Part of the fun of this feature is the search process, which often involves sort of surfing a stream of consciousness. Last week I was looking for an acceptable version of Walk Away, Renee to post (there isn’t one), and, in one way or another ended up watching Rickie Lee Jones singing Chuck E’s in Love. Rickie Lee Jones made me think of Patti Smith, which led me to this performance, which includes a version of Hey, Joe, embedded within what I guess you would call a medley, though that word hardly seems to fit Patti Smith.
It occurred to me that it might be fun to put together a collection of performances of this venerable song. Take your pick, or watch them all. The song has an interesting history, as you can see for yourself on Wikipedia. Even its authorship is somewhat shrouded in mystery, with many folks believing it’s a traditional song. It does seem to be somewhat out of its own time, which is, in fact, the sixties, or perhaps late fifties. You can understand how a listener might assume that it had been around forever.
Today, most people might think that Jimi Hendrix, or possibly the Byrds, propelled this song into the public consciousness, but in fact this group was the first, and in fact the only group, to make a hit out of it. The Leaves:
The Byrds version isn’t on youtube, but Hendrix’s is:
Despite the leaves, it seems like all future versions flow from Hendrix. The Who:
and ZZ Top:
Finally for something that isn’t completely different, but any rock song with an accordion is surely somewhat different. Buckwheat Zydeco:
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