Hey Joe...

EDIT: This was one of those mega posts that I used to do, a fucking great one if I do say so myself, but sadly all that was left was the text. Went back and at least put the basics back in...

"going down to shoot my old lady, you know I caught her messing around with another man..."  This is so fricken brutal and I don't know what the woman did to deserve being murdered, but this is how you make sure someone is dead...something like 9 shots, alternating between the head and the torso. The caption is in Portuguese and reads, "mechanic executes ex-wife". Only a deranged and crazed maniac would kill someone like this. You know in my own deranged fantasy world as a youth I always figured that if I caught my girlfriend/wife cheating on me I'd tell the guy (or woman, you never know) to get lost and and then blow away the girlfriend/wife.  Of course when it did happen I just walked away, never looking back, I'm not the killing type.  Years later I cheated with my friends wife and really for that offense I deserved to do die (our mutual friends made that clear to me). First time I heard Hey Joe must have been in the mid 70's, Jimi Hendrix's version (the most popular), but at that age I had no clue how serious and dire the song was. It's been covered a million times, but according to Wikipedia it was most likely written by Billy Roberts who stole the melody from his then girlfriend... Niela Miller - Baby, Please Don't Go to Town [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN7otqp3MfQ] Fucker had the last laugh with all the royalties. Billy Roberts - Hey Joe [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PziiNzFWZog&w=560&h=315] The sweet version is by these guys and actually the first to be released as a single. Sick drumming, heavy bass lines and almost snotty dual vocals, the best! The Leaves - Hey Joe [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWv03Wgz0PQ&w=560&h=315] The Tangents almost out-garage the Leaves... The Tangents - Hey Joe another garage styled version... The Shadows Of Knight - Hey Joe Long about 1966 all the versions started to sound the same... The Standells - Hey Joe (Where You Gonna Go) Yup More of the same... Surfaris - Hey Joe Are you getting sick of 60's garage bands covering the tune yet, this time it's "money" instead of a "gun" in his hand... The Byrds - Hey Joe Oh c'mon, every body loves garage... Love - Hey Joe Japanese garage... The Golden Cups - Hey Joe Starts out psychedelic, but guess what...ends up garage... The Cryan' Shames- Hey Joe (Where You Gonna Go) It takes a genius with a sense of humor like Zappa to take it to another dimension (anything but garage), "Hey Punk, where you goin' with that flower in your hand?/Well, I'm goin' up to Frisco to join a psychedelic band."... Frank Zappa - Flower Punk Nobody played it like Hendrix and the Experience, all three of these guys are balls to the wall on this version (video)... Jimi Hendrix - Hey Joe (Live Happening For Lulu 1969).avi Must have heard Hendrix do his thing before they came up with theirs... The Marmalade - Hey Joe I love Cher's voice but her version is a little tame... Cher- Hey Joe If you want a female fronted cover of the tune, Patty Smith makes the song her own, putting an edge to it... Patti Smith - Hey Joe (version) Pretty much exactly what you would expect from Deep Purple playing Hey Joe... Deep Purple - Deep Purple Lounge meets the Beatles, in French... Johnny Hallyday - Hey Joe The Music Machine does one that sounds more the Hendrix version I'm familiar with..full of soul and painful. The Music Machine - Hey Joe Very Psychedelic... The Ant Trip Ceremony - Hey Joe The singer sounds a lot like Robert Plant, come to think of it the guitarist sounds a bit like Jimmy Page... Band of Joy - Hey Joe Okay this is Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, doing what you'd expect to the tune... Led Zeppelin - Hey Joe (live) Can't go wrong with a ZZ Top, bluesy rendition... ZZ Top - Hey Joe Another one of my favorites, hardcore blues freeform, with a funky vibe to it... Lee Moses - Hey Joe I don't know who she is, some kind of famous actress and singer, but this is a beautiful version. It's almost ironic having something so beautiful connected with murdering someone... Charlotte Gainsbourg - Hey Joe Rap with a Hendrix sample, nice that his name is Joe too... Fat Joe - Hey Joe You just knew there had to be at least one reggae version... Black Uhuru - Hey Joe (Live at VH1) Tripped out country bluegrass zydeco joke band (with a cool name)... Helge Schneider & The Firefuckers - Hey Joe Yup, jazz fusion one too... Brian Bromberg - Hey Joe Ice T's Body Count, kinda expected something a little more balls to the wall... Body Count - Hey Joe (with Lyrics) Cheezy neu metal... Dope - Hey Joe Nick Cave tears it up, dark as it should be... Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Hey Joe I'm a big fan of the UK Subs and Charlie Harper... Charlie Harper - Hey Joe Okay, total fricken overkill, but I got obsessed for several hours, now I'm sort of sick of the tune, which you should be by now if you actually listened to all those. Funny I was almost done and found that there is a Hey Joy CD of 20 artists covering the tune, some of whom I have represented here. And then to my utter amazement I found this torrent with 141 versions! I did not download that. I did want to leave you with a good solid dirty punk rock cover... The Vibrators - Hey Joe

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 goin' down to shoot my ol' lady I caught her messin' 'round with another man Yeah, I'm goin' down to shoot my ol' lady now You know I caught her messin' 'round with another man And that ain't too cool Hey Joe, hey, Joe, I heard you shot your woman down Hey Joe, hey, Joe, I heard you shot your woman down, baby He said, "Yeah, I did it, yes I did, I shot her You know I caught her messin' 'round with another man" Yes I did, I shot her You know I caught my her messin' 'round with another man Yeah, and I gave her the gun Hey Joe, hey Joe Where you gonna run to, now where you gonna run to now Hey Joe, hey Joe Lord, where you gonna run to, now where you gonna run to, baby I'm goin' way down south, way down south Way down to Mexico way, yeah I'm goin' way down south, way down south, baby Way down where I can be free Ain't no one gonna mess with me there, baby Ain't no hang-man gonna He ain't gonna put a rope, a rope around me, yeah You better believe it, baby Hey, Joe, you better run on down, you better Goodbye everybody