{"id":2515,"date":"2026-06-06T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.songfacts.com\/articles\/?p=2515"},"modified":"2026-06-05T18:09:58","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T22:09:58","slug":"the-hidden-story-behind-who-actually-wrote-hey-joe-by-jimi-hendrix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.songfacts.com\/articles\/the-hidden-story-behind-who-actually-wrote-hey-joe-by-jimi-hendrix\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hidden Story Behind Who Actually Wrote \u201cHey Joe\u201d by Jimi Hendrix"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>\u201cHey Joe\u201d became a hit for Jimi Hendrix in 1967. And though he didn\u2019t write it, the version he recorded with his band, The Experience, remains the definitive one. It wouldn\u2019t be the last time a Hendrix cover outshone its original. Bob Dylan was so impressed with Hendrix\u2019s reading of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.songfacts.com\/facts\/jimi-hendrix\/all-along-the-watchtower\">\u201cAll Along The Watchtower\u201d<\/a> that he reworked his own live performance of the song to match the cover. But finding the author of \u201cHey Joe\u201d isn\u2019t as easy as tracing a folk tune back to Dylan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Hey Joe (Official Audio)\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rXwMrBb2x1Q?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>West Coast<\/strong> Garage Rock<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The Leaves first released the song in 1965 under the title \u201cHey Joe, Where You Gonna Go\u201d. They released another version the following year, this time calling it \u201cHey Joe\u201d. But even before then, the song was a standard among garage rock groups in the 1960s. (The Leaves had discovered \u201cHey Joe\u201d after seeing The Byrds perform it in Los Angeles.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Hey Joe,<br>Where you going with that gun in your hand?<br>Hey Joe,<br>I said, Where you going with that gun in your hand?<br>I\u2019m going down to shoot my old lady.<br>You know I caught her messing \u2019round with another man.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>East Coast and Disputed Authorship<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>On the opposite coast, the folk singer Tim Rose performed a gentler version in Greenwich Village. Hendrix used Rose\u2019s slower tempo as a blueprint for his iconic arrangement, which appears on<em> Are You Experienced<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, the song\u2019s authorship remains <a href=\"https:\/\/ig.ft.com\/life-of-a-song\/hey-joe.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">disputed<\/a>. Rose said it was a traditional tune, though the traditional origins are unclear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Well, dig,<br>I\u2019m going way down South,<br>Way down to Mexico way, all right<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>I\u2019m going way down South,<br>Way down where I can be free<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, Billy Roberts registered the copyright in 1962, and he\u2019d been performing \u201cHey Joe\u201d since the 1950s. But before then, singer Dino Valenti, of Quicksilver Messenger Service fame, claimed ownership. The drama continued when Roberts\u2019 ex-girlfriend, Niela Halleck, said the song was hers. She called it \u201cBaby, Please Don\u2019t Go To Town\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While the origins of \u201cHey Joe\u201d remain opaque, here\u2019s what we do know: few would recognize it without Hendrix\u2019s explosive version. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Photo by Ivan Keeman\/Redferns<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cHey Joe\u201d became a hit for Jimi Hendrix in 1967. And though he didn\u2019t write it, the version he recorded with his band, The Experience, remains the definitive one. It wouldn\u2019t be the last time a Hendrix cover outshone its original. Bob Dylan was so impressed with Hendrix\u2019s reading of \u201cAll Along The Watchtower\u201d that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":973477,"featured_media":2517,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"byline":{"profiles":[{"type":"byline_id","atts":{"term_id":316,"post_id":2139}}]},"savage_platform_role_ideator":[],"savage_platform_role_editor":[],"savage_platform_role_senior_editor":[],"savage_platform_role_photographer":[],"savage_platform_role_illustrator":[],"savage_platform_role_translator":[],"savage_platform_role_as-told-to":[],"savage_platform_role_reviewed-by":[],"savage_platform_disable_recirculation":false,"savage_platform_article_type":"news","savage_platform_vice_article_type":"article","savage_platform_article_intent":"","savage_platform_show_affiliate_disclaimer":false,"wp_curate_deduplication":false,"wp_curate_unique_pinned_posts":false,"savage_platform_featured_image_caption":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","savage_platform_subheadline":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[327,18],"byline":[316],"class_list":["post-2515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-jimi-hendrix","tag-rock-music"],"savage_platform_primary_term":{"category":{"term_name":"Features","term_id":12,"term_link":"https:\/\/www.songfacts.com\/articles\/category\/features\/"},"post_tag":{"term_name":"Jimi Hendrix","term_id":327,"term_link":"https:\/\/www.songfacts.com\/articles\/tag\/jimi-hendrix\/"}},"hide_from_homepage":false,"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Hidden Story Behind Who Actually Wrote \u201cHey Joe\u201d by Jimi Hendrix - Songfacts Articles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u201cHey Joe\u201d became a hit for Jimi Hendrix in 1966. 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