The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Hey Joe [Lyrics]

The Leaves' third release of Hey Joe
Single by the Leaves
B-side
Be With You - (1st pressing)
Girl From The East - (2nd pressing)
Funny Little World - (3rd pressing)
Released
November :1965
Recorded : Late 1965

1965-"Hey Joe" is an American song from the 1960s that has become a rock standard and has been performed in many musical styles by hundreds of different artists. The lyrics tell of a man who is on the run and planning to head to Mexico after shooting his unfaithful wife. In 1962, Billy Roberts registered "Hey Joe" for copyright in the United States.
In late 1965, Los Angeles garage band the Leaves recorded the earliest known commercial version of "Hey Joe", which was released as a single. They re-recorded the song and released it in 1966 as a follow-up single, which became a hit in the US.
In October 1966, Jimi Hendrix recorded "Hey Joe" for his first single with the Jimi Hendrix Experience.

Lyrics
The lyrics to "Little Sadie" often locate the events in Thomasville, North Carolina, and "down in" Jericho, South Carolina (a large rice plantation in the lowlands);Roberts was born in South Carolina. Variations of "Little Sadie" have been recorded under various titles (including "Bad Lee Brown", "Penitentiary Blues", "Cocaine Blues", "Whiskey Blues") by many artists, including Clarence Ashley (1930).

The lyrics are written in two stanzas with a short repeated refrain. The first stanza has a bystander locate Joe walking with a gun in his hand and asks about his intentions. Joe answers with the main refrain that his girlfriend did him wrong and he wishes to shoot her. In the second stanza, Joe is preparing to go on the run to Mexico in order to evade capture and avoid the police.
The lyrics have been interpreted in two different casts of opinion with the first cast claiming that the lyrics point to the flight of Joe to Mexico as his quest for freedom from oppression in avoiding the law.The other approach to the lyrics has been to read the "woman-done-me-wrong" song as "ugly and misogynist, with Joe's air of unapologetic defiance" being unjustifiable according to writer David Stubbs.

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