The (Partial) History of a Song

Back in the 1960s "Hey Joe" was one of those songs that every rock band needed to know and an awful lot of them recorded versions of the tune. Over the years, I've heard several stories about the song's origins, and I doubt that even now there is a total consensus on where it came from. Given that groups like the Byrds and Jimi Hendrix Experience covered the song, it's a little ironic that the biggest hit version (at least in the US) was by an otherwise forgotten band called the Leaves. Here's their take on the classic:



You can easily place the Leaves' version into the jangly pop genre associated with the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and a bunch of other West Coast groups. But here is another take, by Tim Rose, coming out of a straighter folk-blues tradition (he also offers up one version of the song's pedigree). Be forewarned: this is a considerably darker, scarier rendition than you saw above: