“Hey Joe” by Jimi Hendrix

"Hey Joe" was the song Jimi Hendrix chose to announce himself: in October 1966 he cut it for the Jimi Hendrix Experience's very first single. The song itself belonged to Billy Roberts, who had registered it for copyright back in 1962.

The song is a conversation, a friend quizzing Joe, and Joe answering that he shot his cheating wife and is heading down to Mexico before anyone catches up with him. Hendrix's take lets the tension smoulder rather than explode, cool and dangerous, with the Experience riding it like a getaway car idling at the curb.

It's become one of rock's most-covered standards, done in every style by hundreds of artists, and Hendrix's first single still sounds like a man clearing his throat before a revolution. "Purple Haze" was next.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.