I’m goin’ down to shoot my old lady/
You know I caught her messin’ round with another man. And that ain’t cool.

Jimi Hendrix “Hey Joe” is so badass. I always thought it was written by Hendrix, but it turns out it was written by a man named Billy Roberts. I know that The Byrds recorded the song first, but to say the song is different is an understatement.

The ultimate improvement you can make to a song when you cover it is to “make it your own”…and Jimi certainly did. He slowed down the tempo, emphasized the guitar and bass and simplified the lyrics. He made it his own.

The way Jimi describes Joe is great. Joe caught his woman with another man and wants to shoot her.  But it isn’t so much his words, it’s how he’s saying the words. Hendrix tells the wild story of trying to talk Joe out of killing his own wife. By the end of the song, Jimi is sympathetic to Joe saying, “Shoot her one more time for me”! “You better get outta here to Mexico.” I love it. “Hey Joe” is one of Jimi’s best.

His performance of this song at the Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967 is the most outrageous live performance I have ever seen. Have you seen it? I almost don’t want to spoil it but SPOILERS ahead… (Go watch it above).

He plays guitar with his teeth! And plays guitar behind his back! And sings while chewing gum. And the song sounds perfect. He was such a great showman. This performance is breathtaking.

Hey Joe Lyrics

Hey Joe,
Where you goin’ with that gun in your hand?
Hey Joe,
I said “where you goin’ with that gun in your hand?”
Alright.

“I’m goin down to shoot my old lady,
You know I caught her messin’ ’round with another man.
I’m goin’ down to shoot my old lady,
You know I caught her messin’ ’round with another man.”
And that ain’t too cool.
(Ah-backing vocal on each line)
Uh, hey Joe, I heard you shot your woman down,
You shot her down now.

Uh, hey Joe, I heard you shot you old lady down,
You shot her down to the ground. Yeah!
Yes, I did, I shot her
You know I caught her messin’ ’round,
Messin’ ’round town.
Uh, yes I did, I shot her,
You know I caught my old lady messin’ ’round town.
And I gave her the gun and I shot her!

Alright
(Ah! Hey Joe)
Shoot her one more time again, baby!

written by Billy Roberts