hoary old folk song which was about murderin’ somebody for love just like nine-tenths of the rest of them hoary folk ballads”
- Bangs, Lester “Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung : A tale of these times, Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung (New York : Random House, 1987)
Note : Despite Lesters’(Our Hero) confident tone, we can’t really advance our cause from this quote, since : A) He does not say who wrote Hey Joe, and B) We have not found any real connection to any recorded (or preformed) call and response type song about a guy named Joe involved in a (double) murder over an adulterous spouse previous to Billy Roberts obtaining publishing rights in January 1962.
On Thursdays Mr. Wilson and I often meet for pints of Bass at Toad Hall after work. Over the ales one day Mr.W. brought up a personal quandary, the mystery of ‘who wrote Hey Joe ?’. On various albums from the 60’s and 70's, writing credits went to : Dino Valenti, Chester (or Chet or C.) Powers, Jesse Oris Farrow, William (or Billy or W. or B.) Moses Roberts Jr. At the time, I had internet access and he didn’t. So I started doing word searches on different search engines and found a little info and more than a little disinfo.
After checking the net for answers, I found more questions :
Who recorded it first ?
Is the (!) part of the title ?
Who all have covered (recorded) the song ?
Is there a pre-Byrds, David Crosby version, possibly with Les Baxter & the Baladeers ?
What is the deal with a fast version vs. a slow version ?
Why can't we find it recorded by Valenti or Roberts ?
If it is a Hoary old folk song (as Hendrix believed) why are there no "real close" versions on record prior to the 60’s ?
I have done quite a bit of checking around for answers to these questions and will start posting ASAP some of the answers that I do have (with links when available). Jim B. will enabled this page to be as interactive as possible so we hope you can all can join in and contribute towards resolving some of the questions at hand.