Tim Rose / The Jimi Hendrix Experience / The Creation

Hey Joe (You Shot Your Woman Down) / Tim Rose

Listen: Hey Joe (You Shot Your Woman Down) / Tim Rose 01 Hey Joe (You Shot Your Woman Down).mp3

According to some, it’s this Tim Rose arrangement and slow version of ‘Hey Joe’ that manager Chas Chandler brought to his band, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, as a template for their recording.

I played Tim’s version recently, and thought I’d do some research. By the way, the fast, jangled, garage band version popularized by The Leaves is not part of this discussion.

Listen: Hey Joe / The Creation 20 Hey Joe.mp3

Tim Rose, Hendrix and The Creation all did the slow, haunting one, full of mystery. In my research travels, I read that Chas and Jimi may have, in fact, gotten their idea from The Creation, who were playing this arrangement of ‘Hey Joe’ in London clubs late ’66, exactly when Hendrix and Chandler entered the studio to record that first single. Although The Creation never released a 7″ of ‘Hey Joe’, it was an album track, which I’ve posted.

Hey Joe (Single Mono Mix) / The Jimi Hendrix Experience

Hey Joe (Single Mono Mix) / The Jimi Hendrix Experience

Listen: Hey Joe (Single Mono Mix) / The Jimi Hendrix Experience 01 Hey Joe.mp3

Also for reference, I’ve posted the original mono single mix from The Jimi Hendrix Experience above. This version is the one you know, but that mono mix is magic. Even though this original copy has been played hundreds of times, the record still sounds larger than life.

WOLF6_4_66, WOLF, Dee Jay & The Runaways, Clefs Of Lavender Hill

My introduction to ‘Hey Joe’ was indeed via the Tim Rose rendition. Interestingly, the songwriting is credited differently on all three labels above (click to enlarge). Somehow, this was a hit on my hometown station, WOLF (see chart). Check my past posts for a look at what great music this station played. I hate to say they may have been one of the last great US radio stations. Scary.

The story of ‘Hey Joe’ is full of twists and turns, and now with so many participants deceased, one of great myth.

Read about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hey_Joe

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