Today, March 27th, is National Joe Day. This day gives you free license to have everyone call you Joe. Presumably it was founded by someone who didn't like their name. A small respite if you ask me, but I can't really judge seeings how I legally changed my own name. Did you know that anyone can change their name to anything they want? It just can't be anything profane or offensive and you have to fill out the paperwork and pay a small fee. That's it though, then you can really change it to whatever you want. I don't suggest that you go that far on National Joe Day. Why don't we just talk about a famous song with Joe in the title instead?
When I say the song title 'Hey Joe' what's your first thought? Jimi Hendrix right? Well, not so fast. Everyone thinks that this interesting tale of a man running away to Mexico after shooting his wife was a Jimi Hendrix song, but it is in fact a cover. A guy by the name of Billy Roberts filed the paperwork with the Library of Congress in 1962, and it wasn't recorded by Hendrix until 1966. In between it was recorded by 6 different bands! The most famous of which was The Byrds. A year after Hendrix it was also recorded by Cher on her humorously titled 'With Love, Cher' album. It has continued to be recorded again and again - with 12 different versions just since 2000! Everyone wants to get their hands on this song.
So my question is two-fold. One, what is it about the Jimi Hendrix version that makes it stand out above the others? Why is this song so popular in the first place?
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