Saturday October 16, 2021 “Hey Joe” Jimi Hendrix Experience
"Hey Joe" was written but never recorded by a singer named Billy Roberts, who was part of the Greenwich Village folk scene in the early '60s. And although several previous versions were released by artists as varied as the Byrds, Deep Purple and Arthur Lee’s group Love, it is so closely associated with the Jimi Hendrix version that many people had assumed that he wrote it.
“Hey Joe” would be a commercial breakthrough for the Jimi Hendrix Experience, at least in the UK, but it would be well after Hendrix had established himself as a guitar god that it made any impact on the US charts.
In an interesting piece of music history, Dick Rowe of Decca Records turned down Hendrix for a record deal. A few years prior to that miscalculation, Mr. Rowe famously also turned down the Beatles. Not what you would call ‘good ears’.
This may surprise you but Jimi Hendrix’s only top forty hit was his recording of Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower”. And while living in London in the early days, Jimi rented Ringo Starr’s apartment at 34 Montagu Square, where he lived along with manager and former Animals bass player, Chas Chandler. Eventually, Ringo threw them both out.
Jimi also loved fast cars and would frequently take one of his six Corvette Stingrays out for an accelerated spin even though he didn’t have a driver's license.
Stay safe and well...and as murderous as this week's tunes may be, they are all still pretty good songs.